Sinking to New Depths: The Mad Hatter Lectures the Arab World!

"America is deeply concerned about the plight of political prisoners in this region, as well as democratic activists who are intimidated or repressed, newspapers and civil society organizations that are shut down and dissidents whose voices are stifled...I call on all nations in this region to release their prisoners of conscience, open up their political debate and trust their people to chart their future."
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by Reggie

(May 21, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) I don’t know who is writing George Bush’s speeches nowadays, but it has to be someone with really serious mental problems. It’s embarrassing enough when this clueless president attempts to speak spontaneously. Left to his own devices, he cannot string together a handful of simple words with any coherent continuity; just as he cannot offer rational responses to questions he apparently is unable to process. But when George Bush has a prepared speech to deliver to an apprehensive audience of 1,500 global policymakers and business leaders in the Middle East, you’d think he would say something intelligent. Think again.

It’s seems almost ridiculous when you do think about it, - but today, the President of these United States sought to lecture men whose cultures he does not understand, and whose history he does not know, and whose societies he has never studied, and whose people view him with distrust and disrespect, on how they should conduct their lives.

At an international conference of Arab notables, this arrogant, unpopular, ineffective, and insensitive man – George W. Bush - dared to pass himself off as a staunch defender of peace and freedom in the world, as well as the reigning champion of political freedom and women’s rights. According to the AP, he assumed a ‘decidedly tougher tone,’ when making the following claims:

"America is deeply concerned about the plight of political prisoners in this region, as well as democratic activists who are intimidated or repressed, newspapers and civil society organizations that are shut down and dissidents whose voices are stifled...I call on all nations in this region to release their prisoners of conscience, open up their political debate and trust their people to chart their future,"

Are you laughing yet? I know I am. But it’s laughter of disbelief and incredulity that seems to be the only response I can muster to this ongoing madness. George W. Bush, the man who has done more to violate political freedom, oppose women’s rights, suppress freedom of information and the press, and and who prides himself on being a 'war president,' is lecturing others to reform the ills of their governments.

It is beyond insanity. Having George Bush lecture anyone about peace and freedom is much like Charles Manson giving a talk on positive group dynamics.

After all, this is a man who lied the American people into an endless war. This is a man who spied on his own citizens in violation of their Constitutional rights. This is a man who has led the most secretive government in the history of this country, and has imprisoned people without charges and without right to counsel. This is a man who has condoned and approved of torture and rendition flights, and this is a man who is totally committed to denying women the right to privacy or equal pay and to giving gays and lesbians the same civil rights enjoyed by other Americans.

This is a man who refused to allow an investigation into the tragic events of 9/11 for a full year after they occurred, and who still stands in the way of any discussion or exposure of the fallacies of the official account of that day. This is a man who sent military officers with ties to war profiteers to shill for his wars on the complicit “news” networks. And this is a man who will not allow the American public to see the flag-draped coffins of the troops he sent into a senseless meat grinder called “Operation Iraqi Freedom.”

This is a man who has supported the most repressive Middle Eastern leaders when it has been profitable for him to do so, and who has slaughtered countless innocents in the region when that has been equally profitable for him and his handlers. This is the man whom Condoleezza Rice has the temerity to describe as “pro-democracy and pro-peace." And yet, this is the man who dares to lecture anyone on earth on the virtues of peace and freedom.

We have spent most years of the Bush presidency reporting the crimes that the thugs of this administration have perpetrated on this country and the world, and for which this President and his cohorts will never be held responsible. Like others in the alternative world of real news, we have written over and over about the deterioration of our freedom and the horrors of the wars that the Bush cartel has waged in our name. Frankly, right now, I’m tired of doing the same thing over and over.

Perhaps I’ll just have a good laugh. It’s really quite ludicrous after all.
- Sri Lanka Guardian