BUSH: "Rights must be more than the grudging concessions of dictators."

President Bush's Inaugural Address
'There Is No Justice Without Freedom'
Federal News Service
Friday, January 21, 2005; Page A24


We will persistently clarify the choice before every ruler and every nation: The moral choice between oppression, which is always wrong, and freedom, which is eternally right.

America will not pretend that jailed dissidents prefer their chains, or that women welcome humiliation and servitude, or that any human being aspires to live at the mercy of bullies. We will encourage reform in other governments by making clear that success in our relations will require the decent treatment of their own people.

America’s belief in human dignity will guide our policies. Yet rights must be more than the grudging concessions of dictators. They are secured by free dissent and the participation of the governed. In the long run, there is no justice without freedom, and there can be no human rights without human liberty.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A23747-2005Jan20.html