A Stunning Instinct for Doing the Wrong Thing

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Tag(s): Bush Admin; Bush Enemy Of Human Rights; Bush Failed Policy International; Myanmar; Presidency; Rights
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September 25, 2007 at 17:20:42

A Stunning Instinct for Doing the Wrong Thing

by Jim Freeman Page 1 of 1 page(s)

http://www.opednews.com

Bush Announces Tighter Sanctions on Myanmar

By STEVEN LEE MYERS and CHRISTINE HAUSER

UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 25 — President Bush today chided nations to live up to the rights and freedoms the United Nations promised six decades ago, announced new sanctions on Myanmar and denounced the governments of Belarus, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria and Zimbabwe as “brutal regimes.”

Appearing at the opening of the 62nd session of the General Assembly, Mr. Bush called on members of the United Nations to do more to support nascent democracies and to oppose autocratic and tyrannical governments.

. . . “Americans are outraged by the situation in Burma, where a military junta has imposed a 19-year reign of fear,” Mr. Bush said. “Basic freedoms of speech, assembly, and worship are severely restricted. Ethnic minorities are persecuted. Forced child labor, human trafficking, and rape are common.”. .

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Americans are outraged about a lot of things, George, mostly the situation in America, rather than Myanmar.

Of course he didn't call it Myanmar, he called it Burma in that phony Texas drawl that he affects when particularly putting someone down. George didn't know Myanmar existed through the first six years of his presidency, but Laura read a book while on vacation at the 'ranch,' a cute and corny Bushism for a place that has no cattle or horses.

The ruling junta in Myanmar has its hands full these past weeks with nationwide demonstrations by the Buddhist monks who hold the moral power to bring down the government. And they were (and are) moving in that direction.

At this precise moment, all-hat-and-no-cattle George Bush chooses to shine an enormously public spotlight. In response, the junta will no doubt harden its stance and any chance at all of negotiation will be swept away with the monsoon.

Helluva job, George.

Jim Freeman's op-ed pieces and commentaries have appeared in The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, International Herald-Tribune, CNN, The New York Review, The Jon Stewart Daily Show and a number of magazines.