Bush says goal is fight for freedom

President George Bush sought in his second inaugural speech to define his new term as a fight for freedom in every nation with the “ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world".

At home, he urged a divided nation to find the unity it felt after the September 11 attacks.

Looking ahead to history’s judgment, Bush asked two questions: “Did our generation advance the cause of freedom? And did our character bring credit to that cause?”

“Across the generations we have proclaimed the imperative of self-government,” he said. “Advancing these ideals is the mission that created our nation.”

But more is needed now, both to protect America and to advance its ideals, he said.

“It is the honourable achievement of our fathers,” Bush said. “Now it is the urgent requirement of our nation’s security, and the calling of our time.”

Yet seeking to soften an image sometimes seen as aggressive around the world, Bush said America does not want to impose “our own style of government on the unwilling.” And while he led the nation into wars in Afghanistan and Iraq during his first term, he said that spreading freedom is not “primarily the task of arms.”

“Our goal instead is to help others find their own voice, attain their own freedom, and make their own way,” he said.

He never mentioned Iraq or Afghanistan in the speech. He used the word “freedom” 27 times.

War and the deaths of American troops have led to divisions at home as well as abroad, and Bush recognised the splits.

“We have known divisions, which must be healed to move forward in great purposes and I will strive in good faith to heal them,” Bush said, adding that he did not believe the separations defined the nation.

He recalled the days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks when Americans from all walks of life and political ideologies united and “our response came like a single hand over a single heart.”

Bush also talked about extending freedom at home by building what he has dubbed an “ownership society” where people, not government, have more control and say over their own lives. That’s the philosophy driving Bush’s desire to let workers put more of their earnings in private retirement accounts, perhaps the most contentious second-term goal that already has powerful opponents working against it on Capitol Hill.

“We will widen the ownership of homes and businesses, retirement savings and health insurance – preparing our people for the challenges of life in a free society,” Bush said. “By making every citizen an agent of his or her own destiny, we will give our fellow Americans greater freedom from want and fear and make our society more prosperous and just and equal.”