Mugabe calls Bush, Blair 'terrorists'

[Sarge]

This from a "leader" that ran all the white farmers out of the country and now can't feed themselves

Someone tell me again why the UN is around? Tell me why we are a part of it?I heard this little speech got a standing O from the audience

http://www.washtimes.com/world/20051018-123536-9781r.htm

ROME -- Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe yesterday railed against President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, calling them "international terrorists" bent on world domination like Adolf Hitler.

Mr. Mugabe departed from his text at a ceremony marking the 60th anniversary of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to accuse Mr. Bush and Mr. Blair of illegally invading Iraq and looking to unseat governments elsewhere.

"Must we allow these men, the two unholy men of our millennium, who, in the same way as Hitler and Mussolini formed [an] unholy alliance, formed an alliance to attack an innocent country?" he asked rhetorically.

"The voice of Mr. Bush and the voice of Mr. Blair can't decide who shall rule in Zimbabwe, who shall rule in Africa, who shall rule in Asia, who shall rule in Venezuela, who shall rule in Iran, who shall rule in Iraq," he said.

Mr. Mugabe accused Britain and the United States of working to unseat him because of his forcible redistribution of white-owned farms among blacks, helping plunge his country into its worst economic crisis since independence from Britain in 1980.

Regime critics in Zimbabwe and abroad say Mr. Mugabe's land policies have turned what was the breadbasket of southern Africa into a country facing mass shortages at home.

Aid groups estimate 5 million of Zimbabwe's roughly 12 million people may need food aid this year.

Some FAO delegates applauded several times during Mr. Mugabe's fiery speech yesterday.

But U.S. Ambassador Tony Hall, who protested Mr. Mugabe's presence at the celebrations, said it was "very unfortunate" that the Zimbabwean leader had politicized an event that was supposed to draw attention to world hunger.

"I think he chews up his own people and spits them out," said Mr. Hall, who visited Zimbabwe in August. "He has taken a perfectly good country and ruined it."

The European Union slapped a travel ban on 81-year-old Mr. Mugabe after accusations of vote rigging in parliamentary elections in 2000 and in the president's re-election two years later. But he is allowed to visit EU countries to attend U.N.-sponsored events.

Relations between the United States and Zimbabwe also have soured in recent years, with the Bush administration accusing Mr. Mugabe's government of human rights abuses and election rigging.

U.S. officials said last month that Washington was preparing to expand sanctions on Mr. Mugabe, members of his government and their families.

Mr. Mugabe attacked Mr. Hall as an "agent of imperialism" and then thanked FAO Secretary-General Jacques Diouf for inviting him despite the U.S. protest.

Mr. Mugabe's remark about Hitler drew an immediate rebuke from Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the New York-based Anti-Defamation League.

Mr. Mugabe "starves and suppresses his own people. His shameful exploitation of Nazism and the Holocaust ... is the act of a demagogue who utterly disdains the values of tolerance and democracy," Mr. Foxman said.

[TC4]

Oh yeah, right

This coming from a Marxist-Leninist thug

[smsmith40]

Sarge

THe problem is not with the UN but with Mugabe's African neighbours, particularly South Africa. They are the regional power here and they need to stand up and show some backbone. While they refuse to take active measures against the Mugabe regime or even condemn his actions in unequivocal language nothing is going to happen.

Blair (and to a lesser extent Bush) have some difficulties here, Mugabe uses Blair as the bogeyman to scare his largely uninformed population, any overt actions merely gives Mugabe the ammunition to keep winning elections in Zimbabwe, where fear of colonial interference is a powerful votewinner.

Bottom line, Sanctions won't work without South African support, military action would be difficult and bloody (Mugabe has already fought and won a guerilla war against a colonial power) and massively unpopular in all the former African colonies.

Exactly what would you suggest the UN do?

[@DCGoldPants]

Now everybody is misusing the word.

Bush can't tell the difference between insurgents and Terrorists.....Mugabe can't tell the difference either I guess.

[Art Monk Fan]

Sarge

THe problem is not with the UN but with Mugabe's African neighbours, particularly South Africa. They are the regional power here and they need to stand up and show some backbone. While they refuse to take active measures against the Mugabe regime or even condemn his actions in unequivocal language nothing is going to happen.

Blair (and to a lesser extent Bush) have some difficulties here, Mugabe uses Blair as the bogeyman to scare his largely uninformed population, any overt actions merely gives Mugabe the ammunition to keep winning elections in Zimbabwe, where fear of colonial interference is a powerful votewinner.

Bottom line, Sanctions won't work without South African support, military action would be difficult and bloody (Mugabe has already fought and won a guerilla war against a colonial power) and massively unpopular in all the former African colonies.

Exactly what would you suggest the UN do?

They can start with not inviting him to such events and giving him a world stage on which to speak. This could be followed by NOT APPLAUDING HIM!

[Thiebear]

They can start with not inviting him to such events and giving him a world stage on which to speak. This could be followed by NOT APPLAUDING HIM!

:notworthy

[Destino]

The only thing African leaders need to be saying to the world is "we are terribly sorry about the mess we have over here and are working to make it better."

[Guest Gichin13]

Isn't that the guy Zoolander tried to assasinate?

[Spaceman Spiff]

The only thing African leaders need to be saying to the world is "we are terribly sorry about the mess we have over here and are working to make it better."

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :notworthy :notworthy :notworthy

Isn't that the guy Zoolander tried to assasinate?

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

Oh man, thats funny stuff.

It's a good thing we asked Mugabe for his opinion...

[smsmith40]

They can start with not inviting him to such events and giving him a world stage on which to speak. This could be followed by NOT APPLAUDING HIM!

I'm sure that will make ALL the difference to the people of Zimbabwe. The guy got to go to the Pope's funeral as well and sat two rows back from Bush and Blair. Unfortunately, he's the elected leader of his country, if the US and UK want to ban him frm UN events all they need to do is win a vote in the Security council, but that would mean taking the security council seriously, something the US Government doesn't want to do.

The unfortunate fact is that the opinions that Mugabe was spouting are not unpopular in much of the Developing World and that was Mugabe's audience.

Also, its a shame that despite the important work the FAO does, most people will only have heard about it because of the comments of a tin-pot dictator/thug like Mugabe.

[Hog Fever]

Mugabe is one of the biggest Marxist dictator thugs on the planet. Someone should have put a bullet in his head years ago. In truth he’s relatively harmless on the world stage as nobody really cares what he has to say or takes him that seriously. At home he’s very dangerous to the people who he rules and any who oppose him or his cronies. He is the archetypical African dictator: He rigs elections, steals as much money as he can for himself and his friends and has his own private army to handle anyone who gets out of line.

A family friend of ours is from Rhodesia, what Zimbabwe used to be called when it was a colonial state. For anyone who knows a little about the history of the region you’d understand why he hates to see the results of Mugabe’s rule there. It was a beautiful and fairly prosperous country at one time. He’d be the first to tell you that there were things that needed to change under the Smith government that was in place till 79’, but what has happened since then is far worse than anything Smith did.

He and his family left in 80’ soon after it was clear how things were going to end up playing out there for anyone who was white and owned land. Other farmers in his area had their farms seized. Some, both black and white were killed trying to defend their homes and families. He has some good, although scary stories about living there during the war. He has pictures of lions and other dangerous animals moving across his property.

[webnarc]

Great post Hog Fever!

I'd hate to draw paralleles between Bush and Mugabe, because Mugabe is so much worse to his own people, but there are similarities; it just going to be pretty unpopular to mention them.

[TODD]

Just thought I'd quickly cut and paste something I found while researching for a speech speech last month:

Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe Operation Murambatsvina

In three weeks since the beginning of this "clean up', estimates of the displaced vary from 300,000 to over a million, and hundreds of thousands more have lost their sources of income in the informal sector… "Operation Clean-up", the more literal translation of "murambatsvina" is "getting rid of the filth".

[Art Monk Fan]

I'm sure that will make ALL the difference to the people of Zimbabwe.

You're right, but it would be a start nonetheless.

The guy got to go to the Pope's funeral as well and sat two rows back from Bush and Blair. Unfortunately, he's the elected leader of his country, if the US and UK want to ban him frm UN events all they need to do is win a vote in the Security council, but that would mean taking the security council seriously, something the US Government doesn't want to do.

HIs presence at this event was in no way mandated, he received an invitation and was further invited to speak. The U.S. did protest the fact and was ignored.

The unfortunate fact is that the opinions that Mugabe was spouting are not unpopular in much of the Developing World and that was Mugabe's audience.

All the more reason not to invite him onto the world stage to spout hatred.

Also, its a shame that despite the important work the FAO does, most people will only have heard about it because of the comments of a tin-pot dictator/thug like Mugabe.

Again, another very good point -- and one the U.N. might have taken into consideration before inviting the fool to speak. If I'm not mistaken his policies have led to famine and starvation in his country, so what constructive insight he has for the FAO escapes me.

[Predicto]

Maybe the FAO invited him because they are trying to get on his good side, get him to cooperate so the food will reach the needy in his country? I dunno.

Mugabe is a complete tool, that's for sure.

[chomerics]

Why should Bush even worry what Mugabe says. . . 10:1 he can't even find Zimbabwe on a map.