But in the darkest hour," said Sen. Obama, "the people of Berlin
kept the flame of hope burning. The people of Berlin refused to
give up. And on one fall day, hundreds of thousands of Berliners
came here, to the Tiergarten, and heard the city's mayor implore
the world not to give up on freedom. 'There is only one possibility,'
he said. 'For us to stand together united until this battle is won….
The people of Berlin have spoken. We have done our duty, and we
will keep on doing our duty'." This, from a U.S. Senator whose
consistent message to the people of Baghdad, a similarly besieged
city, also dependent on America's protection, has been, in effect, to
give up.
Another snippet:
It is hard not to be moved by the sight during the speech of hundreds
of American flags being waved, rather than burned. Then again, the last
time a major American political figure delivered an open-air speech in
Berlin, 10,000 riot police had to use tear gas and water cannons to repel
violent demonstrators. It was June 1987, the speaker was Ronald Reagan,
his message was: "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall." Press accounts
characterized the line as "provocative"; the Soviets called it "war-mongering";
100,000 protesters marched against Reagan in the old German capital
of Bonn. Two years later, the Berlin Wall fell.
