Bush Vows To Democratize Mideast Countries (A ME reaction to Speech)

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

http://www.palestinechronicle.com/story.php?sid=20031106145601819

"He repudiated the U.S. policy of helping iron-handed regimes in the Middle East, saying the 9-11 attacks showed the failure of efforts to use such governments as bulwarks against extremism .."

CAIRO - In what he called a major rethinking of the U.S. policy towards the Middle East, President George W. Bush said Thursday, November 6, that the people of the region should have responsible democratic leaders, announcing a new American "forward strategy of freedom in the Middle East."

"Our commitment to democracy is being tested in the Middle East, " Bush told the Washington-based National Endowment for Democracy.

With a defiant tone and glaring eyes, Bush said the wave of democracy barely reached the Arab countries, citing the latest Arab development report which called for more freedoms to take roots in the region.
<snip>

[ithacan]

1. "glaring eyes"...

so what kind of drugs is he on now???

[Flying_Pig]

2. Amazing how this little fascist dog can bark about democracy

to the Arabs, while kissing Saudi princes' feet. And while he does everything he can to stifle democracy at home, he pounds the podium for democracy everywhere else. What a fucking hypocrite.

What he's really talking about, is his determination to follow through on PNAC's plan for U.S. world-wide imperialism and domination. With Israel (and their allies in PNAC) pushing him hard to invade and neutralize their Arab neighbors, Bush speaks Sharon's language. Neither one gives a shit about democracy. What punks.

[Malva Zebrina]

3. Here's his "glaring eyes" and his tough "Bring em on" face

He practiced in the mirror for an hour, so don't criticize his efforts--he meant well <sarcasm>

[Say_What]

4. ..."message that the U.S. is leading the world"...

Man, do they have SmirkBoy's number.

NED=inserection and overthrow of governments. As an example, they've earmarked $5,000,000 to *foster democracy in Venezuela*. Now he's officially announcing more of the same for the ME. Double :puke:

---

...U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell had earlier said he hoped Egypt would spend some of the American economic aid on the purposes detailed in the new initiative to boost democracy and civil society organizations.

...Powell announced in December last year a 29-million-dollar initiative to foster "democracy" in the Middle East.

The plan, entitled the U.S.-Middle East Partnership Initiative, "will provide funding and a framework for the U.S. to work together with governments and people in the Arab world to expand economic, education and political opportunity," said the State Department.

....Observers said Bush's statements are not new, but this time they are carried more harshly – may be against the backdrop of the occupation of Iraq and the growing threats to Iran and Syria.

"They are sending out the same message that the U.S. is leading the world," said Hossam El-Sayyed, an Egyptian analyst, citing Bush's boastful words that his country had helped create conditions for democracy to flourish.

[alapolitical]

5. Let us bring democracy

through corporate cronyism and military intimidation.

[cliss]

6. There's an old Chinese proverb

which says, "If you want to change others, first change yourself".

Another one which is very appropriate, comes from a less exotic source: Al-Anon and alcoholism counseling: severely dysfunctional people often focus on others and their problems, in an attempt to avoid looking at themselves. They often have problems which are causing them enormous difficulties in life, but they look outward and zealously want to change the world. It's also called projection.

Or a Hindu proverb: "change yourself, and you will change thousands".

Who would take advice from this man, who can't even control his own passions? There is nothing he has to say, that I would take seriously. And now he's taking on the whole muslim world. I'd say he should take some advice from them.

Can't you just visualize his beady eyes, glowing like charcoals in a barbeque? Sinister, evil eyes.

[bemildred]

7. This is a veiled threat.

Disguised as a change in policy.
To throw sand in the eyes of the enemy.

[Tempest]

8. "We're going to kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity"

Why didn't he just come out and say it?

[Papa]

10. That's exactly what he said

We are going to go after Syria next, no damn doubt about it. The way they are going to spin the problem is that there are not enough free countries in the region, which is why we are having a problem in Iraq. We need to get these other regimes under control before we can deal with the threats in Iraq and get it under control. These other regimes are responsible for the chaos in Iraq.

We are in deep shit. "global democratic revolution" is their new term for invade and conquer.

[Tempest]

9. And at the same time, Bush props up a ruthless dictator in Uzbekistan

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1072313,00.html

What a fucking hypocrite

[Sushi_lover]

11. So when's the election in Iraq?

Hmmm. Tough little problem when religious zealots might take over the political structure.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

12. It's amazing. Things are working out way worse than expected

and he talks as if it's the opposite scenario.

[Tempest]

13. And Afghanistan's new constitution is Islamic based

Not extremist, but still not quite what Bush was expecting.

[bushisanidiot]

14. He'll Bring Democracy To The Mideast Even If He Has To Kill 'Em All In The

process.

hundreds of thousands have died in iraq just to get 1 man!

now he says it's about democracy. how many more murders is that going to take, you dumbass chimp?!

[suegeo]

15. NED led by BCF Capo Vin Weber

Vin Weber (fascist ex-congressman from Minnesota)is head of the NED.

In addition, remember that Weber is the brown shirt who led the foaming-at-the-mouth attack of the Wellstone memorial. Weber is currently also head of the evil war chimp's re-selection campaing in the upper midwest.

Link to article and few paragraphs...

http://www.citypages.com/databank/23/1119/article10388.asp

Viva Vin Weber

A Minnesota tie to the ill-fated coup in Venezuela
by Mike Mosedale

In the days following last month's abrupt and short-lived ouster of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, there were widespread accusations that the U.S. had provided assistance to a cabal of business, military, and labor leaders behind the coup. That such claims would be leveled is not surprising. The U.S. has a long history of meddling in Latin American politics. And the Bush administration has done little to disguise its hostility to Chavez, who has been denounced for his leftist rhetoric, his ties to pariah states such as Libya and Iraq, and, perhaps most significant, his efforts to overhaul the state-run petroleum industry.

But despite a rash of reports linking CIA and State Department officials to the coup, one question of particular interest to Minnesotans has remained both unasked and unanswered: What role was played by former Second District Congressman Vin Weber?

Weber, a power player in GOP political circles who retired from Congress in 1993, has served as chairman of the board for the obscure but influential National Endowment for Democracy since January 2001. The NED, a private nonprofit agency, was founded in the early Eighties with the express goal of fostering democratic ideals abroad. Although it is funded almost exclusively with taxpayer dollars (to the tune of $33 million annually), the NED is supposed to operate independently of any government agency. Theoretically, this allows the NED to carry out its mission in countries where official U.S. involvement is unwelcome, such as Manuel Noriega's Panama.

But critics such as liberal journalist Bill Berkowitz contend that, in practice, the NED has functioned as a kind of overt branch of the CIA, funneling money to groups and individuals that are friendly to U.S. interests but are not necessarily champions of democratic ideals. In an article posted last summer on the progressive Web site www.workingforchange.com, Berkowitz notes that Weber has ties to a raft of Iran-Contra figures from the Reagan era who are now ensconced in the State Department, such as Elliot Abrams and Otto Reich; he then predicts that Weber's ascension to chair of the NED likely means that the organization will "once again emerge as a foreign policy player."