When Bush travels south, people give him the traditional Brooklyn raspberry

http://www.vheadline.com/readnews.asp?id=47160

In a special article for VHeadline.com, York University's Pastor Valle-Garay
writes: US president George W. Bush and his imperial court stand naked before
their formerly adoring public. Alas! The emperor has no clothes. Every
pronouncement he has made to date ... from weapons of mass destruction ... to
what he eats for breakfast ... has been either proven wrong or recognized as
flat, adulterated lies.

As his chief strategist, vice president *** Cheney scrambles to revisit and
rework the White House?s own revisionist interpretation of current events,
Americans roll their eyes in disbelief. In Latin America, where US Presidents
are infamously predictable for their erratic behavior, this is old hat.

For the last 150 years, whenever a White House occupant ?volunteered? to help
Latin America exactly the opposite occurred. Therefore, it should come as no
surprise that when Bush travels south, people give him the traditional Brooklyn
raspberry.

Witness the rousing rejection he got while on tour of Argentina, Brazil and
Panama.

Bush asked for it.

In spite of his denials, the US president continues to make ?contingency? plans
for the overthrow of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, and has set up a
?transition? team led by a US bureaucrat to facilitate the transfer of power in
Cuba once President Fidel Castro dies.

Bush?s arrogance knows no limits.

However what many US citizens now consider bizarre presidential double-speak has
been standard US Government procedure south of the border for ages. Franklin
Delano Roosevelt, one of the most beloved US presidents, is also one of the most
blatant examples of Washington?s double-speak. On March 4, 1933, when Roosevelt
made his first inaugural address on assuming the US Presidency he stated that
?In the field of world policy I would dedicate this Nation to the policy of the
good neighbor -- the neighbor who resolutely respects himself and, because he
does so, respects the rights of others -- the neighbor who respects his
obligations and respects the sanctity of his agreements in and with a world of
neighbors.?

Nice words. Also meaningless.

As part of the 'Good Neighbor' policy with Latin America Roosevelt swore off
military interventions in Latin America.

In a further bizarre and disingenuous move Hollywood started producing Disney
and Carmen Miranda movies in an attempt to soft sell Roosevelt's policy to the
American people. As far as Latin America was concerned it did not matter that
Carmen Miranda danced her ass off, Roosevelt?s good neighbor policy was
stillborn.

* American corporate interests remained unchanged and US military
interventions was the order of the day before, during and after Roosevelt.

* Latin American presidents who failed to rumba to Washington?s tune were
forcefully thrown out of power.

Nicaragua illustrates Roosevelt?s inconsistency ... when some members of
Congress expressed concern over Washington?s backing of General Anastasio Somoza
Garcia, Nicaragua?s brutal dictator, Roosevelt replied with the blunt,
eye-popping remark that ?He (Somoza) is a son of a bitch but he is our son of a
bitch.?

>From then on, and with the support of every US president after Roosevelt, Somoza
and his two sons ruled the Central American nation for 43 years. The Somozas
became the most despised, criminal dynasty in this Hemisphere, until the
Sandinista revolution threw the old dictator?s son General Anastasio Somoza
Debayle out of power in 1979. Somoza Debayle, also known as the last US Marine
in Nicaragua, fled to dictators? heaven in Miami. A year later he was
assassinated in Asuncion, Paraguay.

Last week, Venezuela turned the tables on Roosevelt's good neighbor policy.
President Chavez delivered on his promise to provide cheap oil to low-income
people in New York and Massachusetts. Linda Kelly and her family of five are
grateful to Chavez for the fuel they received at 40% discount. It was
distributed through Venezuela's Citgo Petroleum Corporation which has 13,500
independently-owned gas stations in the United States.

Venezuela has also sent extra, market-price oil to US areas devastated by
Hurricane Katrina.

Chavez? fuel generosity must have shocked the petrodollar magnates in the White
House. It is inconceivable to Bush, Papa Bush, Vice-President *** Cheney, a
former Halliburton CEO, and sidekick Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice ... an
executive with Chevron until 2001 ... that anyone in his right mind would offer
oil and fuel at cut-rate prices.

Rice might have been particularly concerned. One of Chevron?s oil tankers had
been named 'The Condoleezza Rice' until the name embarrassed Bush?s National
Security Director and Chevron quietly changed it to the 'Altair Voyager.' Could
Condi?s tanker have been used to transport Chavez? oil to the United States?

Who cares! But, oil for food?

Well, the United Nations did it! War for oil? Of course.

We are up to our necks in it! But oil for the sake of helping people in need?
Unthinkable! Chavez must be out of his mind! It goes against all corporate
principles. Wall Street should never have to put up with that.

Speculation aside, it is questionable whether Chavez? new version of the old US
'Good Neighbor' policy will work miracles in the hearts and minds of the White
House. Without a doubt, Chavez? shipment of fuel to the US is a superb strategic
move by the Venezuelan leader.

?How are you going to retaliate for keeping people warm for winter,?
commented Larry Birns, director of the Council on Hemispheric Affairs, a
Washington?s think-tank. ?He?s doing the right thing,? said Mrs. Kelly of
Quincy, Massachusetts, ?the people of Venezuela are lucky to have him. That?s
what government is supposed to be about -- taking care of the little people.?

But do not chalk one up for President Chavez in the game of one-upmanship with
Bush. Not yet anyway. Bush has dug himself in such a deep trench in Iraq that he
seems hopelessly stuck. He hasn?t figured out a way out, according to political
analyst Eugene Robinson's recent opinion article in the New York Times. But he
will try. His Republican party?s future is a stake and no amount of Venezuelan
fuel will soften his determination to get the Republicans back on their feet.

Things could get worse...

Bush has over three years left before he leaves the White House ... it allows
him plenty of time to engineer further mischief, and lately the military noises
emanating from Washington indicate that his administration is picking targets to
replace the conflict in Iraq. Targets in this Hemisphere, namely Cuba and
Venezuela.

The signs are there. Early this month the White House struck a "transition" US
team to oversee the ?orderly transfer of power? in Cuba the moment President
Fidel Castro dies. The job of organizing the transition fell on Caleb McCarry,
the US State Department hatchet man largely responsible for staging the violent
overthrow and kidnapping of President Jean-Bertrand Aristides of Haiti in
February 2004.

There's more...

Last week the Central Intelligence Agency issued a report designed to pave the
way for just such an eventuality. The CIA peeked into the same magic ball that
informed them of the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and reported that
Castro suffers from such an advanced form of Parkinson disease that it should
kill him shortly. Following on the heels of McCarry's appointment, the CIA
diagnosis can not possibly be an out-of-the-blue, CIA concoction. In fact it is
perversely packaged to anticipate Castro's demise and prepare the American
people for further US interference on Cuba's affairs. Not unlike the packaging
of Carmen Miranda movies. Not unlike the packaging of the Iraq invasion.

Unfortunately for the CIA its obscene anticipation of Castro?s supposedly
imminent death backfired, just as countless other CIA plans to do away with the
Cuban President also failed to materialize.

These guys are worse than the Keystone Kops!

How little have they learned from the fiasco of the weapons of mass destruction!

Perhaps they should take rumba lessons from Carmen Miranda ... they keep dancing
with two left feet. After all, the day after the CIA published its findings,
Castro spoke for six hours before a student gathering at the University of La
Habana. He was in excellent health.

As if putting Cuba in the CIA?s crosshairs were not enough, Venezuela and its
rich oil deposits have also become targets of the Bush administration. Again,
not unlike Iraq. All the noises emanating from official Washington indicate that
Bush has decided that Chavez? government conflicts with US interests in the
region and therefore must be ousted.

The remaining question is ... when?

Political logic ... illogical at the best of times in Bush's mind ... would
indicate that the White House will likely pick a time between now and the next
US presidential elections. Bringing home the troops from Iraq ... a must if the
Republicans expect to win any elections ... may leave Americans with the bitter
taste of defeat. In order to compensate for the sense of loss and flex US
military muscle at the same time, Bush needs a convenient target to make
Americans feel Republican-good. Since Bush and his team have already worn out
the Muslim fundamentalist labels used to rationalize the ill-conceived Iraq
invasion, a new moniker is required against Cuba and/or Venezuela.

Team Bush has already catalogued them as terrorist states and therefore
considers both nations fair game in his war against terrorism.

The White House?s fear-mongering against Castro goes way back. Its volume
increased on May 6, 2002, when John Bolton, Deputy Secretary of State and now
the US ambassador to the United Nations, accused Cuba of developing
bacteriological weapons. Judith Miller, the New York Times journalist (recently
fired by the newspaper), parroted Bolton?s accusations. By October Ms. Miller
recanted her story. It had been a complete fabrication, similar to Bolton?s
denunciation of Iraq?s acquisition of nuclear weapons. But it set the stage for
bolder actions against the Cuban and the Venezuelan Governments.

Last month the Government of Bolivia joined a diplomatic campaign against
Venezuela. The Bolivian Secretary of State accused Venezuela?s highest ranking
diplomat in La Paz of interfering in Bolivia?s internal affairs for criticizing
former President Jorge Quiroga, a candidate in Bolivia?s next presidential
elections.

In Ecuador former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar used his address to
Ecuador?s business community to denounce Chavez as ?the greatest threat to
democracy in the continent.? Aznar should have known better. President Bush?s
unconditional tiny pal during Iraq?s invasion, was demolished by Spain?s
electorate when he tried to re-elect himself to a second term as Prime Minister.
Spain voters felt that Aznar?s commitment of Spanish troop in Iraq represented a
threat to world peace. Soon after Aznar?s loss, Spain's troops returned home.

Mexican President Vicente Fox also joined the presidential rabble against Chavez
.... he launched a personal attack against the Venezuelan President for opposing
Bush?s Free Trade plans at the Summit of the Americas in Argentine.

In the last few months intelligence reports first published in VHeadline.com
indicate that US private military contractors (PMC), similar to the US
mercenaries employed in Iraq, have conducted several incursions between the
Colombia-Venezuela borders. The PMC, supposedly hired to intercept drug traffic
operations, have linked with anti-Chavez factions in an effort to destabilize
the Venezuelan government.

These tactics, frequently used in the last decades by various US Governments
against Chile, Nicaragua, Grenada, Haiti and against popular revolutionary
movements in El Salvador and Guatemala may be in vogue again, this time against
Cuba and Venezuela.

Hell, the US Government has used them against some of its best friends.

When Papa Bush was director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Panama?s
President Manuel Noriega was on his CIA payroll.

It is not far-fetched to surmise that, just like Roosevelt, Bush Sr. felt
that Panama?s dictator also was an SOB but, of course, our SOB. Bush Sr. and
Bush Jr. probably applied the same appellative to former pals Osama Bin Laden
and Saddam Hussein.

In December 1989, Bush Sr. sent the US Marines into Panama, slaughtered three
thousand Panamanian civilians, captured Noriega and brought him back for trial
in the United States. A similar fate now awaits Bin Laden and Hussein. Such
deeds speak volumes for the US good neighbor policy.

With friends like these ? who needs enemies!

In light of these developments, neither Castro or Chavez can be blamed for
denouncing the Bush administration?s attempts to undermine their respective
governments. Both leaders are history buffs and both are painfully aware that
Washington will say one thing and do exactly the opposite without batting an
eye. Both are rightfully wary of US incursions in their nations.

Hopefully Washington?s arrogant bureaucracy would carefully consider the dire
consequences of initiating military actions against Cuba and/or Venezuela.

If Bush feels that the political fortune of the Republican Party is tied to
the fate of these nations he might just try another Iraq in this Hemisphere. It
would be a terrible mistake.

Sooner than later the White House must learn that, contrary to Roosevelt?s
assertion, neither Castro nor Chavez are their Sob?s ... Cuba and Venezuela are
not Iraq ... and just as important, the American people would not stand for
another unprovoked invasion.

The rest of the civilized world is already fed up with megalomaniacs? wars.

Pastor Valle-Garay
pastor@xxxxxxxx

http://www.vheadline.com/readnews.asp?id=47160



Alan

"Can't you see we're still here,
Can't you see we're still here,
Singing loud; Singing clear,
We shall not go under,
We're still here."

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