Bush Needs To Look At Self Before Making Threats (American traitor Helen Thomas. Barf barf)

Bush Needs To Look At Self Before Making Threats Foreign Policy Reeks Of Piety Helen Thomas, Hearst White House columnist

President George W. Bush should look into the mirror before giving orders and threatening other nations.

His militant foreign policy reeks of piety and is selectively threatening to several nations.

Fortunately he is still guided by the art of the possible, and that does not include Iran and North Korea at this time.

At a news conference Thursday, Bush demanded that Syria end its occupation of Lebanon, but he stopped short of accusing Syria of assassinating former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. An investigation to assign blame is under way.

It would also help if Bush were to practice what he preaches. His orders to Syria might carry more weight if the United States were not occupying Iraq, digging in for the long haul with reported plans for more than one dozen permanent military bases there.

He also is denouncing Iran and North Korea for pursuing nuclear arms, while the United States is studying a new generation of nuclear battlefield weapons and bunker busters.

Furthermore, Bush decries the terrorists who "target innocent civilians," while conveniently forgetting that the United States has dropped tons of bombs on Iraq since launching its invasion nearly two years ago.

The refusal of the Bush administration to count the Iraqi dead makes it easier to overlook that sad toll.

Syria has been on the administration's radar screen for a long time, with U.S. officials delivering everything short of ultimatums. Bush said Syria is "out of step" with the Middle East -- assuming, of course, that the definition of "normal" requires a massive U.S. military presence in the region.

Backed by Congress, Bush has imposed economic sanctions on Syria after accusing it of harboring terrorists and former Saddam loyalists.

Meantime, Bush has warned Damascus it risks further isolation unless it plays ball.

In his speeches lately, Bush has been accenting a more positive goal of spreading democracy and liberty in the Middle East, rather than his usual drumbeat against terrorism.

His political mentor, Karl Rove, who has added foreign affairs to his portfolio, told a gathering of conservative activists and students Thursday that Bush is "seizing the mantle of idealism."

Well, that shouldn't stop Bush and Rove from realizing that spreading democracy by force is destabilizing the Middle East and adding to the terrorist forces in the region.

The United States has a history of spreading democracy in the Middle East peacefully, through universities, libraries and diplomacy.

Bush's tone toward Iran and North Korea was less belligerent than the threats tossed at Syria.

"If, as you say, the development of nuclear weapons is unacceptable, and if the administration's concern for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq -- which proved to be unfounded -- drove an invasion to seek regime change, how concerned should Americans, and for that matter, the world, be that the true identification of weapons in Iran or North Korea might not lead to the same sort of attack?"

He said the international community was convinced that Saddam Husssein had weapons of mass destruction. In the case of Iran, Bush said there is "more diplomacy to be done."

He also stressed that North Korea is "not Iraq. It's a different situation. So, it's time for us to work with friends and allies" to find a solution.

Bush met with reporters to announce the selection of John Negroponte, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, to be the director of national intelligence and to pull together the work of 15 different government agencies.

His news conference was a prelude to his fence-mending journey to Europe next week, where foreign leaders will urge him to join in conciliatory talks with Iran and to be more collaborative in dealing with other trouble spots.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld paved the way in separate trips to Europe recently, leaving messages with noticeably softer tones.

It's all part of the administration sales plan to try to repair the American image that was badly damaged as a result of the invasion of Iraq.

THIS IS WHAT MICHELLE MALKIN WROTE ABOUT HELEN THE FROG IN 2003 FOR THE CREATORS:

March 28, 2003

Where Helen Thomas's heart lies

Shame, shame, shame on Helen Thomas.

The crusty ex-journalist-turned-White House heckler had only one thing on her mind when her favorite news stations, al Jazeera and Iraqi state TV, repeatedly broadcast those chilling pictures of scared American POWs and gleeful Iraqi soldiers hovering over dead American soldiers last weekend.

Thomas did not ask if the five Americans in captivity had been tortured or raped.

Thomas did not wonder whether the dead American soldiers had been wantonly executed in public by Saddam's thugs, who ambushed our men and women (yes, Helen, I said "our") in the city of Nasiriyah.

Thomas did not show the least bit of curiosity about the whereabouts of eight missing American soldiers caught in the attack.

And Thomas did not inquire about the well-being of any of the anguished families of these captured, missing and murdered American soldiers.

No, the question on Hellfire Helen Thomas's mind was:

What about the poor detainees at Guantanamo Bay?

At a March 24 White House briefing, Thomas smugly broached the topic of the America POWs with White House press secretary Ari Fleischer in order to harp on her favorite subject (i.e., blaming America):

Thomas: In terms of the pictures, the administration is upset because it is a violation of the Geneva Accords, you say, and I guess it is.

Fleischer: That's correct.

Thomas: Are we following the Geneva Accords in Iraq and Guantanamo?

Fleischer: . . . (W)e have always treated people humanely, consistent with international agreements. In the case of the battle, the fight in Iraq, there's no question that is being done in accordance with the Geneva Conventions.

Thomas: But how about the detainees in Guantanamo? They have no rights under the Geneva Accords?

Fleischer: As I just indicated, we always treat them humanely . . .

I admire Fleischer's super-human restraint in the face of this disgusting display of moral equivalence masquerading as journalism. Thomas sees pictures of dead American soldiers being molested by cackling Iraqi assassins, she sees video of dazed and wounded young American soldiers in captivity, and all she can do is harangue the Bush administration for not giving Guantanamo Bay terror detainees enough "rights"?

Let there be no doubt about where Helen Thomas's heart lies.

Since nothing the White House could say would convince her that the Guantanamo detainees are being treating humanely, maybe the testimony of freed detainees themselves will. It won't make a difference to hardened America-haters, of course, but let the truth be known:

Last weekend, 18 Afghans were released from detention in Cuba after 16 months of questioning in U.S. custody. They flew home and were held briefly in a Kabul jail. The Boston Globe reports that "nearly all of the former detainees enthusiastically praised the conditions at Guantanamo and expressed little bitterness about losing a year of their lives in captivity, saying they were treated better there than in three days in squalid cells in Kabul. None complained of torture during questioning or coerced confessions."

Sirajuddin, 24, a Kandahar taxi driver, said: ''The conditions were even better than our homes. We were given three meals a day -- eggs in the morning and meat twice a day; facilities to wash, and if we didn't wash, they'd wash us; and there was even entertainment with video games.''

"There is no need to lie," Sayed Abasin, 21, told the Chicago Tribune. "I'm telling you the facts. They treated us very well." His record from Cuba shows he was seen 37 times by the Gitmo medical staff, for everything from knee pain to sinusitis.

The freed detainees said they were allowed to pray five times daily, exercise, and were given books written in Pashtu. Upon their release, as parting gifts, the Afghan men received new shirts, jeans, tennis shoes and gym bags (to carry their Korans).

Now, human-rights crusaders, let's head back to Iraq.

The American POWs have already been subjected to intense public humiliation. They will be lucky if all they suffer is sinusitis. Military and intelligence officials report that some of the U.S. soldiers who raised their hands in surrender at Nasiriyah received only one parting gift: a bullet hole through the head.

Were our fellow Americans allowed to say their final prayers before their execution?

Helen? Helen?

Look who's talking.

If Helen Thomas looked at herself in the mirror or through her writing, she'd be so disgusted, she'd never want to appear in public again.

I don't know why the publications dignify a person whose sole purpose in life is to abuse and dishonor everybody she mentions and associates with. I don't see the point. Are they trying to make themselves look good by comparison? Stop with the public self-humiliation and self-annihilation that the publications allow. Isn't the person she is, punishment enough? To be Helen Thomas is to know Hell on earth.

If we wanted to hear what Helen Thomas has to say, we can all go down to the public housing projects in our own communities and hear some madwoman abusing her child and everybody else within earshot, yelling at the top of her lungs. What is this? -- some kind of an equal opportunity enrichment program offered by the liberals?

She needs to not draw attention to herself.

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