Global Media Gives Bush's Iraq Plan Chilly Reception

[rodeodance]

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6815728&ft=1&f=1004

Global Media Gives Bush's Iraq Plan Chilly Reception
by Rob Gifford

NPR.org, January 11, 2007 · President Bush's plan to boost U.S. troop levels in Iraq prompted a largely negative response on news and editorial pages around the globe.

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U.K. Papers See Move as 'Folly'

One British newspaper stood out in its support for President Bush's plans. In an editorial, The Times of London said, "It is right to make one more effort to create the sort of Iraq that its people deserve and the vast majority of its citizens aspire to. These are the appropriate means to what is a noble end.".........





Icy Reception in Arab World

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Elsewhere in the Arab world, perhaps not surprisingly, opinion was also negative about President Bush's plan. Many newspapers linked the airstrikes on Somalia with the Bush announcement on Wednesday. Jordan's Al-Dustur newspaper carried a commentary entitled "US swimming in deep Somali water." The article accused President Bush of timing the airstrikes to build up sympathy for his hunt for terrorists, in advance of his announcement of new plans for Iraq. On Iraq, the newspaper notes, the president "has been deprived of public sympathy in recent months."

Response in Australia

And finally, to Australia, where The Sydney Morning Herald led with "Bush goes for broke." The Herald's main article said, "It was a different President addressing the nation from the confident, even bellicose, leader who had previously proclaimed the US was winning and he would accept nothing less than victory."

[ninkasi]

1. Where this analogy fails

"The most common comparison for President Bush was to a man in a casino, unable to cut his losses. The Guardian headline read: "More troops to Iraq for Bush's last throw of the dice."

The problem in this case, is that the man in the casino is betting other people's children, and other people's money on his roll of the dice. That's much different than committing his own resources, or children in the game. This is sheer lunacy on Bush's part, to pour more lives into this meat-grinder, and start rattling sabers against Iran and Syria. He must be impeached, to put an end to this folly.