That was also a reference to Iraq, where the greatest danger to post-election democracy is less from Zarqawi's terrorist murderers than from the legion of Baathists who want to reimpose Saddam's brand of tyranny.
A metaphorical nitpick: He said our liberation of millions lit "a fire in the minds of men and one day this untamed fire of freedom will reach the darkest corners of our world." I would have replaced "this untamed fire," which could be dangerous, with "the light from this fire," which would have illuminated the "darkest corner." (Once a speechwriter.)
Evidence that Bush's "freedom speech" was tightly edited for time was in his concluding evocation of Philadelphia's Liberty Bell.
Cut out of a near-final draft was the line on the side of the bell from Leviticus that rings out Bush's theme: "Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof."
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