| Bush's actions on the world stage speak louder than his words in his second inaugural address about liberty and freedom. |
| Bush said his goal in invading Iraq was to promote democracy around the world. If democracy is his goal, why is he supporting unelected governments throughout the middle east, including Saudi Arabia (where his father George I shares a bankroll), Egypt, Pakastan, China, etc? If democracy is his goal, why does he support coups against elected governments including Venezuala and Haiti? An American administration that had called on other Middle Eastern populaces to vote in flawed elections greeted the Iranian electoral process with nothing but open disdain. It is worth revisiting this odd judgment call at a time when Hamas's victory in the Palestinian elections has raised even more questions about Washington's confused strategy of democracy promotion. In Iran last June, the call for a boycott resonated with frustrated and apathetic voters. Many, if not most, moderates and reform advocates stayed home from the polls. And we all know what followed: the philosophy-loving moderate, Mohammad Khatami, was replaced as president by a radical militant, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad — a former military commander who presides over one of the most extreme governments post-revolutionary Iran has yet had. That's right: with what appeared to be the endorsement of President Bush and dozens of American-backed satellite television channels that broadcast in Farsi, the disillusioned young people of Iran effectively took one of the world's most closely watched nuclear programs out of the hands of a reformer and placed it into the hands of a hard-line reactionary. Source: "Democracy's Double Standard" By HOSSEIN DERAKHSHAN - NY Times - 1/28/06 |
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