Amerikai Magyar Hírlap, 2001 (13. évfolyam, 2-43. szám)
2001-09-28 / 37. szám
AMERICAN Hungarian Journal Excerpts from President Bush’s Speech at the Capitol September 20, 2001 Mr. Speaker, Mr. President Pro Tempore, members of Congress, and fellow Americans: In the normal course of events, presidents come to this chamber to report on the state of the Union. Tonight, no such report is needed. It has already been delivered by the American people. My fellow citizens, for the last nine days, the entire world has seen for itself the state of union, and it is strong. Tonight, we are a country awakened to danger and called to defend freedom. Our grief has turned to anger and anger to resolution. Whether we bring our enemies to justice or bring justice to our enemies, justice will be done. I thank the Congress for its leadership at such an important time. And on behalf of the American people, I thank the world for its outpouring of support. On Sept. 11, enemies of freedom committed an act of war against our country. Americans have known wars, but for the past 136 years they have been wars on foreign soil, except for one Sunday in 1941. Americans have known the casualties of war, but not at the center of a great city on a peaceful morning. Americans have known surprise attacks, but never before on thousands of civilians. All of this was brought upon us in a single day, and night fell on a different world, a world where freedom itself is under attack. Americans have many questions tonight. Americans are asking, "Who attacked our country?" The evidence all points to a collection of loosely affiliated terrorist organizations known as al-Qaida. They are some of the murderers indicted for bombing American embassies in Tanzania and Kenya and responsible for bombing the USS Cole. Al-Qaida is to terror what the Mafia is to crime. But its goal is not making money. Its goal is remaking the world and imposing its radical beliefs on people everywhere. The terrorists' directive is to kill Christians and Jews, to kill all Americans and make no distinctions among military and civilians, including women and children. This group and its leader, a person named Osama bin Laden, are linked to many other organizations in different countries, including the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. There are thousands of these terrorists in more than 60 countries. They are recruited from their own nations and neighborhoods and brought to camps in places like Afghanistan, where they are trained in the tactics of terror. They are sent back to their homes or sent to hide in countries around the world to plot evil and destruction. The leadership of al-Qaida has great influence in Afghanistan and supports the Taliban regime in controlling most of that country. In Afghanistan we see al-Qaida's vision for the world. Afghanistan's people have been brutalized, many are starving and many have fled. Women are not allowed to attend school. You can be jailed for owning a television. Religion can be practiced only as their leaders dictate. A man can be jailed in Afghanistan if his beard is not long enough. By aiding and abetting murder, the Taliban regime is committing murder. And tonight the United States of America makes the following demands on the Taliban: • Deliver to United States authorities all of the leaders of al- Qaida who hide in your land. • Release all foreign nationals, including American citizens you have unjustly imprisoned. Protect foreign journalists, diplomats and aid workers in your country. Close immediately and permanently every terrorist training camp in Afghanistan. And hand over every terrorist and every person and their support structure to appropriate authorities. • Give the United States full access to terrorist training camps, so we can make sure they are no longer operating. These demands are not open to negotiation or discussion. The Taliban must act and act immediately. They will hand over the terrorists, or tjiey will share in their fate. Americans are asking, 'Why do they hate us?' They hate what they see right here in this chamber: a democratically elected government. Their leaders are self-appointed. They MEDITATIONS by Dr. Bela Bonis Pastor (562) 430-0876 First Hungarian Reformed Church, Hawthorne It is hard to imagine a transformation more drastic than the one that began "in the year King Uzziah died." During his 41 years of rule, Judah had enjoyed power and prosperity. Its borders were extended. Judah lived at peace with Izrael, its neighbor to the north, and together they controlled the lucrative trade routes that crisscrossed their territories. But now a new political force was on the scene: the armies of Assyria. Within a generation Israel would be completely destroyed; within a decade Judah would be stripped of its territories and become a vassal of Assyria. In addition to losing political power and prosperity, Judah would lose religious independence, since subservience to Assyria included accepting Assyrian gods into the temple at Jerusalem. The eighth-century prophets call attention to the shallowness of religion in Israel and Judah. The people assumed that cultic activity could insure God’s favor, God’s protection and continued material blessings. They accepted commonplace patterns of social injustice, inequities of wealth and corruption. For half a century, Isaiah would guide the people of Judah through a crisis that they were religiously unprepared to face. His encounter with God is telling. God is "sitting on a throne, high and lofty." The temple is filled merely by "the hem of his robe." This God is much more exalted than the domesticated deity worshiped during Judah’s period of power and prosperity. In the presence of this God even attending seraphs cover their faces and their feet. Isaiah can only say: "Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!" (Isa. 6:5) Today our nation may be facing a similar transition from a time of power and prosperity. More and more our economy may "pay tribute" to others. We can make a religious comparison, too. A shallowness similar to that of Isaiah’s day has characterized religion in America’s recent period of power and prosperity. On national holidays we celebrate material blessings and invoke God’s protection on our military campaigns while complacently accepting inequalities of wealth, and corruption of the marketplace. In this superficial religion, love means empty tolerance and bland "acceptance." God is understood as the epitome of shallow, undialectical "love", indulgent "acceptance", self-serving security and costless material abundance. A person can stand without awe and without trembling before such a God. A bland, permissive, indulgent God exhibits no mystery. By "mystery" I do not mean a question or problem that disappears when the solution is found, but the kind of amazement that grows as knowledge increases. A person could, f.e., understand every detail of anatomy, genetics, fetal development and obstetrics and still be amazed by the mystery of childbirth. (TO BE CONTINUED) hate our freedoms: our freedom of religion, our freedom of speech, our freedom to vote and assemble and disagree with each other. They want to overthrow existing governments in many Muslim countries such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan. They want to drive Israel out of the Middle East. They want to drive Christians and Jews out of vast regions of Asia and Africa. These terrorists kill not merely to end lives, but to disrupt and end a way of life. With every atrocity, they hope that America grows fearful, retreating from the world and forsaking our friends. They stand against us because we stand in their way. Americans are asking, "How will we fight and win this war?" We will direct every resource at our command - every means of diplomacy, every tool of intelligence, every instrument of law enforcement, every financial influence and every necessary weapon of war - to the destruction and to the defeat of the global terror network. From this day forward, any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime. Our nation has been put on notice we're not immune from attack. We will take defensive measures against terrorism to protect Americans. Great harm has been done to us. We have suffered great loss. And in our grief and anger, we have found our mission and our moment. Freedom and fear are at war. The advance of human freedom, the great achievement of our time and the great hope of every time, now depends on us. Our nation, this generation, will lift the dark threat of violence from our people and our future. We will rally the world to this cause by our efforts, by our courage. We will not tire, we will not falter, and we will not fail. It is my hope that in the months and years ahead life will return almost to normal. We'll go back to our lives and routines, and that is good. Even grief recedes with time and grace. But our resolve must not pass. Each of us will remember what happened that day and to whom it happened. I will not forget the wound to our country and those who inflicted it. I will not yield, I will not rest, 1 will not relent in waging this struggle for freedom and security for the American people. The course of this conflict is not known, yet its outcome is certain. Freedom and fear, justice and cruelty, have always been at war, and we know that God is not neutral between them. Fellow citizens, we'll meet violence with patient justice, assured of the rightness of our cause and confident of the victories to come. In all that lies before us, may God grant us wisdom, and may he watch over the United States of America. Thank you A Sensational Testimonial for Freedom - Zsolt Pozsgay’s Great Drama at the Hungarian Theatre Once again, Elizabeth de Charay’s New York based "Hungarian Theatre" has rendered an enormous service to art, literature and cultural links between Europe and America by showing Zsolt Pozsgay’s sensational drama "I love you, Faust" at the Robert Wagner High School in Manhattan. This partly documentary play has been successfully performed in Hungary, Germany and all over Europe for five solid years! The young actors and actresses came from Budapest’s famous National and Madach Theatre, and they will present the same drama in Washington, D.C. Joseph Cardinal Mindszenty, Archbishop of Esztergom and Catholic Primate of Hungary, the protagonist and hero of the play, has been one of the bravest and most admired martyrs of the 20th Century. He spent more than 20 years in prison, first incarcerated by the (fortunately, short lived) Hungarian nazis in 1944 and later, as a prisoner of the communist murderers and scoundrels (who occupied Hungary from 1945 until 1989). The Cardinal fled to Budapest’s American Embassy in 1956 and, after years of hiding, was allowed to leave the country; he spent the last years of his life in Vienna, Austria, where he taught and wrote many valuable books. Pozsgay’s drama, filled with horrible facts, also contains fictional "meetings" of Mindszenty with foes and friends, in his prison cell, but in depicting this immortal, courageous, non compromising Prince of the Church, the author has also immortalized Hungary’s constant battle for total independence from foreign ideologies and against tyranny, a historic fact! Brilliantly directed by József Kiss, with spare impressive stage designs and costumes by Rita Vereczkei, gripping background music by Arpad Nagy, the young artists created so much tension and compassion that it was impossible not to cry! (A loud "bravissimo" to wonderful Tibor Mertz as Cardinal Mindszenty, sensational ifj. László Jaszai, who played many roles, as all the actors did.) Arpad Kautzky, a remarkably talented character actor, the fascinating Tamas Toth, József Kiss and, of course, the two marvellous actresses: Andrea and Zsuzsa Fazekas who, as the actors, were able to interpret the most difficult characters, "villains and saints", one after the other, in a firework of dramatic transformations. Hungary’s Embassy, initiator of this guest performance from Budapest, must be congratulated for having chosen this oustanding play, first class ensemble and last, but not least, Elizabeth de Charay’s by now famous Hungarian Theatre to present a piece of Hungarian history, Hungarian martyrdom and the typically Hungarian battle for freedom of the spirit. There was endless applause! GERTY ÁGOSTON > AMERIKAI PPI Magyar Hírlap |fl
