The Nation: Bush at the UN--More Misleading To Come?

[gristy]

09/19/2003 @ 4:37pm

This coming week, President Bush will head to the United Nations to try to rally international support for his Iraq endeavor. After addressing the General Assembly, he is scheduled to stick around to lobby various heads of state--particularly France's Jacque Chirac and Germany's Gerhard Schroeder--in an attempt to win commitments of troops and money. Bush's targets ought to view this effort warily. For if Bush's last speech to the UN is any guide, he can be expected to mangle the truth in order to get his way.

A year ago, Bush kicked off his public campaign against Iraq with a much-anticipated General Assembly address. Shortly before the speech, White House chief of staff Andrew Card quipped, "From a marketing point of view, you don't introduce new products in August." And Bush's appearance at the UN did seem to mark the rollout of his latest product: confrontation with Iraq. It was a launch that just happened to coincide with the emotion-rich first anniversary of the September 11 attacks.

MORE (continues with a summary and analysis of the lies and deceptions used in his speech last year)

[kentuck]

1. As Starpass suggested in another post......

I smell a rat. If he gets booed or is somehow not accepted, he will say we will continue to go it alone. (This is acceptable to most right-wingers that hate the UN anyway. This will help him with that base politically) Of course, if he gets the UN to agree to his proposal, he will brag about how great his diplomacy skills are and how masterfully he brought other nations around to his way of thinking....

[grytpype]

2. What the hell is he going to say?

"Iraq is screwed up. It doesn't matter how Iraq got screwed up, that's water under the bridge. But now that there is a country that is screwed up, you UN fellas have to help fix it. That's what the UN is for, right? And when I say "help fix it," I mean give us lots of money and troops so the US can consolidate its colonial power over Iraq."

It's a bit like Hitler going to the League of Nations to ask for help consolidating his power in France, Holland, and Belgium.

I think he is going to get a very chilly reception.

[gristy]

3. I heard on the news today (must have been NPR) about

some conciliatory comments from Schroeder. I think he's probably trying to soften up shrub and open the communication channel to see just what he's going to offer. A month ago I would have said bush would not offer him anything other than a threat that they'd better help out (somthing like the old "you're either with us or you're against us" line). But the way things are now, he's going to throw him a bone or two so that he has to think about it for while. They'll negotiate back and forth and come to some kind of "agreement" that actually is pretty hollow. But here's where shrub really makes out: the BFEE will spin this "agreement" like mad so that bush appears to come out ahead. Then when nothing of substance comes from the agreement, or if perhaps the agreement falls apart, shrub can blame Germany. Just watch.

[Another Bill C.]

4. It doesn't matter.

The petroleum business is almost omni-national. The money and promises are already being exchanged. Materials for the new pipelines are already on their way. The world's second largest oil reserve is being readied for exploitation by all. What * says at the UN is immaterial. All that remains at this point is to get Iran and Syria to toe the mark. This is the way things are done.

[AngryYoungMan]

5. It matters in terms of Domestic politics.

Your analysis is correct, but don't forget this admin's loathsome willingness to use events on the world stage as bludgeons to drive home their domestic agenda.

In this case, the "domestic agenda" is to get elected (or, "re-elected") next year. The UN is a stage-setting for Bush to change his image in some way.

The contradictory statements by Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice etc. last week about Iraq are very troubling to me. They suggest either a lot of hidden infighting and conflict at high levels, Nixon-White-House-style, or, instead, a calculated plan to improve Bush's poll numbers on the war. If the latter is true, then the UN is part of this campaign.

So, it does matter.

[gristy]

6. So bush couldn't "keep" those oil profits for his own cronies

if he wanted to? You're saying he's already dispersing those profits to omni-national corporations? Hmmmm. You've got me thinking. What if Germany and France are run by corporations as much as the U.S. is? Are they? Regardless, I believe that what * says at the UN is very material to those who may or may not vote for him next year.

Oh, and welcome to DU, Bill! :hi: