The World Reacts to Bush's Iraq Trip
While the Bushites gleefully celebrate Bush's "bold" trip to Iraq
as a caring move to want to spend the holiday with the troops who are away from
home and family, (because of his lies), the rest of the world is less gullible
and has no trouble seeing through the "performance". While he was on the ground
for 2 1/2 hrs., after a brief speech he only spent 10 minutes serving mashed
potatoes to the 600 troops in the airport mess hall before disappearing into a
meeting with Rice, Bremer and four members of Iraq’s governing council. If it
were pointed out to those supporters that the rest of the world has a better
grasp of American politics than they do they would dismiss world opinion as
lies. The paradox is that when confronted with truth the radical right labels it
a lie, yet they can accept all of Bush's transparent lies as truth.
The headline in Paris' daily, Liberation read, "Electoral Raid On Baghdad."
Under the London Daily Independent's headline, "The Turkey Has Landed" was a
report that stated, "George Bush becomes the first US president to visit Iraq in
order to provide the television pictures required by his re-election campaign."
The London Times called the trip "one of the most audacious publicity coups in
White House history."
Repeating its call for Iraq general elections, Europe's business daily, the
Financial Times criticized the US "top down strategy built around favored exiles
and a timetable synchronized with President Bush's re-election campaign."
Madrid's El Mundo daily wrote that the Thanksgiving visit was "a publicity stunt
which will not solve the problem of Iraq."
The Vanguardia, in Barcelona noted, "George W Bush does not attend the funerals
of soldiers killed in Iraq, but has dinner in Baghdad with those who dream of
coming home alive."
Rome's La Republica described it as "obviously an electoral blitz, a
Hollywood-style stunt of the kind we will see again and again throughout the
campaign."
Israel's Maariv used the analogy of a desperation gamble. "It is like playing
the last $100 dollar bill at the casino" the editorial said, and "the only thing
that can ensure victory for Bush at the November 2004 polls: Saddam Hussein dead
or chained up."
Al-Mustaqbal, Beirut's newspaper owned by the Lebanese Prime Minister announced
that "Bush's secret visit to Baghdad opens Presidential election season".
Although the White House claims that one of the reasons for the trip was to show
the Iraqis our determination and resolve, that aspect of the trip may have
backfired. Iran's Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi saw the secrecy surrounding the
visit and Bush's failure to leave the airport or encounter any of the people
showed that Washington was afraid of the Iraqis.
It would seem that the President is guilty of what he accuses any dissenter to
his policy in Iraq, that of aiding and abetting the enemy. Will the right wing
now label George W Bush un-American? Maybe we can all chip in and buy him a one
way ticket to France.
Excerpts of headlines from an article published 11-29-03 from the Australian
Broadcast Corporation
12-02-03