Bush with a new axis to grind (Analysis of today's speech by Bush)

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

WASHINGTON - In what the White House billed as a major address, President George W Bush on Thursday announced that the United States has adopted a new policy he calls "a forward strategy of freedom in the Middle East".

The speech, which comes amid growing public and congressional unease about the costs and duration of the US occupation of Iraq, appeared designed to rally support by casting the occupation as part of an historic mission by Washington to spread liberty and democracy around the world.

But independent analysts warned that Bush's sweeping rhetoric could backfire, both by fueling concerns about his administration's larger regional ambitions and by creating expectations that are unlikely to be met, even in Iraq.

"The rhetoric is meaningless if the reality on the ground gets much worse," said Geoffrey Kemp, a top Middle East adviser to former president Ronald Reagan and currently with the Richard M Nixon Center, a think tank in Washington.

In an interview he also noted that Bush's praise of authoritarian allies in the region could well provoke more cynicism about US intentions among democratic forces there. "This is part of an increasingly desperate attempt by the administration to shore up support for Iraq," said Charles Kupchan, a foreign policy analyst at the Council on Foreign Relations. "A war that was supposed to be about national security must now be cast as a war for Wilsonian liberalism," he told Inter Press Service.
<snip>

More: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/EK08Ak01.html

[Don_G]

1. Dimbo Is Full Of BS

Those in the Middle East know the target is oil to serve the American interests and that's the way it has been since shortly after WWI.

From Al-Jazeera: http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/E07D937C-456F-48C9-90FF-A2C87F2DB724.htm

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

4. I read that earlier. Nicely done piece. But God forbid someone

accuse Bushco of this directly! You'd get the "I suppose you think things aren't better without Saddam with his RAPE ROOMS? Are you a rapist?" response.

It was Dole in South America and it's a consortiom of energy companies in the ME. All wrapped in a vail of patriotism and false humanity.

[JackSwift]

2. Pure people loving democracy and Christianity

must have living space in the Middle East.

Democrats must now unite and present a clear choice to the American people: perpetual war in the Middle East under Bush, or a targeted pursuit of proven terrorists around the world under a Democrat

Bush will spend $400 billion a year of money borrowed from your children, reinstitute a draft and send them to the Middle East for the wrong end of target practice. Domesticly, we can expect more warnings against dissent and suppression of points of view that differ.

[Paschall]

3. OMG

<snip> Democratization need not take the form of "Westernization", Bush stressed, suggesting that Middle East states could be "constitutional monarchies, federal republics or parliamentary systems". But they should include certain "central principles", like limits on the powers of the state and the military; the rule of law; space for civil society, political parties, labor unions and a free press; religious liberty; the privatization of the economy; and guarantees of women's rights.

All of these, Bush said, are now being applied to Afghanistan and Iraq. </snip>

And at that moment God didn't strike him down with a maximal lightning bolt?!? LIAR!!!

[truthisfreedom]

5. well, [b]something[/b] is being applied to Afghanistan and Iraq. but

what that is remains to be seen.

[Terran]

13. My god, what cynicism!

Bush will be reinacarnated as some sort of speechless insect for his next 1000 lives, he has abused human language so badly.

[Noordam]

6. :kick:

:kick:

[theHandpuppet]

7. A friendly kick...

... to leapfrog this thread over the troll and back to the front page.

[kodi]

8. last thing in his bag of tricks, a holy war for the god Demos

we wouldn't give a flying fuck about the middle east if there was no oil there.

bush wants real democracy in the middle east? he'd have an easier time turning africa into europe.

[OKHRANA]

9. this is the 2004 re-election theme

the question is, will the people buy it? Will we let them?

[leftchick]

10. Ha! Here is the Al-Jaz take on his "credibility gap"!

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/BFF619F0-79DA-4AC3-B362-BBE604459B29.htm

boosh* Democracy call Draws Scorn

<snip>"We in the Arab world believe that if freedom and democracy come in the area, they should come to all, not a selective group," he said. "We also demand freedom and democracy for the Palestinian people. Then (Bush's comments) would have credibility."

Palestinian cabinet minister Saeb Erekat reacted to Bush's speech by urging the president to underscore his vision for democracy in the Middle East by helping the Palestinians to hold free and fair presidential and parliamentary elections.

[Guaranteed]

11. Yup...it's Reagan's old "Bum of the Month" tour...nt

[emad]

12. UK TV news last night said many think he's being puffed up

into a 'statesmanlike' image ahead of the UK visit because his credibility and standing in the UK are at rock bottom.

[cliss]

14. Bush may be right that the Middle East

needs more democracy, but he's not the one to do it. This is a man who oozes greed and sinister motives, it literally comes out of his pores.

When he speaks, my ears instinctively shut him out. My shaking hand reaches out to the radio dial to get rid of him quickly.

He and his ilk have other plans for the world.

[young_at_heart]

15. When he speaks I become physically ill

No other president has had that effect on me....I can't bear to watch or listen to him. He is truly an embarrassment!

[Rex]

16. Hitler and his administration had "larger regional ambitions" too

nt