[NYTr] Bush's UN Crib Sheet: Iliterate Buffoon on Parade
All the News That Doesn't Fit
The Independent - Sep 26, 2007
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2998990.ece
Revealed: script for Bush's mangled words
By David Usborne in New York
There is nothing mysterious about George Bush when he comes to the
annual General Assembly of the United Nations. He comes, he excoriates
countries he doesn't care for and he leaves. Everyone knows the routine
and while some other world leaders may spit his name, they sure know
how to pronounce it.
But the President, who used his appearance at the podium yesterday to
call for a "mission of liberation" to bring democracy and human rights
to countries under dictatorship or repressive rule, needs a little help
in this regard.
Heaven forefend that he mangles the names of Sarkozy, say, or Mugabe.
We know this thanks to a snafu by the White House staff who mistakenly
allowed a few journalists to glimpse a draft of the President's address
complete with phonetic spellings in brackets to assist him with names
of people and places. In the correct version for the press, they had
been erased.
Safe from Mr Bush's famously dyslexic tongue, therefore, were the
Presidents of France [sar-KO-zee] and Zimbabwe (moo-GAH-bee]. The
speech-writers, whose names and even telephone numbers were also posted
at the end of the wrongly circulated version, also helped him with the
capitals of Zimbabwe [hah-RAR-ray] and of Venezuela [kah-RAH-kus].
Yet, Mr Bush was sometimes left to his own instincts. While prompts
were provided for Kyrgyzstan [KEY-geez-stan] and Mauritania
[moor-EH-tain-ee-a], he was offered no such help with Sierra Leone or
with Aung San Suu Kyi, the opposition leader in Burma. He made two runs
at the latter and mangled the former, seemingly renaming it Syria
Leone. (A member of his axis of evil, surely.)
Cuba he got right and it was the Cubans who provided still more
distraction yesterday when its entire delegation upped and walked out
of the General Assembly hall midway through Mr Bush's speech. This
after Mr Bush suggested, referring to the ailing Fidel Castro, that,
"the long rule of a cruel dictator is nearing its end. The Cuban people
are ready for their freedom."
In a statement, the Cuban government last night said its boycott was a
"sign of profound rejection of the arrogant and mediocre statement"
delivered by the American President. "Bush is responsible for the
murder of over 600,000 civilians in Iraq... He is a criminal and has no
moral authority or credibility to judge any other country." It
concluded: "Cuba condemns and rejects every letter of his infamous
tirade."
Expressions of disdain for Mr Bush by other leaders have become an
annual sideshow of the UN Assembly. Last year it was Hugo Chavez of
Venezuela who achieved the greatest theatrics saying he could smell
sulphur at the podium where Mr Bush had spoken hours before, thus
likening him to Satan.
Mr Chavez announced at the last minute yesterday that he would be
skipping the Assembly this year where he was scheduled to speak today.
So there will be no Bush-Chavez spectacular. The starring role this
time may be seized by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran.
Mr Mugabe will have his chance to respond tomorrow when he is scheduled
at the podium. Mr Bush said that his government "has cracked down on
peaceful calls for reform and forced millions to flee their homeland".
He went on: "The behaviour of the Mugabe regime is an assault on its
people."
Mr Ahmadinejad has used his visit to the New York to underscore Iran's
determination to stand-up to pressure from most of the international
community for a suspension of its uranium enrichment activities. But it
was unclear how far he had furthered his cause with his appearance at
Columbia University on Monday where he was labeled a "petty and cruel
dictator" by his hosts and went on to cause bafflement, and even bursts
of laughter, when he flatly suggested that there are "no homosexuals in
Iran".
President's crib notes
* Kyrgyzstan, KEYR-geez-stan
* Mauritania, moor-EH-tain-ee-a
* Mugabe, moo-GAH-bee
* Harare, hah-RAR-ray
* Sarkozy, sar-KO-zee
* Caracas, kah-RAH-kus
*
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