Archives for November 2003

Here is a difficult question for you: “Who has become more predictable regarding their reactions to President Bush? Al-jazeera and the Arab Press or the American Left?”

The American Left

Atrios:

Count me as one who thinks that Bush’s little trip is, on balance, a “good thing.” I mean, it’s better than him not doing it. But, what’s with the press acting like, as Hesiod says, Bush grabbed a machine gun and personally stormed a building filled with armed insurgents?

He didn’t meet with any locals. He didn’t meet with the governing council. He flew into a heavily fortified military base and then flew out again.

Hesiod:

President Bush is a chickenshit.

I’m surprised they didn’t ship that yellow-bellied coward to Iraq in a submarine.

Once the shock value of this stunt wears off, people will realize that everything the Bush administration has been telling us about Iraq is a 100% lie.

The Daily Kos:

Why is it so inherently unsafe for Bush that he has to fly in under darkness without anyone except a handful of top aides and Secret Service and military personnel in the know, then hide out at the airport for a couple of hours with 600 troops, but Hillary Clinton and Jack Reed can drive around the city and meet with American troops, international officials and Iraqi leaders?

Again, the Daily Kos:

I would be a lot more impressed if Bush spent the night in Iraq. Perhaps visited one of those famous schools that have allegedly opened since the war. But fact is that Iraq is nowhere near as calm and safe as the administration would have us believe. The country really is a mess, thanks to the US invasion and inept occupation.

Juan Cole:

Instead, the President had to sneak in and out of Iraq for a quick and dirty photo op, clearly in fear of his life if the news of his visit had leaked. He did not even get time to eat a meal with the troops. He was there for two hours. He did not dare meet with ordinary Iraqis, with the people he had conquered (liberated).

Offstage, the real Iraq carried on. Guerrillas attacked a military convoy on the main highway to the west of Baghdad, near Abu Ghraib. The wire services said, that an AP cameraman filmed “two abandoned military trucks with their cabs burning fiercely as dozens of townspeople looted tires and other vehicle parts.” Guerrillas in Mosul shot an Iraqi police sergeant to death.

Nathan Newman:

Bush– he has to visit the country like a thief in the night. Essentially, this trip was an announcement that Iraq is in such bad shape that the military could not protect the life of the President without such deceit.

Al Jazeera and the Arab Press

The Al Jazeera English Website:

US President George Bush’s stealthy visit to Iraq has been greeted with derision in the Arab world and Iraq’s neighbour Iran.

A section of the Arab media termed it a stunt which showed his determination to win both the war in Iraq and re-election next year.

In Iraq itself, many people termed it a cowardly swift stopover for fear of resistance fighters. Some said they would have preferred Bush to have had the courage to visit the country more openly and meet ordinary people.

Al-Jazeera Television:

I watched it all on Al-Jazeera later, and as usual, they described it as a cheap attempt by Bush & Co. to boost American public opinion in his favour for the upcoming election campaign. You could easily detect the anguish in their anaylsis to the fact that Bush didn’t go down to the streets or meet everyday Iraqis, or that Air Force 1 wasn’t hit by an anti-aircraft missile fired by Iraqi militants. They were really frustrated. Their news have become so predictable. My father was peculiarly furious with one of these ‘analysts’, he almost kicked the tv. The guy was saying that this visit would practically achieve nothing, or to be more accurate “would trick nobody”. He also said that it would have no effect whatsoever on morals of American troops…etc.

An-Nahar:

“I came, I saw nothing, but I will conquer.”

You decide…

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