by Paul Wylie

Created on: January 14, 2008

Iranaphobia, Or The Phony Middle East Visit From The Bat Cave

President Bush's Mid-East visit, ostensibly to drum up support from countries such as Bahrain, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait in the Bush 'war on terror', turned out to be little more than a bully pulpit from which Bush could once again beat the drums of war against Iran. Besides his having almost no knowledge whatsoever pertaining to the governments of the countries he is visiting, calling them bastions of democracy, his threats against the Iranians are not even based in reality.

Citing the recent 'confrontation' between Iranian speed boats and massive U.S. war ships, Bush uses this as an example of Iranian intent, when accounts are trickling in that the 'confrontation' was not all that it appeared to be.

A native of Bahrain, Abduljalil Alsingace, tried to deliver a petition to the U.S. embassy in the U.A.E. just before Bush was due to arrive, calling for democracy in his homeland, but his attempts to deliver the petition were met with cool resistance by embassy officials. That is, until the media got wind of it, and only then did they grudgingly accept it.

See, Bush was over there extolling the virtues of these governments, without ever once calling for democratic reform in the host countries, because he needs them if he is ever to achieve his dream of bombing Iran back to the stone age. A quick look at the governments that Bush visited and then sung the praises of, shows the hypocrisy in all it's glory.

In the Palestinian territories, Bush gaffed and lost many a Palestinian supporter, when he jokingly told the gathered crowd that he didn't have any problem getting through the stifling Israeli check points with his 45 car motorcade. The Palestinian people are being systematically starved to death by these choke points, stopping movement within their own territory, by what amounts to an illegal occupation of Palestinian lands. Despite U.N. resolutions demanding the removal of these check points, and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the West Bank and Gaza by the U.N., Israel defies international law with a stepped up and continued occupation.

But truth be told, Israel itself is the only country that Bush went to that even pretends to adhere to the principles of a free and democratic society.

Take for instance his visit to Saudi Arabia. The Saudis just beheaded another person on Saturday. A woman who they say was convicted of murdering her employer for financial gain, but

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