Bush pays tribute to 'Victims of Communism'

Washington, June 13: President George W Bush has dedicated a new memorial here to the victims of communism, saying it stands as a reminder that freedom is precious and cannot be taken for granted.

Joined by the members of parliament from Hungary and the Czech Republic, former dissidents and foreign ambassadors, Bush yesterday dedicated the monument to the memories of the millions killed by ''communism, from China to the former Soviet Union, Cambodia to Ethiopia, Cuba to Nicaragua, and North Korea to Vietnam.'' The memorial is a 4.2-meter-tall bronze replica of the 'Goddess of Democracy' statue built by Chinese students during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and is located on a site near the US Capitol.

The dedication ceremony was held on the 20th anniversary of former President Ronald Reagan's 1987 speech in Berlin in which he called on then-Soviet premier Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall that separated the city and had divided a continent since the end of World War II.

Bush noted that the wall would finally fall two years later, liberating the people of Central and Eastern Europe and changing the world.

In a speech at the unveiling of the memorial, Bush said the Cold War taught that ''evil is real and must be confronted, and that given the chance, men commanded by harsh and hateful ideologies will commit unspeakable crimes and take the lives of millions.'' These lessons continued to resonate today ''as nations fight violent Islamic radicalism and other forms of terrorism,'' he said.

UNI