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 Bush’s Tragic Dream WorldPosted on Jan 18, 2008By Robert Fisk Originally published in The Independent on Jan. 16, 2008. The President sat chummily beside the all-too-friendly monarch yesterday, enthroned in what looked suspiciously like the kind of casual blue cardigan he might wear on his own Texan ranch; he had even received a jangling gold “Order of Merit”—it looked a bit like the Lord Chancellor’s chain, though it was not disclosed which particular merit earned Mr. Bush this kingly reward. Could it be the hypocritical merit of supplying yet more billions worth of weapons to the Kingdom, to be used against the Saudi regime’s imaginary enemies? It was illusory, of course, like all the words that the Arabs have heard from the Americans these past seven days, ever since the fading President began his tourist jaunt around the Middle East. You wouldn’t think it though, watching this preposterous man, prancing around arm-in-arm with the King, in what was presumably meant to be a dance, wielding a massive glinting curved Saudi sword, a latter-day Saladin, who would have appalled the Kurdish leader who once destroyed the Crusaders in what is now referred to by Mr. Bush as “the disputed West Bank”. Is this how lame-duck American presidents are supposed to behave? Certainly, the denizens of the Middle East watching this outrageous performance will all be asking this question. Ever since the 1979 Iranian revolution, a Muslim Cold War has been raging within the Middle East—but is this how Mr. Bush thinks one should fight for the soul of Islam? Advertisement The difference between reality and the dream-world of the U.S. government could hardly have been more savagely illustrated. After promising the Palestinians a “sovereign and contiguous state” before the end of the year, and pledging “security” to Israel—though not, Arabs noted, security for “Palestine”—Mr. Bush had arrived in the Gulf to terrify the kings and oligarchs of the oil-soaked kingdoms of the danger of Iranian aggression. As usual, he came armed with the usual American offers of vast weapons sales to protect these largely undemocratic and police state regimes from potentially the most powerful nation in the “axis of evil”. It was a potent—even weird—example of the US President’s perambulation of the Arab Middle East, a return to the “policy by fear” which Washington has regularly visited upon Gulf leaders. He agreed to furnish the Saudis with at least £41m of arms, a figure set to rise to more than £10bn in weaponry to the Gulf potentates under a deal announced last year—all of which is supposed to shield them from the supposed territorial ambitions of Iran’s crackpot President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. As usual, Washington promised the Israelis that their “qualitative edge” in advanced weapons would be maintained, just in case the Saudis—who have never gone to war with anyone except Saddam Hussein after his 1990 invasion of Kuwait—decided to launch a suicidal attack on America’s only real ally in the Middle East. This, of course, was not how the whole shooting match was presented to the Arabs. Mr. Bush could be seen ostentatiously kissing the cheeks of King Abdullah and holding hands with the autocratic monarch whose Wahhabi Muslim state had only recently showed its “mercy” to a Saudi woman who was charged with adultery after being raped seven times in the desert outside Riyadh. The Saudis, needless to say, are well aware that Mr. Bush’s reign is ending amid chaos in Pakistan, a disastrous guerrilla war against Western forces in Afghanistan, fierce fighting in Gaza, near civil war in Lebanon and the hell-disaster of Iraq. The bomb in Beirut, just before five in the evening, must still have come as a rude shock to the luxuriating President who has such close ties with the Saudi regime—despite the fact that the majority of hijackers in the crimes against humanity of 11 September 2001 came from the Kingdom—that he allowed its junior princes to fly home from the United States immediately after the attacks. Two trips to Mr Bush’s Texas ranch by King Abdullah [were] apparently enough to earn the U.S. President a night in the Saudi king’s palace-farm, surrounded by groomed lawns and grassy hills. Heard across many miles of the Lebanese capital, the bomb devastated buildings in a narrow street in the east of the city through which the vehicle was passing, just as the U.S. ambassador—on a different route into the city—was traveling to a central Beirut hotel reception before leaving for Washington. A State Department spokesman, however, insisted that no U.S. citizens had been hurt. The American SUV had taken an obscure laneway close to the Karantina bridge to travel north of Beirut along the bank of the city’s only river when it was struck, leading local Lebanese military officials to ask themselves if the bomber had inside knowledge of the route they were taking. There was talk that this was a “dummy” convoy staged to distract potential bombers from the journey which Ambassador Jeffrey Feltman was taking to a reception at a downtown hotel. A carpet manufacturer’s factory was smashed by the blast which tore down roofs and smashed windows more than half a mile from the scene. For Arab leaders, Mr. Bush’s message to the Gulf leaders was wearily familiar. In the 1980s, when the Reagan administration was supporting Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Iran, Washington spent its time warning Gulf leaders of the danger of Iranian aggression. Once Saddam invaded Kuwait, America’s emphasis changed: It was now Iraq which posed the greatest danger to their kingdoms. But once the emirate was liberated, the oil-wealthy monarchs were told that—yet again—it was Iran that was their enemy. Arabs are no more taken in by this topsy-turvy “good-versus-evil” narrative than they are by Washington’s promises to help create a Palestinian state by the end of the year, scarcely a day before Israel publicly admitted to plans for yet more houses for settlers on Arab land amid Jewish colonies illegally built on Palestinian territory. Yet to understand the nature of this extraordinary relationship with the Gulf monarchs, it is necessary to recall that ever since the President’s father promised a weapons-free “oasis of peace” in the Gulf, Washington—along with Britain, France and Russia—has been pouring arms into the region. Over the past decade, the Gulf Arabs have squandered billions of their oil dollars on American weapons. The statistics tell their own story. In 1998 and 1999 alone, Gulf Arab military spending came to £40bn. Between 1997 and 2005, the sheikhs of the United Arab Emirates—Mr. Bush’s hosts before he continued to Riyadh—signed arms contracts worth £9bn with Western nations. Between 1991 and 1993—when Iraq was the “enemy”—the U.S. Military Training Mission was administering more than £14bn in Saudi arms procurements and £12bn in new U.S. weapons acquisitions. By this time, the Saudis already possessed 72 American F-15 fighter-bombers and 114 British Tornados. How little has changed in the past 17 years. On 17 May 1991, for example, George Bush Sr. said there were now “real reasons to be optimistic” about a peace in the Middle East. “We are going to continue to work in the [peace] process,” he said then. “We are not going to abandon it.” James Baker, who was the American Secretary of State, warned on 23 May 1991 that the continued building of Jewish settlements on Palestinian land “hindered” a future Middle East peace, just as the present Secretary of State said last week. At the time, the Israelis were reassured by Dick Cheney that the U.S. would safeguard their “security”. The West may have a short memory. The Arabs, who happen to live in the piece of real estate which we call the Middle East and who are not stupid, have not. They understand all too well what George W. Bush now stands for. After advocating “democracy” in the region—a policy which gained electoral victories for Shia in Iraq, for Hamas in Gaza and a substantial gain in political power for the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt—it seems to have dawned on Washington that something might be slightly wrong with Bush’s priorities. Instead of advocating a “New Middle East”, Mr. Bush, lying amid his silken sheets in the Saudi king’s palace, is now pursuing a return to the “Old Middle East”, a place of secret policemen, torture chambers—to which prisoners can be usefully “renditioned”—and dictatorial “moderate” presidents and monarchs. And which of the Gulf despots is going to object to that? Elsewhere: . CommentsAre you a Truthdig member yet? Login now, or register with Truthdig. Add Your Comment
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India May Hold the Whip Hand in Dubai Power Game
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By cyrena, January 23, 2008 at 9:03 am #
Uh…I don’t really know of any sites like this, but admittedly, I haven’t been looking.
Now there are a few posters here that have continued to claim allegiance to georgie. Driving Bear once mentioned that he was still ‘for’ him.
So, maybe he’ll check in, and give you all of his ‘goodnesses’.
Otherwise, it’s good to know that other than what you’ve mentioned, you don’t have any strong feelings either way. I guess that aside from what you’ve already mentioned, I don’t either.
I suspect that you’ve covered it pretty well, although I think it’s closer to a million Iraqis that he’s killed, not to mention the few million that have been displaced.
Report thisBy Frank Cajon, January 23, 2008 at 12:16 am #
If watching Herr Bush holding hands with the royal Saudis, and smiling his demented, inappropriate smile as the dancing girls perform their numbers for him and the court didn’t induce vomiting, nothing will. These bastards are the same as the ones who slept in the Lincoln bedroom on 9/11 and whose ass Herr Bush has had a liplock on since he was an arms dealer. Nothing is going to change, now that they are underwriting his regime and propping up the economy he flushed down his war toilet. Though I am probably the only one on the board that thinks so, I seem to recall the Bin Laden and most of the 9/11 hijackers were Saudis and their school children are taught to hate Americans, even to kill them in a Jihad. Our mentally ill, fascist CIC who no longer can distinguish such concerns as moral right vs wrong, sees no contradiction is selling arms to both Israel, who will gladly use them against an outgunned but fervently terrorist Hamas, and damn the collateral damage; while with the other hand selling jets to Saudi Arabia, who outsources its wars to the US-rendering the arms sale sort of a money laundering operation. Sort of a minute version Iraq war type laundering, without the hundreds of thousands of deaths and disfigurings. And the smiles on the sheiks? Their puppet has killed oil competition from Iraq for nearly six years, crude is over $100 a barrel, and life is good, if you are a Saudi oil prince, or an oil millionaire turned imperialistic US military dictator, or are any of the financial backers who will be there to pick up the pieces of what is left of the US economy after Bush/Cheney Reich is done with it.
Report thisBy Terry, January 22, 2008 at 10:24 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
Does the right wing have sites that praise bush, we (on the left) know that bush is an evil rotten to the core dog, we have written millions of words on his uselessness from being born to hijacking two elections as if the US was some kind of tinpot dictatorship, say like Kenya, Zimbabwe, Russia where vote rigging, voter intimidation etc are the norm, as I haven’t looked can someone tell me a site that says bush has been a force for good in the world, that his policies have been inspired, his choices for government office have been based purely on skill, merit and intelligence. That he cares about people so much that when told of 9/11 he continued reading to those adorable little children for 7 minutes, is well known, maybe we have all been wrong all this time and he is just misunderstood, mistaken or misinformed, but never wrong, so please let me know a site I can go to and read about all the good things hes done in his 7 years in office, apart from causing the deaths of 4k Americans and 150k Iraqis, creating the largest narco state in the world in Afghanistan, ruining the economy and will probably go onto being responsible for a global recession.
Other than that I have no strong feelings wither way.
Report thisBy thebeerdoctor, January 22, 2008 at 5:39 am #
You are correct my friend. My only defense is this: Please Douglas Chalmers! Don’t play the blues so sad.
Report thisLove is truly the only survival engine. Peace. Blessings. My only prayer is Thank You. The Beer Doctor.
By Douglas Chalmers, January 22, 2008 at 4:40 am #
Re: Obviously again you have not - By thebeerdoctor, January 21: “...the reason grand opera exists. Be kind to silicone…’
Lame, thebeerdoctor, uhh!
Report thisBy thebeerdoctor, January 22, 2008 at 4:10 am #
This is the last I will trouble you. Your postings are the reason grand opera exists. Be kind to silicone, it just may be your only friend.
Report thisBy Douglas Chalmers, January 22, 2008 at 1:29 am #
Obviously again you have not - By thebeerdoctor, January 21: ”...you know nothing about Robert Fisk. But perhaps you do know Anthony Bourdain…”
No, I said I knew Fairuz, thebeerdoctor, and a lot of other Lebanese like Jihan Al Masri http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShBn-zMIQ60 (9min) - and Palestinians like Saeb Erakat (the Israelis hate him) http://www.geocities.com/lawrenceofcyberia/palbios/pa02000.html
No, the Middle East in general is not a “dangerous environment” whatsoever. Have you been to Dubai? Check out the links!
As you say, the last thing that the Middle East needs is another idiot gringo wandering around their land, unable to speak their languages. They’ve already got heaps, ha ha - http://www.oryxrealestate.com/living_in_dubai/video_2_1.php
“It is so funny it hurts”. Oh, I know! There are things you can plug into your computer these days, uhh. Just be careful you don’t burn out your motherboard, ha ha.
Report thisBy thebeerdoctor, January 21, 2008 at 9:52 pm #
Obviously again you have not read Robert Fisk in depth, he does not peddle misery. I do enjoy you taking yourself so seriously. When I say “dangerous environment” I am speaking of the Middle East in general. And yes Lebanon is a beautiful country, until Israel decides to start bombing it. And it certainly was not a fun place to be during their civil war. Again and obviously, read Pity The Nation.
Report thisSo you would not read a print newspaper and you believe in the computer? I am afraid my friend you are the one suffering from myopia. You mention lack of money. Now that is funny too. Such statements are even more interesting when you consider that a majority of Americans can not afford to purchase a passport. Lack of money eh?
Yes it is true that that part of the world is “the ancient birthplace of most culture” and if you had read… oops, does print apply to books too? Forget it, you know nothing about Robert Fisk. But perhaps you do know Anthony Bourdain? The celebrity chef writer, who produces the No Reservations television show for the Travel Channel? I can think of very few Americans who have more respect for all cultures than Tony. Well, he was going to do a show about Lebanon’s culinary culture, but it just so happened that Israel decided to start bombing the country. So what was originally going to be a show about cuisine, turned out to be a US rescue operation of unlucky American tourists.
The last thing that the Middle East (and I mean any of the countries there) needs is another idiot gringo wandering around their land, unable to speak their languages.
As for the computer as oracle, I remember what the great multi-instrumentalist, Rahsahn Roland Kirk once said: “Computer, I passed by a house the other day and saw a woman making love to a computer!”
Enough of this, I am not suppose to laugh, my ribs are cracked. It is so funny it hurts.
By Douglas Chalmers, January 21, 2008 at 7:43 pm #
Obviously, you still have not - By thebeerdoctor, January 21: “...why in the world would I voluntarily put myself in a very dangerous environment?
Dear thebeerdoctor, the very way to contact someone using a computer IS “by using a computer”. Funny, though, that you can’t see that.
I wouldn’t read a print newspaper these days any more than the people in the M.East would access the US media. What is unusual about that is that Americans can’t see it.
Actually, most of the M.East is NOT “a very dangerous environment”. 100’s of millions of people live there, mosty quite happily. The opposite is what you are told to believe.
Even Robert Fisk makes his living out of peddling misery. Why, then, would he happily live in Lebanon for decades? How could he if it were all as bad as we in the West are told to imagine?
It was not only the ancient birthplace of most culture and science and religion we take for granted in the West but it is still a place of culture. Its just that they don’t all have so much money these days.
Fairuz is from Lebanon too http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJjUIi7rKQg
Report thisBy thebeerdoctor, January 21, 2008 at 7:14 pm #
Obviously, you still have not read Mr. Fisk, and just as obvious, you are just another idiot blogger like myself. Since I am not a real journalist, and I would suspect neither are you, why in the world would I voluntarily put myself in a very dangerous environment?
Report thisBut please check this out: Someone complaining about the rantings of someone on a computer, by using a computer?
Now that is funny!
By Douglas Chalmers, January 21, 2008 at 6:14 pm #
Re: ROBERT FISK’S WORK SPEAKS FOR - By thebeerdoctor, January 21: “Obviously you have never read Robert Fisk’s books…”
Why don’t you just stop “reading books” and go there for yourself???
Report thisBy thebeerdoctor, January 21, 2008 at 5:34 pm #
Obviously you have never read Robert Fisk’s books.
Report thisBy Douglas Chalmers, January 21, 2008 at 5:00 pm #
ROBERT FISK’S WORK SPEAKS FOR ITSELF - By thebeerdoctor, January 21: “Robert Fisk… has seen on the ground the tumultuous events that have shaped that region…”
I appreciate what you are trying to say, thebeerdoctor, but, believe it or not, everbody else who has been living there in the M.East has “has seen on the ground the tumultuous events that have shaped that region” too.
That they have “witnessed first hand the horror” in their own countries and in their own backyard/frontyard never seems to quite dawn upon the voyeristic Westerner comfortably ensconced behind his/her TV set or PC, uhh.
But cyrena, January 21, is a sad example of this disconnect from the reality of human existence in other countries “when any other “christian’ would have their heads immediately whacked off” is part of her luridly erroneous imagination.
No wonder, then, that Americans are living in a helpless state of perpetual fear if that is what is still in their minds. It is garbage! All the more so for an Afro-American (cyrena) who is in trepidation of life in any non-Anglo-Saxon English-speaking country.
Thus the array of distorted constructs of the world which plage American minds are of their own making - and for their own reasons. In fact, it is the USA which specializes in such delusions and it is their own dream factories in “Hollywood” which continue to churn them out.
Report thisBy thebeerdoctor, January 21, 2008 at 2:35 pm #
People who complain about Robert Fisk rambling are probably not aware of who Robert Fisk is. A veteran reporter who has seen on the ground the tumultuous events that have shaped that region, is in a far better position to point out the criminal hypocrisy of the western powers and Russia. Read The Great War For Civilization, the conquest of the middle east.
Report thisAs far as Fisk being an outsider because he is British, he has lived in Lebanon for decades. Anyone who has witnessed first hand the horror that Robert Fisk has, would find it remarkable that he is able to report at all.
By cyrena, January 21, 2008 at 6:47 am #
Really, I REALLY DO agree with you. There is no doubt in my mind that the average American does NOT know this stuff, in some cases because they just don’t care, or are incabable of connecting any of the dots.
BUT, I refuse to believe that is the entire reason. Matter of fact, I KNOW it isn’t. The average American doesn’t know it, because they are not exposed to it. As usual, this is information that we’re only likely to get from a foreign press, just as this is published in the Independant, and thankfully provided for us here, by the editors at truthdig.
One may agree or not agree with Robert Fisk, based on their own personal prejudices or jealousies, or just because they don’t like what he ‘exposes’.
But the bottom line is that Americans DO need to know this stuff, and we all need to be careful about flogging the messenger, just because he said it first.
Meantime, I’ve been screaming for the heads of the so-called President and Vice President for 7 years now. Nobody has listened to me, (which is OK and I’m used to it) but that makes me extra grateful for the voices of Robert Fisk, and anybody else who would put this information forth, as he is willing and quite able to do.
Because…a WAKE UP is very long overdue.
Report thisBy cyrena, January 21, 2008 at 4:56 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
Not really sure how bumbling he is. (bush that is).
And, Fisk is as knowledgeable as anybody else on the subject.
“Outsider” would clearly depend on where one happens to be situated, more mentally than physically.
I agree that Iran is not now, nor have they ever been, the ‘threat’ that SA could become.
I’ve yet to understand how as remarkably ‘christian’ as the Bush cabal is, they’ve always been so overwhelmingly welcome in SA, when any other “christian’ would have their heads immediately whacked off.
Report thisBy Douglas Chalmers, January 21, 2008 at 2:36 am #
Befuddled - By Marshall, January 20: ”...what the point of this article is. It sounds like a rambling criticism of something, but I think only the author knows what…”
Well, that’s Robert Fisk for you, Marshall. He’s been telling the story of the M.East for rather long now. But, as an Englishman, he is still essentially an outsider - and becoming less and less relevant as Al Jazeera and others ascend.
Where there was once a free media in Britain, it has become bogged in its own faded-jaded empire viewpoint and its own censorship issues as a Bush poodle state as well as effectively a Saudi poodle state now too, uhh, since their armaments industry took precedence over free speech or even an honest parliament.
But, then, everyone seems to be blind to the fact that Sarkosy, the new Bush poodle, has also been trotting around the Gulf at the same time selling nuclear energy power plants to as many Arab states as he could sign up. http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/57C1220E-F62A-4A12-BC54-FDC0CD0F46CA.htm
Report thisBy Really?, January 20, 2008 at 11:28 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
Do you really think the average American knows this information? If so, why aren’t they screaming for the heads of their President, Vice-Pres? If so, why is America still the most undemocratic place on earth?
Report thisSeems to me this article is another walk through the past and the present to get people to wake up, no?
By anonymous, January 20, 2008 at 10:53 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
Bush is truly the CEO President. He merely acted as the salesman for the arms industry. All at tax-payer expense. Wonder how soon we’ll see these arms being used against Americans in Iraq by they Sunnis?
SA does not allow Christian Churches in their kingdom (have Starbucks though!) 15 of the 19 9-11 hijackers were Saudi, and Wahhabism is very much alive. Iran, on the other hand, allows Christian practitioners and churches,(even had Jewish synagogues a few years ago), they do not practice Wahhabism and Iranians were not part of the 9-11 hijack team.
So the Bush Crime Family decides we need to sell more arms to The Kingdom because of the threat of Iran. Off goes the bumbling salesman from Crawford.
Report thisBy felicity, January 20, 2008 at 3:57 pm #
are getting to the Taliban in Afghanistan - the guess is from Saudis. (Can’t blame it on scape-goat Iran because the Taliban are Sunnis.) Wonder how many weapons marked “Made in the USA” are going to end up tearing apart the bodies of our troops over there.
Apparently Bush and Cheney’s blood lust hasn’t been satisfied yet as they’re now going after our own people. How about that for a Commander-in-Chief?
Report thisBy Marshall, January 20, 2008 at 5:10 am #
I swear, I can’t tell what the point of this article is. It sounds like a rambling criticism of something, but I think only the author knows what.
Report thisBy kesa, January 19, 2008 at 10:48 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
Curl up into a fetal position? Bury your head in the sand? Roll over and die? What can you do when there’s nothing you can do?
Report thisAs Bruce Cockburn would say, ” if I had a rocket launcher, some sonofabitch would die…”
Sleep tight fellow humans, the end IS nigh…
By FrostedFlakes, January 19, 2008 at 8:28 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
We did not elect him.You duplicitous voters who say one thing outside the voting booth and then do the opposite in the privacy of the booth elected (or should I say, selected) this foolish criminal twice. That same game is going to be played out with the new hero of the day Obama.
Report thisBy P. T., January 19, 2008 at 8:16 pm #
The Saudis and other Arab allies of the U.S. like to claim to support the Palestinians but also cozy up to whatever U.S. president is in office and backing Israel. It is all a farce.
Report thisBy Blackspeare, January 19, 2008 at 6:26 pm #
Hey GuyTran…
You fail to appreciate the underlying economics in selling arms to SA. Remember what Eisenhower said when he left office, “Beware the military-industrial complex.” Today it is bigger and more powerful than ever and Bush is obligated to fulfill such economic policies. Also important to remember is the quote from Mussolini who said that a nation must go to war every 25 years to remain strong. An outrageous statement of sorts except when you realize that the US goes to war large or small about every 15 years!!!
Report thisBy lawlessone, January 19, 2008 at 5:36 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
If you still need a reason why we need to commence impeachment proceedings against Bush and Cheney immediately instead of just waiting for their term to expire, heres several:
1. Their arrogance, aggression, carelessness or simple ignorance could drag us into a war against Iran or any of several other countries he doesnt happen to like or make one of them angry enough to attack us.
2. They could finish pissing off what few allies we have left that still trust or like us.
3. They could finish their depletion of our military capability and morale.
4. They could auction off the national forests, parks or other important assets.
5. They could appoint still more unremovable, partisan and injudicious judges who would then be able continue enforcing Bushs bankrupt ideology for decades to come.
6. They could pardon all the criminals within their current administration and among their campaign contributors.
7. Their spying on opposition leaders could find enough material to blackmail them into submission, although it appears that may have already happened.
8. They could initiate a coup to keep them selves in power by suspending the Constitution to protect us, rounding up and permanently jailing or torturing anyone protesting as an enemy of the state. Or if not, what they have done already will likely insure that future administrations will be able or at least attempt to be equally dictatorial.
9. They could drive us into a deadly recession or depression. Oops. Probably too late for that one.
10. The mere fact that they escape without punishment of some sort pretty much invalidates all that this country once stood for.
Report thisBy robert m puglia, January 19, 2008 at 5:16 pm #
while from a proud tower in the town
Report thisdeath looked gigantically down
By P. T., January 19, 2008 at 4:11 pm #
Click http://www.democracynow.org/2007/12/26/shooting_back_the_israeli_human_rights
Report thisBy Howard, January 19, 2008 at 3:12 pm #
Two Palestinians Killed by Weapons Misuse in Gaza (Maan News-PA)
The Gaza police said Thursday that Hamza Al-Arqan was killed and his brother was injured when gunmen were shooting into the air during a wedding party in the Shujaiyya neighborhood in Gaza City.
Separately, Nawal As-Sarhi, 19, from the Zeitoun neighborhood, was killed by a gunshot while she was playing with her father’s pistol
Report thisBy GW=MCHammered, January 19, 2008 at 1:37 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
The BushCheneyRoveRumsfeldRice animal is a Manifest Destiny Creature turned Self-fulfilling Prophet Demon. It toils to bring about Armageddon. And History is piled with souls that pay for such psychotic nihilism. Exile the Mutant Beast before its work is done.
Report thisBy G.Anderson, January 19, 2008 at 11:41 am #
How do you feel about someone who has made you a lot of money?
Like a rube in a poker game who is well over his head. Betting, his house and putting his wife up for collateral when he looses all his chips?
Do you respect him? Do you honor him? Or do you treat him like a foolish tourist, on vacation, really not a part of things at all, but just a careless observer. Not playing with a full deck.
Come and have a nice visit, stay awhile, take your shoes off, kick back. Have a foot massage, and some exotic cuisine. Soon it will be time to return to the Ranch, or Washington for some more Jaw Boneing.
And all those disagreeable people who never seemed satisfied whatever you do.
Mabye it is time to curl up into a fetal position, after all.
Report thisBy Expat, January 19, 2008 at 11:16 am #
Ray Wilkie,
Report thisA lovely sentiment, but long gone from our reality. I agree, we elected him twice; shame on us. May your dream come to pass.
By Expat, January 19, 2008 at 9:55 am #
Thomas, precious, LOL!
Report thisBy Douglas Chalmers, January 19, 2008 at 4:52 am #
#By P. T., January 18: “Bush has a soft spot for brutal regimes in the Mideast. The Zionist regime ...”
$20 billion here, another $20 billion there, more for Egypt, and so on. then there is the $150 billion that has to be made to come out of thin air to save the US domestic economy from these fiscal abuses.
Which of these will ever eventually end up getting paid? AIPAC before health? Saudi royalty before education? Israeli Zionist expansion before US domestic welfare?
Soon, none of the figures will add up. They already don’t to the US foreign debt financiers in China, Japan and the EU.
#By Ray Wilkie, January 18: “He really is your (USA) man…. the inmates now control the funny farm…. at the election, providing that you are allowed one…’
Yes, Ray Wilkie. Washington man, London man, Canberra man, Cro-Magnon man - all slobbering together happily in the end - back in the Stone Age, uhh.
Report thisBy nomorebombs, January 19, 2008 at 3:49 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
right on cyrena
Report thisBy cyrena, January 19, 2008 at 3:34 am #
Actually, I’d like to do more than that to him Mary.
I’d definitely settle for impeachment first though.
THEN can we try him and his godfather at the Hague, in the ICC? (the International Criminal Court?) First Cheney, then him, then all the rest of their criminal gangster buddies.
Report thisBy P. T., January 19, 2008 at 3:26 am #
Bush has a soft spot for brutal regimes in the Mideast. The Zionist regime is another case in point.
Report thisBy weather, January 18, 2008 at 7:57 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
Left-out, kindly take the nxt. flight out for Israel and stay there. We’ll keep in touch.
Report thisBy felicity, January 18, 2008 at 6:58 pm #
if our representatives in the House and Senate are going through the agony that we’re going through having this fool, this incompetent, this criminal represent us to the world. And then you have to wonder why, if they are going through what we’re going through, they refuse to get rid of him.
Report thisBy mary, January 18, 2008 at 6:19 pm #
Don’t you just want to slap that smirk off his face! This will be the longest year of all, trust me…...
Report thisBy Ray Wilkie, January 18, 2008 at 5:50 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
He really is your (USA) man.It can be reasoned that to elect him the first time was a mistake, but for a second time, me thinks not.
Report thisYou have availed him of all he requested and now you say he lives in a dream world,I wonder why?
It would appear that it has finally happened, the inmates now control the funny farm.
Please take this upcomming chance at the election, providing that you are allowed one, to return to the once elevated position your beautifull country once occupied.
By jatihoon, January 18, 2008 at 4:52 pm #
If you do it you are damned, if you dont do it you are damned. Good, Bad or Worse, king George is trying, like last king of England, Look what happened, America became FREE.
Report thisBy lawlessone, January 18, 2008 at 3:03 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
Maybe Bush is a clone. He certainly seems to have the combined DNA of Harding, Nixon, Reagan, Clinton. In that order - contemptible, criminal, clueless, and too cowardly to brave bullets in wartime.
Report thisBy Thomas Billis, January 18, 2008 at 2:26 pm #
The Secret Service confimed that there was some panic for minutes when while visiting the King in Saudi Arabia Bush apparently diasappeared.Turns out he had slipped his head under the King’s robes.When his head suddenly appeared again he claimed he was looking for his car keys.Reporters noted the King had a look of satisfaction on his face.
Report thisBy QuyTran, January 18, 2008 at 1:14 pm #
Our President now becomes a new arms dealer ! Congratulations !
Report thisBy ocjim, January 18, 2008 at 12:17 pm #
Bush’s dream—Shrub shielded and deluded—is our nightmare. He has never been touched by any nightmare he has wrought, and there are plenty.
Report thisBy KISS, January 18, 2008 at 11:44 am #
Well done Mr. Fisk, Bush dreams of his own opulent monarch, it’s called Texas. Another oil Barron and arms dealer doing what is best for him and his cronies. Did he visit the grocery stores where the average Saudi can no longer afford milk because of inflation? Did he look into the desperation of Sadie’s needing medical help?
Report thisI’ll bet he wanted to hear all about the torture chambers and newest technology on torture.
By Expat, January 18, 2008 at 11:08 am #
Robert Fisk,
You are far too kind in this article about the cretin, that be the president of the U.S.
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