Mandela Slamdunks Bush

[Tarun]

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (Jan. 30) - Former President Nelson Mandela called President Bush arrogant and shortsighted and implied that he was racist for ignoring the United Nations in his zeal to attack Iraq.

 

In a speech Thursday, Mandela urged the people of the United States to join massive protests against Bush. Mandela called on world leaders, especially those with vetoes in the U.N. Security Council, to oppose him.

 

''One power with a president who has no foresight and cannot think properly, is now wanting to plunge the world into a holocaust,'' Mandela told the International Women's Forum.

 

Mandela also criticized Iraq for not cooperating fully with the weapons inspectors and said South Africa would support any action against Iraq that was supported by the United Nations.

 

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer responded to Mandela's criticism by pointing to a letter by eight European leaders reiterating their support of Bush.

 

''The president expresses his gratitude to the many leaders of Europe who obviously feel differently'' than Mandela, Fleischer said. ''He understands there are going to be people who are more comfortable doing nothing about a growing menace that could turn into a holocaust.''

 

A Nobel Peace Prize winner, Mandela has repeatedly condemned U.S. behavior toward Iraq in recent months and demanded Bush respect the authority of the United Nations. His comments Thursday, though, were far more critical and his attack on Bush far more personal than in the past.

 

''Why is the United States behaving so arrogantly?'' he asked. ''All that (Bush) wants is Iraqi oil,'' he said.

 

He accused Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair of undermining the United Nations and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who is from Ghana.

 

''Is it because the secretary-general of the United Nations is now a black man? They never did that when secretary-generals were white,'' he said.

 

Mandela said the United Nations was the main reason there has been no World War III and it should make the decisions on how to deal with Iraq.

 

He said that the United States, which callously dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, has no moral authority to police the world.

 

''If there is a country that has committed unspeakable atrocities in the world, it is the United States of America. They don't care for human beings,'' he said.

 

''Who are they now to pretend that they are the policemen of the world, the ones that should decide for the people of Iraq what should be done with their government and their leadership?'' he said.

 

He said Bush was ''trying to bring about carnage'' and appealed to the American people to vote him out of office and demonstrate against his policies.

 

He also condemned Blair for his strong support of the United States.

''He is the foreign minister of the United States. He is no longer prime minister of Britain,'' he said.

AP-NY-01-30-03 1308EST

[theist]

Mandela has gone senile.

[Guest guest]

Mandela is nuts. Just a leftist who hates America. Best for him to take care of South Africa, which is getting worse by the minute under his "leadership". Just because a guy is in jail for 20 years doesn't mean he knows jack squat about running a country, or world security.

[theist]

Johannesburg is now known as the rape capital of the world. Compton times ten. Amazing to watch people turn this guy into a saint. I can appreciate his austerity on behalf of the blacks there, but like guest said that doesn't mean he has any knowledge on world crisis.

 

Nobel Peace Prize means nothing to me. Jimmy carter just got one. This is the guy that gave away the Panama Canal which was built by the USA. It is now run by Communist China.

 

Th UN is also a joke. Bunch of people who feel important carrying their briefcases into the building everyday and do what? Talk about stuff.Wow. Pass resolutions with no resolve. Useless.

[Streetstraw]

Mandela's trying to save President Select Bush from longer stays on various lower 'narak' planets.

Chainey's linked below, pulling Bush down into the hole that he's in; Mandela's trying to uplift both.

Johannesburg rape?

Rape is what 6-7 European nations did to the rest.

Amerika's continuing in that tradition.

Higher Tech's being deliberately suppressed in favor of archaic, despicable, inefficient transport means.

How to destroy village life in favor of lung disease.

"Keep those hospital beds occupied." Oh how thoughtful.

Billy Graham's playing SukrAcarya's role rather well, don'tcha think?

[theist]

Yeah right. I'm sure you have your bags pack and plans made for your move to South Africa. Don't forget your .45

[Streetstraw]

MAKE SURE TO SING THIS ONE LOUD & CLEAR WHILE SHOWERING... AND ON YOUR WAY TO BAGHDAD

============

If You're Happy And You Know It Bomb Iraq by John Robbin

If you cannot find Osama, bomb Iraq.

If the markets are a drama, bomb Iraq.

If the terrorists are frisky,

Pakistan is looking shifty,

North Korea is too risky, Bomb IRAQ.

If we have no allies with us, bomb Iraq.

If we think that someone's dissed us, bomb Iraq.

So to hell with the inspections,

Let's look tough for the elections,

Close your mind and take directions, Bomb IRAQ!

It's pre-emptive non-aggression, bomb Iraq.

To prevent this mass destruction, bomb Iraq.

They've got weapons we can't see,

And that's all the proof we need,

If they're not there, they must be there, Bomb IRAQ.

If you never were elected, bomb Iraq.

If your mood is quite dejected, bomb Iraq.

If you think Saddam's gone mad,

With the weapons that he had,

And he tried to kill your dad, Bomb IRAQ.

If corporate fraud is growin', bomb Iraq.

If your ties to it are showin', bomb Iraq.

If your politics are sleazy,

And hiding that ain't easy,

And your manhood's getting queasy, Bomb IRAQ.

Fall in line and follow orders, bomb Iraq.

For our might knows not our borders, bomb Iraq.

Disagree? We'll call it treason,

Let's make war not love this season,

Even if we have no reason, Bomb IRAQ.

[Guest guest]

Even if last week's outrageous, anti-American slurs by Nelson Mandela, former South African president and honorary Canadian citizen, might be excused by the frailties of his advancing years -- he is 84 and suffering failing health -- they should not be politely ignored. Anti-war agitators have already used Mr. Mandela's iconic stature to bolster their feeble case against an invasion of Iraq. London's leftist Daily Mirror, for instance, called Mr. Mandela "the most admired statesman in the world," and insisted his remarks had "demolished the stand taken by [u.S. President] George W. Bush and [british Prime Minister] Tony Blair, and savaged the warmongering president." Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter, who recently devoted much of his Nobel peace prize acceptance speech to a denunciation of an Iraq war, cited the opposition of such a "famous and respected" man as proof invasion was ill advised.

 

Mr. Mandela, speaking at a feminist conference, insisted, incredibly, that the United States was a greater threat to world security than Iraq. "If there is a country that has committed unspeakable atrocities in the world," he railed, "it is the United States of America. They don't care for human beings." He asked, "Why does the United States behave so arrogantly?" and charged that George W. Bush was "a president who can't think properly and wants to plunge the world into [a] holocaust" that would engulf the entire world. Mandela also repeated the specious anti-war claim that members of the Bush White House "just want the oil" -- an argument we dispatched in this space several weeks ago.

 

Mr. Mandela's weirdest and most preposterous claim -- certainly the one that most compellingly suggests mental instability -- was that the Bush administration is motivated by racism. America is threatening invasion, with or without UN approval, only "because the secretary-general of the United Nations is now a black man. They never did that when secretary-generals were white." No doubt the White House's virulent prejudice is news to Colin Powell, the U.S. Secretary of State and the most powerful black man in the entire world. Today, Mr. Powell will speak to the United Nations, and will articulate the case for an invasion. It is also worth noting that Mr. Bush's national security policy is directed by Condoleezza Rice, another African-American -- and a woman, lest Mr. Mandela decide that invading Iraq would also be an exercise in sexism.

 

It is sad to see such a dignified figure slide into crankdom. But he is not alone. World-renowned British spy novelist John le Carré, writing in the Times of London in mid-January, made equally bewildering charges. He accused the Bush administration -- which he called the "Bush junta" -- of "historic madness ... the worst I can remember: worse than McCarthyism, worse than the Bay of Pigs, and ... potentially more disastrous than ... Vietnam."

 

Helen Thomas, for 57 years a feature at United Press International and for nearly four decades UPI's White House correspondent, ranted in a syndicated column last week that Mr. Bush is "the worst president in all of American history," even worse, she insisted, than Richard Nixon, for whom she never hid her contempt and revulsion.

 

These aging titans should take a lesson from former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher and former U.S. president Ronald Reagan, both of whom withdrew from public life and refrained from commenting on current events when they first sensed they were losing it. For Mr. Mandela, Mr. le Carré and Ms. Thomas, reticence would surely be the best policy at this stage in their illustrious careers.

 

[Guest guest]

When liberals are in power they are gloom and doom, but once out of power they are hilarious. The life of the party. They go bonkers, koo koo, wacko freako!!! Wee its fun. The Republicans control the Whitehouse and Congress. Now it is time to get some young, conservative judges on the bench. A few good nominees, and America can be changed forever (or atleast the next few decades).

[Streetstraw]

So-called conservatives r hardly so.

Disgusted Guest conserves his name from us, that's about it.

His daily life is hardy conservative.

Neither does he truly support those who do conserve.

Neither does he know conservative's dictionary meaning.

Puffery be his forte'.

[theist]

life is short and i just ate so I couldn't finish it.

 

Liberals and their support for abortion, their opposition to any public mention of God (except when they are campaigning), affirmative racism, higher taxes, "billy has two mommies" education in schools(including male homos coming into SF classrooms and demonstrating condoms on cucumbers for young children), opposition to school vouchers (so we can free our children from atheistic centralized mind control), wide open borders with Mexico so they can get some new voters, the weakening of the military under Clit on and the list goes on; are the ruination of this country.

 

Keep strange bedfellows Tarun and you will wake up with strange sores.

[Tarun]

..sends young boys & girls onto a battlefield he'd never approach himself.

..keeps his countrymen addicted to an archaic toxic foreign fuel source.

.. keeps his countrymen addicted to several other foreign imports..

..invites heads of state onto his ranch to relish deleteriously delicious barbecued dead carcass dinner.

.. trashes the same US treasury his predecessor ran a surplus with 8 yrs straight.

.. begs for FAST TRACK, only to RAILROAD us all into deficit spending.

.. can't offer jobs to anyone, except his pipe-smoking criminally convicted cohorts.

..attends church mass 5 days after his country's attacked, only to hear his favorite RAxasa preacher openly ask, then authoritatively admit:

"Why does God let such things take place?

I don't know why God allows these things to happen.

I don't know why God allowed these buildings to be knocked down. I really don't know."

[Streetstraw]

UNITED NATIONS (March 6) - France, China and Germany continued Thursday to resist the Bush administration's drive toward war in Iraq, and Secretary of State Colin Powell and other foreign ministers headed to New York for a crucial meeting with the chief U.N. weapons inspectors.

 

Seeking a compromise ahead of Friday's meeting, Britain floated the idea of attaching a short deadline to a U.S.-backed war resolution that would give Saddam Hussein a few days to prove he has no more banned weapons - or face war.

 

The idea, first discussed by London and Washington several weeks ago, re-emerged as France, Russia and Germany - the leading voices of opposition to the U.S. resolution - warned they would block any U.N. authorization for military action.

 

Key swing states on the council seemed unwilling to commit to the U.S. position.

 

Complicating matters for the Bush administration were comments Wednesday from chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix, who said Iraq is now showing ''a great deal more'' cooperation.

 

Despite intense lobbying, the United States has been unable to muster the nine votes required to adopt a resolution approving war against Iraq and opposition remains strong.

 

Chinese President Jiang Zemin told Jacques Chirac of France in a phone call Thursday that a new U.N. resolution was not necessary and that he supports using ''political means'' to solve the crisis. ''The door of peace should not be closed,'' the official Xinhua News Agency quoted Jiang as saying.

 

German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer also spoke of the ''great importance'' of continuing weapons inspections. Fischer is to arrive in New York later Thursday along with Powell who begins a final diplomatic drive to convince war-wary council members to back the use of force.

 

Foreign ministers on a newly appointed Arab League committee were also expected at the United Nations Thursday for talks with Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

 

Throughout Wednesday, clusters of Security Council diplomats met in the delegates' lounge at the United Nations, drinking coffee from paper cups and going over compromise options.

 

Russian Ambassador Sergey Lavrov met with Canadian Ambassador Paul Heinbecker, who proposed setting an end-of-March deadline for Iraqi compliance. The ambassadors of Mexico, Chile and Pakistan discussed the merits of the British idea.

 

Iraqi Ambassador Mohammed Al-Douri stood at the middle of the room fingering a strand of worry beads. At the end of the day, Washington announced that it was expelling two of Al-Douri's staffers, accusing them of engaging ''in activities outside the scope of their official function.''

 

Al-Douri described the two men as security personnel, who live in the basement of the Iraqi mission. According to Al-Douri, the men have until Friday to leave the country.

 

Annan appealed Thursday to arriving foreign ministers to discuss the Iraq crisis calmly. ''The positions are very hard now. I am encouraging people to strive for a compromise to seek common ground,'' he said.

 

On Wednesday, Britain, under intense pressure at home to win U.N. support, began tentatively talking about the possibilities of imposing a deadline on Iraq.

 

Diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the ideas would not alter the wording of the U.S.-British-Spanish draft resolution. Instead it would tack on verbally, or in writing, a warning to Saddam to prove within a specific time frame that he has given up weapons of mass destruction.

 

While Washington and London believe they already have the authority from previous resolutions to wage war against Iraq, new U.N. support would mean international legitimacy and the chance to share the costs of humanitarian relief and reconstruction.

 

British Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock told council members last week that the while the current draft resolution would authorize war, adoption didn't mean that war was imminent.

 

Powell and others will then attend a Security Council meeting on Friday where Blix and his counterpart, Mohamed ElBaradei, will brief members on Iraqi cooperation with inspections and disarmament. For many council members, Friday's reports will be key in deciding whether to vote for the U.S.-backed resolution.

 

Although the Bush administration has sent mixed signals in recent days about when or whether it would call for a vote on the resolution, diplomats said one was expected by March 13.

 

In a preview of his report Wednesday, Blix painted a more positive picture of Iraq's disarmament efforts than he did a week ago, and his comments were in sharp contrast to those delivered minutes later in Washington by Powell.

 

Powell called inspections futile and said Iraq's ''too-little, too-late gestures are meant not just to deceive and delay action by the international community'' but rather to create divisions.

 

Speaking at the United Nations, Blix said he would welcome the continuation of U.N. inspections for several more months and mapped out plans well into the summer.

 

In a written report to the council last Friday, Blix said Baghdad's disarmament efforts had been ''very limited so far.'' But since that report was written Iraq has made greater efforts, he said.

 

Destruction of Iraq's Al Samoud 2 missiles, which began Saturday, ''is the most spectacular and the most important and tangible'' evidence of real disarmament, he said.

 

In addition, Iraq also ''took the initiative'' to dig up a site where it said it neutralized and buried 157 R-400 bombs filled with biological agents in 1991 ''and they are showing there are more bombs'' than previous U.N. inspectors established, he said.

 

Iraqi scientists are also submitting to private interviews on inspectors' terms.

 

''You have a greater measure of cooperation on interviews in general,'' Blix said, noting that seven scientists had recently been questioned privately inside Iraq.

AP-NY-03-06-03 1241EST

[Streetstraw]

Not to be outdone by a Southern Negro, our ill-ustrious (sva-vid varaha USTRA kharaih) president has managed to score bigtime by tossing his very self through hoop and net HEAD FIRST.

Mandala Mandela recently stated B had no foresight.

Now B has come forward stating accordingly, agreeably:

"I'm proud to admit I'm a man without insight."

 

[Frodge]

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