President Bush began a five-day tour through Africa yesterday by denouncing slavery as "one of the greatest crimes of history," and promising to help restore peace to war-ravaged Liberia, a country founded by freed American slaves.
"Human beings were delivered and sorted, and weighed, and branded with the marks of commercial enterprises, and loaded as cargo on a voyage without return," he said. "One of the largest migrations of history was also one of the greatest crimes of history."
I would be interested in hearing Bush's opinion on how American slavery differentiates from say the slavery of communism. If Slavery is a horror then aren't we honor bound to defeat it at our doorstep? And wouldn't the Monroe Doctrine give us ample reason for invading and overthrowing Castro? It's easy to apologize for sins of the past, but it is disingenuous if you allow the sins of today go on without interference.
I don't think we can or should topple every dictator in the world, but why not conquer the ones that will help us in other ways. Defeating Saddam sends a good message to perpetrators in the Middle East. Why not send a message in our own hemisphere by ending the hardships of the Cuban people. How would it be any different than our invasion of Haiti?
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