Elder Bush: "I think that's weird and it's nuts"
NY Daily News:
President Bush's father was forced into an emotional defense of his son yesterday in the Persian Gulf when an Arab audience launched a blistering surprise attack on his first-born.
"We do honor Americans, and I believe that they are highly respected in our country. However, we do not respect your son, and we do not respect what you are doing all over the world," college student Nevine Al Rumeisi told the former President at a leadership conference in the United Arab Emirates.
Her comment was roundly cheered by the business and political leaders gathered in once pro-American Abu Dhabi.
The elder Bush just looked stunned.
. . .
When another audience member said he thought American wars are designed to open markets for U.S. companies - drawing more cheers and whoops - Bush grew testy.
"I think that's weird and it's nuts," he said.
"To suggest that everything we do is because we're hungry for money - I think that's crazy. I think you need to go back to school."
posted by John B. Chilton at 11/25/2006 02:05:00 PM
2 Comments:
The phrase that struck me was one I've argued with other Americans about - "...everybody wants to go there (the US)."
And the astonishing thing is that they really believe it! They can't believe that in reality a huge number of people do not want to go there.
Interesting comment about "American wars are designed to open markets for U.S. companies".
There is a story of a U.S. based company with a branch in Dubai that ran into financial problems and did not pay employees and creditors wages for a few months, then it suddenly closed and its representatives left U.S.
The CEO of the company is a former State Department officer.
Here is a link to some part of the story:
http://www.sptimes.com/2006/10/19/Business/Projects_to_rebuild_I.shtml
What people in the UAE (nationals + expats) and international community can think is that yes, there are some U.S. companies, trying to profit out of the regions in war and using countries with flexible labor laws, such as UAE.
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