As President George W. Bush is increasingly becoming alienated from the American public and internationally is turning into a pariah, the leaders of such independent nations as Zimbabwe, Cuba, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Iran respond forcefully to his heartless and mediocre rhetoric and his ongoing search for finding terrorists inside the U.S. and overseas. Just like the authorities in Israel, he ceaselessly looks for new ìHitlersî and invents many if there are none, to justify the systemís thirst for territorial occupation and murderous campaigns against the peoples of Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine and maybe even Iran.
Only Bush’s Law Applies
In response to his bellicosity, the leaders of a number of countries not bowing to Washington’s hegemonic control have characterized ìthe leader of the free worldî with such attributes that befit a shady emperor ruling over a falling empire.
Among these Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe, attending the 62nd session of the United Nations General Assembly on September 26, 2007, accused President George W. Bush of ìrank hypocrisyî over his lecturing the world on human rights and democracy. ìHe (Bush) has much to atone for and very little to lecture us on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” Mugabe told the world leaders listening to his admonition. ìHis hands drip with the innocent blood of many nationalities.”
“He still kills. He kills in Afghanistan. And this is supposed to be our master on human rights?” asked Mugabe comparing such horrendous prisons as Guantanamo Naval Base and Abu Ghraib to “concentration camps where only Bush’s law applies.” Furthermore, he charged the U.S. with the crimes of running “secret torture chambers” in Europe and the United States.
In the context of exposing U.S. crimes within the framework of the United Nations, next in line stood the Cuban delegation. Partly sparked by Bush’s vicious remark during his UN pontification that “in Cuba, the long rule of a cruel dictatorship is nearing its end,” Cuba’s delegation walked out in protest, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega accused Bush of a “total lack of respect” and the Bolivian President announced that Castro sends teams of doctors to other countries “to save lives, unlike the president of the United States who sends troops to end lives.”
Bush’s Delirium Tremens
A statement from the Cuban foreign ministry accused the U.S. leader with having ordered the torture of prisoners, and “kidnapping people” using “clandestine flights” and operating “secret prisons.” The statement from Havana boldly pointed out that “He (Bush) is a criminal and has no moral authority or credibility to judge any other country. Cuba condemns and rejects each letter of his outrageous diatribe.”
Responding to Bush’s salvo of truculency, Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque characterized his mannerism as a “delirium tremens of the world’s policeman – the intoxication of imperial power, sprinkled with mediocrity and the cynicism of those who threaten to launch wars in which they know their lives are not at risk.” In continuation he said, “The U.S. leader talks about democracy, but we all know that he is lying. He came into office through fraud and deceit.” He finally accused Bush of being directly responsible for “the death of 600,000 civilians in Iraq.”
The stern condemnation of the leader of the “free world” did not come to an end with the Zimbabwean and Cuban leaders. From Latin America, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega accused the U.S. of imposing a worldwide dictatorship in his speech on September 25, 2007, before the world leaders in the U.N. General Assembly. The world is suffering, he said, under “the most colossal behemoth dictatorship that has existed — the empire of North America.” An “imperialist minority is imposing global capitalism to impoverish us all and impose apartheid against Latin American immigrants and against African immigrants.”
Iran’s Right to Nuclear Technology
President Daniel Ortega said “The United States, as the only country in the world that has used nuclear bombs in a war against civilians, is in no position to question the right of Iran and North Korea to pursue nuclear technology for peaceful purposes. And even if they want nuclear power for purposes that are not peaceful, with what right does the (U.S.) have to question it?”
At this point of discourse it is crucially important to inform not only those who have secured for themselves real seats of power in the headquarters of the empire, but also those who pretend to be progressive and friends of the Iranian working class, that the ranks of the world’s truly anti-imperialist front is increasing in depth and breadth by the day. This development will naturally soon separate the real and true friends of the people from all other shades of pretenders, whose main ambition is to find a comfortable seat in the empire’s corridors of power or simply receive monetary remuneration.
The next on line stood the Bolivian President Evo Morales, who rightfully defended his country’s recent establishment of diplomatic and economic relations with Iran, which had fallen under acute criticism by the U.S. government. In that regard, President Morales said “Bolivia has the right to have diplomatic relations with Latin America, Europe, Africa and the Middle East. We will never promote warÖbut nor do we accept that in the name of peace, the criterion of the strongest (nation) prevails.”
La Paz communiquÈ
In La Paz, Presidents Ahmadinejad and Evo Morales signed a joint communiquÈ expressing the “rights of all developing nations to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.”
The diplomatic and economic cooperation between Iran and Bolivia became such a great source of discomfort for the staff in the State Department that the U.S. ambassador to La Paz expressed his feelings of displeasure over the relations with Iran to his counterpart in Bolivia.
During President Ahmadinejad’s visit to Bolivia, Evo Morales declared that the “international community can rest assured that Bolivia’s foreign policy is dedicated to peace with equality and social justice.”
After visiting La Paz, President Ahmadinejad headed for Caracas for a meeting with President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela on September 26, 2007. Chavez has persistently defended Iran’s right to develop a nuclear energy program for peaceful purposes. Ahmadinejad has visited Venezuela three times, and pledged to invest $10 billion with Venezuela on joint energy projects during his trip in September 2006. The oil companies, Petroleos of Venezuela and Petropars of Iran have started drilling on a block in Venezuela’s heavy oil belt or Faja.
The two countries have begun building a petrochemical plant, and a car assembly, a tractor building factory and a cement producing plant which are already in the stage of full production and even export to the neighboring countries of Bolivia, Peru and Columbia. No doubt these common projects are a huge source of resentment for U.S. monopoly capital and Washington’s administration. Along with Cuba, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Peru and Venezuela in Latin America, Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa also has expressed a desire for closer economic and diplomatic ties with the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Upon Ahmadinejad’s arrival to Venezuela on September 27, 2007, Chavez greeted the Iranian leader warmly on a red carpet in front of the Presidential palace, where they both spoke their hearts and let the world know what their grievances are with Washington and how to go about alleviating them. “We will continue resisting to the end in the face of imperialism,” said Ahmadinejad. “And the age of imperialism has ended.” In his turn, President Chavez strongly defended Iran’s nuclear energy program. Chavez said he was proud of Ahmadinejad’s courage while under ambush by belligerent Lee Bollinger of New Yor’s Colombia University. He said, “An imperial spokesman tried to disrespect you, but you responded with the greatness of a revolutionary.”
About the author: Ardeshir Ommani is a writer and an activist in the anti-war and anti-imperialist struggle for many years, including against the Vietnam War. Ardeshir is a co-founder of the American-Iranian Friendship Committee (AIFC) www.progressiveportals.com/aifc , where news and analysis of U.S.-Iranian relations can be found, along with reports of his recent visits to Iran. He helped launch the successful www.StopWarOnIran.org campaign. In the 1960’s, he was a co-founder of the Iranian Students Association (ISA), which contributed to the struggle against the Shah of Iran, a U.S. puppet. Two of his recent articles: “U.S’s Latest Mud-Slinging” can be viewed at Persianmirror.com and “Erratic U.S. Foreign Policy” at payvand.com.
