GW BUSH, THE MAN MANY PEOPLE LOVE TO HATE

DAILY NATION
By BILLY MUIRURI
December 27 2008

"How can he address other presidents as if he owns the world?" Chavez wonders about Bush

The president robustly threw a bold stare at the audience, paused and with their full attention on his next statement, he blurted out: “ and address other presidents as if he The devil came here yesterday! And it smells of sulphur till today... How can he address other presidents as if he owns the world?”

"Shoe thrower courageous!"
That was President Hugo Chavez of oil-rich Venezuela addressing the UN General Assembly on just who he thought US President George Walker Bush is. Bush had addressed the same meeting the day before.

Chavez wasn’t through. He stunned delegates again when he acknowledged that he had “a warm relationship” with former president Bill Clinton. But on Bush, he bellowed: “With this cowboy, you can’t even talk… he even stole the elections.”

Chavez, whose country is the fourth largest exporter of oil to the US, is just one of the people who have never agreed with Bush on anything.

At one time, he blamed the UN for being an “arm of the US” and even proposed to offer Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, to be its headquarters as “the way it (UN) is, there is no way to save it (from US influence).”

Definitely the most powerful man alive, Bush has stepped on the toes of many presidents, especially from oil-rich countries.

In the process, he has earned so many enemies that even a fortnight ago, his retinue of security agents had never imagined that the president’s enemies could include journalists.

A fortnight ago, he ducked two shoes hurled at him by an enraged Iraq journalist, Muntadar al-Zaidi of Al-Baghdadiya TV, who called him “dog”, during a press conference alongside Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki.

Again, Chavez was the first and only international leader to publicly paised the journalist’s attack. “What courage!” he said of Zaidi’s onslaught. Though he said it was “very funny”, he added that “the action was courageous and acting for the Iraq people.”

Bush is the man Iraqis blame for all misery they are suffering since the US invaded the country five years ago.

Early this month, he regreted having waged a war in Iraq and said it was the most unfortunate event in his eight-year rule.

Perceived to be overbearing and egoistic, he has come in conflict with several world leaders, especially those who think Western powers should not interfere with their own internal affairs.

He attacked Iraq in 2003, accusing strong man Saddam Hussein of making chemical and biological weapons and of having links with the al Qaeda terrorist network.

He was so keen to “distort” intelligence reports to justify the attack that he is said to have ignored a plea by Saddam that he could go to exile if compensated with $1 (Sh80) billion.

“Saddam won’t change. Time has come to get rid of him. That’s the way it is,” he had said after a meeting in Texas with then Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar where the offer plea was presented.

And in a televised address to Americans in March, 2003, Bush urged the Iraq military not to defend their commander-in-chief.

“Do not fight for a dying regime. Saddam is not worth your own life,” he added, “This man (Saddam) is insane. He is a dangerous man. We should force him out now.”

In 2002, he had expressed hatred for Saddam in the Senate and tried to justify war against him, “ After all, this is the guy who tried to kill my father.” Bush Senior, who helped to drive Iraq forces out of Kuwait in 1990, was targeted during a visit to Kuwait during Bill Clinton’s tenure.Former Cuban strongman Fidel Castro also had very little respect for Bush. He was more vicious against the man he said had fooled some people all the time, and all people part of the time but could never fool all the people all the time

Castro was enraged when Bush declared: “Long live free Cuba”, after Castro transferred power to his brother Raul.

A frail Castro said from his hospital bed: “ I can’t imagine such words from the mouth of a whole US president, a whole 139 years later.”

Cuba gained independence from Spain in 1878. When Bush said in 2004 that Cuba was a growing sex tourist destination, Castro wrote a letter to him accusing the US of playing the Holy God nation while it had a more thriving sexual and human trafficking industry.