americans may be fooled but the rest of the world is not....
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/24721.html<snip>
Whether chastising Iran or praising Palestinian elections, analysts said, Bush left out key facts that would have offered a messier — and more true-to-life — portrait of the modern Middle East.
"Iran is a neighbor, we have to deal with that," said Ambassador Ibrahim Mohieldin, director of the Arab League's Americas department. "The U.S. is thousands of miles away from Iran - it's OUR national security that will be affected" if leaders agree to keep Tehran isolated at Washington's request.
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Bush, in elaborating on his theme of Middle Eastern democracy, also said he was encouraged by recent elections in Iraq, Lebanon, the Palestinian territories and other perennially troubled Arab lands. What he failed to mention, critics said: Iraqis elected an overwhelmingly Shiite Islamist government with close ties to Iran, the Lebanese still have no president because of a deepening political crisis and Palestinians voted the militant group Hamas into office. And Bush never once mentioned Syria, a close Iranian ally who plays a crucial role in regional politics.
"You have all types of contradictions," Shorbagy said. "Talking about freedom when you're occupying two countries in the region: Afghanistan and Iraq. Talking about justice while you're against the (Palestinian) right of return. Talking about democracy while you're against elected groups you don't like...Was he listening to himself?"
Abdul Karim al Dekhayel, a political science professor at King Fahd University in the Saudi capital of Riyadh, said Bush displayed a double standard by urging Arab nations to ease ties with Iran while U.S. officials hold talks with Iranians to discuss the bloodshed in Iraq.