And he was blessed by light, heat, magnetism, gravity, and all of the energies of the universe.
President Bush has delivered his address to the General Assembly of the United Nations. From Bush Makes No Apologies, Asks U.N. Help on Iraq , a Reuters UK article:
President Bush asked a skeptical U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday for help in Iraq reconstruction and said it was time to set aside past differences over the U.S.-led invasion."Now the nation of Iraq needs and deserves our aid -- and all nations of good will should step forward and provide that support," Bush said, six months after the United States and Britain abandoned diplomacy and went to war without U.N. backing.
[. . .] So far Bush has not found many takers among other foreign leaders willing to send cash or troops to Iraq, but U.S. officials insist they have not yet really tried with a donors conference coming up in late October.
Bush said he recognized that "some of the sovereign nations of this assembly disagreed with our actions" but said unity remained on the fundamental principles and objectives of the United Nations.
"So let us move forward," he said.
Hard to do snarky commentary when the article already has it built-in. . .
One part of this does sound familiar; "you disagreed with us, but we're willing to put that aside in the name of unity and move forward."
Black folk get that one a lot.
The one where what you disagreed about doesn't actually get addressed at any point.
And just in case you thought undercutting Cheney a few days back represented a step forward:
He held out the possibility that the promised weapons of mass destruction might yet be found."The regime of Saddam Hussein cultivated ties to terror while it built weapons of mass destruction. It used those weapons in acts of mass murder, and refused to account for them when confronted by the world," Bush said.
"We are now interviewing Iraqi citizens and analyzing records of the old regime, to reveal the full extent of its weapons programs and long campaign of deception," he added.
You thought wrong.
Odd phrasing, though. "Promised weapons of mass destruction"?
Comments
Jesus wept.
I keep wondering: do any of the muckety-mucks in the whiteboy imperialist nations who are squabbling about the future of a colonial territory really find Bush's 'turnabout' surprising? They had to have known from the beginning that they were going to be presented with a fait accompli, and that if they wanted some part of the spoils, they'd have to join up sooner or later. Heck., they probably are looking forward to doing it in the name of humanitarian aid, rather than imperialism, so they can save face in front of thier own consitutencies.
Also: Maybe the world would feel more speedily generous or compassionate if the plea for help came from the Iraqis themselves. No, wait. They ignored such pleas during years of sanctions, so they'll be used to blowing that shit off.
I hate this so fucking much.
Posted by: garrity | September 23, 2003 2:06 PM
I have to tell you, Aaron, once again: I'm so glad you are back. No one else is able to make me laugh at the exact same time that as making me totally pissed off at the world. You are so. fucking. great.
Posted by: drublood | September 24, 2003 2:17 PM
Garrity, feel free to join in the singing.
Dru, thanks. Afraid I haven't started that poem yet, but I will.
Posted by: Aaron | September 25, 2003 11:47 AM