Bush to Challenge U.N. for Help in Iraq

[DoYouEverWonder]

AP Wire

September 20, 2003, 2:39 PM EDT

WASHINGTON -- Unbowed by arguments with allies, President Bush will challenge the United Nations with a call to action for money and troops in Iraq and Afghanistan despite lingering differences and a reluctance by many countries to make major contributions.

<snip>

Bush will make the case that an institution such as the United Nations has to show it is "actually capable of acting, and really willing to act, and not just debating," said Condoleezza Rice, his national security adviser.

<snip>

After a year of acrimony over Iraq and opposition to the U.S.-led war, the mood in the United Nations and among allies "is about as foul and bad as it's ever been," said Ivo Daalder, a Brookings Institution analyst and co-author of a book on Bush's foreign policy.

<snip>

Similarly, Secretary of State Colin Powell told senators the rich nations are suffering donor fatigue after requests for help in Afghanistan, Kosovo and Bosnia. The only foreign contributions considered solid are $300 million from Canada and several hundred million dollars from European countries.

"If we get $1 billion, it will be a lot," said Daalder, who said that would amount to about 10 percent of what the administration wants.


He's such an embarassment. That just what we need right now is for W to swagger into the UN making demands and then swagger his way out empty handed. Way to go W, winning hearts and minds as usual.

[LivingInTheBubble]

1. Challenge?

Lol.

They are going to insult the UN into helping?

[ChompySnack]

10. Yup

I double dog dare you to help us out...

[calimary]

12. Welcome to DU!

Glad you're here!

[Eloriel]

19. NO!! They're going to

browbeat and bully the UN into helping.

Or try to.

These people can't buy a clue, can they?

Unbelievable. I hope the UN tells them to take a flying leap.

Eloriel

[0007]

32. They have already

junior just doesn't get it, 'eh?

Halliburton & the Carlyle boys should be good for a few billion.

[MaineDem]

2. Holy mother of god...

Doesn't he get it? We can't be challenging these countries. We need to show respect and maybe even, and this will be difficult for those idiots, guilt.

I am so embarassed by him.

[Skittles]

17. no, he DOESN'T GET IT

think about it: Bush has gotten everything he has ever wanted, his entire life, with little or no effort. Why would he think things would be different now?

[MaineDem]

27. You're right

He's had everything handed to him and when he does get to run a company he runs it into the ground. How many different ones now?

Same thing as the country. If we were shareholders in the company of which he was CEO we'd boot his sorry ass! It's way past time to do that here.

[glitch]

42. keep in mind every time he runs a company into the ground

he makes out like a bandit. No different this time. Well, actually, a bit different, the haul they are taking this time makes the savings & loan debacle look like peanuts. Michael Parenti talks about how we accuse them of being idiots and buffoons, meanwhile they laugh all the way to the bank.

[JPace]

31. "I am so embarrassed by him"

I could not agree more, for AWOLs first two years I
cringed with shame every time he spoke, his limited
vocabulary, his arrogance, his bullying, his swaggering.
It was all more than I could bare. Now I am experiencing
embarrassment burnout, we can't hide him in the attic
like a crazy aunt. The world knows what he is and they
are being passive aggressive, they win by doing nothing.
He is finding out just how limited his (and our) power
really is when he goes it alone. If it were not for
our suffering troops I would be wishing him failure.

[cmd]

3. Blunderbuss Bush is at it again.......

shooting off his mouth and alienating the world. He just doesn't get it.

[wryter2000]

4. Jumping Jeehosophat!

Someone needs to go into the White House and explain reality to these people. Bush is the only true idiot over there. The rest of them aren't stupid. They are not dealing with reality.

[Rebellious Republican]

5. I just loved this line...

Bush will make the case that an institution such as the United Nations has to show it is "actually capable of acting, and really willing to act, and not just debating," said Condoleezza Rice, his national security adviser.

Hey George, they are acting,they are not debating! The UN is going to let you go it alone, whats that you say, bring'em on. Bwahahahaha! :think:

[MuseRider]

7. My children

knew better than to act like this when they were 3. What an embarrasment. I like the way the UN acting. Why can't these guys figure out that the UN actually knows what the script is and they don't want to play?

[calimary]

14. Yep, another sterling piece of advice from Ms CONdi...

Our reigning Queen of the Obsoletes. Let's remember she's a Sovietologist. An expert on the Soviet Union. Our current enemies of course. Ms. Drop-the-ball-oleezza. Asleep-at-the-Wheeleezza.

[Journeyman]

28. This is why I chuckle when Bush defenders say. . .

"He understands we've been at war with terrorists since the early '80s and he has always known we would need to take the fight to them to protect our 'homeland'."

Hmm, I reply. If he was so attuned to what we need to do, and has believed our fight is with 'Islamic terrorists' for better than 20-some years, why did he choose a Sovietologist over a middle-East expert as his National Security Advisor? Come to think of it, an ancient Egyptian scholar would be more relevant than Ms. Rice, with her specialized knowledge of a defunct Euro-Asian empire.

[roguevalley]

6. Okay. what kind of challenge? a bake off? Three rounds of

horse?

I am like *so* embarrassed.

[NNN0LHI]

8. "Challenge" had better actually mean kiss some big ass n/t

[hedda_foil]

9. Meet the new speech. Same as the old speech.

Taking bets here. Will his first use of the word irrelevant in this speech occur:

1. In the first minute.

2. In the first two minutes.

3. Within five minutes.

4. Within seven minutes.

5. Not until the close of the speech.


I'm going with #2.

[Lorien]

11. * bully tactics will work

less well now then they did even before he decided we should go only with our "coallition of the willing". Isn't the very definition of insanity doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results? The UN has only to wait, and eventually smirk will be begging to hand this mess over to them. In the meantime, both Iraqis and Americans are dying. :grr:

[DoYouEverWonder]

15. And he'll claim

that he had wanted the UN to be in charge from the start but that they refused to take the leadership roll.

[MUAD_DIB]

23. I don't think that excuse would fly for a moment...

...not even if you strapped a couple of titan rockets to its sorry ass.

Emperor Chimpy is goinf to have to lick quite a lot of a$$ in order to get the U.N. involved.

...and even if he does the U.N. wants U.S. to give up the leadership roll in EYE-Wrack.


President Crotchsock is going down.

[Eddie Current]

34. maybe that's part of the plan

they can say "hey we tried" and this proves we were right about the UN being irrelevant. so give us many more billions $$$$.

ain't gonna work...

but what it boils down to is they can't admit they are wrong. this thing is so #@%!ed up and the amurican rubes are starting to figure it out. they won't lose the hardcores, but they are starting to lose Joe Sixpack. and that scares the jeebus out of them.

this administration's meltdown could be epic. and it won't be pretty.

to paraphrase Frank Black, "there's a hole in the sky and we're all gonna burn. you'll get your turn..."

[jumptheshadow]

13. When will Americans get it?

When will most Americans realize how toxic this administration is?

[Karenina]

22. THAT

is the $87 billion dollar question.

[gristy]

16. Bush's speech on Tuesday is going to be telling

He will sway no one, not after the cold shoulder he's given them for so long. I picture the has-been comic: "Hey, come-on folks. I'm dyin' up here!"

I just cannot fathom a darker, tighter spot for the creep in the hours that lead up to that speech. I do pray that as he steps up to the podium, he is met with thunderous silence.

[Barrett808]

24. Thunderous silence, indeed

That would be priceless.

[Amaya]

18. This putz

keeps gettin' dumber by the second. Is that possible? :shrug:

[hadrons]

20. do these tactics really play well for the Moran-American vote???

I figure even he isn't stupid enough (I know, I know) to believe this will work, so I figure its grandstanding, but are there people dumb to be impressed by this fool huffing & puffing, but coming away empty handed?

[Bush_has_Parvo]

21. Well, if his speech to the UN goes as well as the one last week

we may get a new Repuke candidate this spring. I really think this crew in the WH are mentally challenged, they apparently didn't learn that they can't threaten their way into UN approval.

[alcuno]

25. Oh no! Not the "challenge" line again.

How about just challenging them to a duel so this long national nightmare will end.

[koopie57]

26. What would be good to see IMHO

is the UN sending troops over there only if the US gets out completely. If I were a soldier going there, I would be terrified at the stress the American soldiers have been under and all these stories of friendly fires and lions would not make me comfortable. I think once the Americans get out of there, that the Iraqi citizens will quit fighting back anyway.

[gristy]

33. I've felt that would be a reasonable U.N. precondition.

And one the U.S. will eventually go for. Say, starting around Jan 2005.

[PurityOfEssence]

29. Must be out shopping for larger shovels this weekend

to dig themselves in even deeper.

It's amazing: they actually think they can defy the U.N. and then rub its collective nose in the mess we've made and demand help. After all, it's their fault for being shrinking violets and not standing up to people like...us. Since they've proven how lily-livered they are, they are now going to be dared to disprove it by being completely spineless. I'll hand it to Junior and his mob: they're ballsy little fucks; that's so far beyond mere absurdity that Ionescu must be pirouetting in his urn.

It's like the California recall: Republicans make a huge mess, and then demand to have the keys back because Democrats haven't cleaned it up to their satisfacton.

What it really is is an elaborate assault on our logic processes in order to destroy our ability to reason and will to persist.

Ever see the Monty Python skit "Confuse a Cat"?

[Melinda]

30. Follow the (clown) leader:

[Malva Zebrina]

35. Same story different headlines

this is really interesting. I suppose that Yahoo thinks those who are reading these headlines are in the catagory of twelve year old posters on the Yahoo boards. This is so disgusting--headlines:

Bush to Issue 'Call to Action' to U.N. on Iraq

twenty minutes later

Bush Will Call on U.N. for Help in Iraq \
Ugh-

this is real desperation--don't you feel so confident in this Bush administration?

It is laughable

[DoYouEverWonder]

37. AP changed their headline

Bush Will Call on U.N. for Help in Iraq

Gawd, I hate when they do that.

I guess Herr Rove told them to tone it down a bit. Seems he's been very busy today, there was also the faux pas earlier in the day with Putin, yes he will/no he won't send troops to Iraq.

[snippy]

36. The speech is not meant to get UN help. It is for domestic consumption.

Any agreement for the UN to help Whistle Ass out of Iraq would have been negotiated in advance by others. This speech is intended to make Americans angry at the UN and member nations. Turd Blossom Rove knows that Whistle Ass does well only when Americans are manipulated to focus their anger elsewhere. Following the speech, anyone who supports compromising with the UN will be accused by the Reich wing of supporting terrorism.

[diplomats]

38. You're probably right

After all, Colin Powell's presentation of "evidence" was for U.S. consumption also.

[MasonJar]

39. Well, that ought to

Well, that ought to be a successful strategy/not. Isn't it invigorating to have such a pea-brain for a pres? One never knows what he'll do next to embarrass the US so we have to keep ever-vigilant...mind-stretching, eh?

[LibDemAlways]

40. What an ass.

The chimp is like the bully on the block who has it in for the nasty neighbor on the corner - who happens to have an oil well on his property. He's constantly threatening the nasty guy and encouraging the other neighbors to get involved. When they refuse he takes matters into his own hands - runs the guy and his family out of town - and destroys the man's home in the process. Then he goes begging the neighbors to help clean up the mess on their dime and without sharing his newly stolen oil wealth. What are those neighbors going to say? I think "F.U. buddy" is pretty close. Bush deserves no less.

[dflprincess]

41. No doubt he will do this by ignoring protocal

and go directly to a "triple dog dare ya".

Whistle ass.