US President George W. Bush began his second term today with a declaration that the United States would heed ‘‘the calling of our time,’’ a mission to spread liberty to every region of the globe. The president, in the first inauguration since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, said that freedom is not only the right of all people everywhere, and thus a transcendent cause in itself, but an engine to keep America secure.‘‘We are led, by events and common sense, to one conclusion: the survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands,’’ Bush said. ‘‘The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world.’’ Bush did not mention Iraq or Afghanistan by name. Nor did he use the word ‘‘terror,’’ even though he made it clear that he sees America’s mission as eradicating the roots of terrorism. ‘‘We have seen our vulnerability —— and we have seen its deepest source,’’ Bush said. ‘‘For as long as whole regions of the world simmer in resentment and tyranny —— prone to ideologies that feed hatred and excuse murder—— violence will gather, and multiply in destructive power, and cross the most defended borders, and raise a mortal threat.’’ Only one force is strong enough to break through hatred and tyranny, he said, ‘‘and that is the force of human freedom.’’ ‘‘So it is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world,’’ he said. Bush to visit India this year
