That Saudi Funded West Wing??

As I was reviewing what may have emerged from Bush's marathon trip to the Middle East, it dawned on me as I watched one photo-op after another that all of this palsy-walsy stuff going on with petro-sheikhs and Arab kings had less to do with the serious business of Iran, Iraq or Osama Bin Laden, and more to do with the future post-POTUS speaking engagements and the construction costs of the planned Bush presidential library.

Let me explain (or do I really have to?)

Where did Bush go:

Israel: OK, check that box for wealthy Republican Jewish donors.

United Arab Emirates: Sheikh Mohammed is one incredibly wealthy dude. Why else would Bush agree to spend time falconing when a visit to a U.S. aircraft carrier just up the road would have been the right presidential thing to do.

Bahrain: Home of CENTCOM (not a major part of the itinerary), but also a very friendly and very wealthy king.

Saudi Arabia: Well, now, the Saudis gave and gave again to 41's library, and here was Bush hanging around with King Abdullah bonding over Arabian stallions. How much would that nice model of the West Wing of the White House cost to build? Oh, not to forget, a few camouflaged policy crumbs were thrown to the American people when Bush did muster the will to appeal for more Saudi oil production, only to be turned down. So much for that vaunted Bush-Abdullah friendship.

I hope I am wrong, and that facts will bear out that there was no pecuniary motive to Bush's grand tour other than a long-overdue effort by him to vainly attempt to repair the damage his administration has wrought on U.S. interests in the Middle East. Except I just cannot come up with anything tangible that Bush actually accomplished on the trip and neither can his WH coterie briefing the accompanying press pool.

He even did not go to visit our troops in Iraq! Yeah, I know, he did send Condi to Baghdad while he visited the stables.

Isn't it fun being president when you can dance with Arabian swords, play with falcons in the desert, admire thoroughbred Arabian stallions at a stable, and receive all sorts of jewels and decorations.

Quite a victory lap, eh George!

Comments

[splashy]

He's just meetin' with our new landlords, since they invested in the banks that have all those mortgage debts.

Yes, the Arabs (and others, like China) will own our HOMES now.

The Repubs have been having a big fire sale, of OUR lives and homes, so THEY can profit big time. What a scam they've been running for 30 years now, culminating in the big sell off of the US going on right now.

[NABNYC]

When Bill Clinton left office, he and his wife were reportedly worth $600,000. Today it's $35.0 million. How'd he do it?

He gets money from huge corporations. They pay him enormous amounts of money, like $250,000 for one hour of his time.

Why? Is it his pretty face? Or is it his connections, and the possibility his wife may become president and do the bidding of the corporations?

The presidential libraries are just one aspect of the post-white house looting that's become common in this country. We should pass a law making it illegal for presidents to take money. Like the lobbying restrictions. Make it illegal for people to give money to the president for 10 years after he/she leaves the white house.

Otherwise it looks like they're being paid off for all the favors they did for corporate America. Like, for example, Bill Clinton promoting trade policies which threw 3 million Americans out of work, but which allowed his corporate friends to begin using third world slave labor to do their work.

And let's require the former presidents to list every penny they receive for 10 years after leaving office, for any purpose. Just so the public will understand the sleazy no-accounts that represent the "best" in our political system.

[OhgReaTone]

Get ready. America is going to show the world what a real Revolution should look like. The disaster of Bush's White House will send this country in a different direction for the next twenty years.
Ohg
http://thefiresidepost.com/2008/01/18/violations-of-our-constitution-revolution/

[magen]

The GW Bush LIE-BURY.

Funded by the Saudis.

Makes perfect sense.

[SubparDude]

:
HEADLINE: "Prince tours stables with Bush."

President: "So Princeey, y'all know pretty much bout them Ay-Rabby Horsies, eh?"

Prince Saud El Fokkya: "Why yes, Your Grace, they are the big ones with four legs over there."

President: "Awesome, Princeey. Wanna come back with me an run FEMA?"
:

[vippy]

Our ports are sold, they are run by the Arabs!
Don't know why we had that big upset when they did what they did anyway!

[avergejoe]

even better when bush can ignore the suffer of the Palestinians!

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/928363.html

Gaza's bleak reality

John Ging, the director of UNRWA's Gaza field office says that the humanitarian tragedy in Gaza is turning the Israeli government's designation of the Strip as a "hostile entity" into a self-fulfilling prophecy.

"Recently, Israel has been implementing a series of crushing sanctions, adding to the human misery and suffering of Gaza. israel links these sanctions to protection of the civilian population. these sanctions are not working, but because of their profound inhumanity, they are in fact counterproductive to their stated purpose.

"You must be on the ground to appreciate the full horror of the situation. living conditions continue their relentless downward spiral, to what can now only be described as truly appalling. This year, 649 Palestinians have been killed and 2819 have been injured, in those figures are the deaths of 63 children with 86 children injured. two Israelis have been killed and 99 injured this year as a result of this rocket fire.

"The medical situation simply atrocious: 91 of 416 essential drugs are in chronically short supply. 800 patients needing treatment abroad are currently denied permission to leave Gaza. It is very difficult to convey through words their physical suffering and the mental anguish caused to their families by these decisions to deny them access to the life-saving medical care that they need.

"The food situation is equally bad, with 1.2 million Gazans relying the UN. It is all the more tragic as this is a man-made problem rather than the result of a natural disaster."

the UNRWA data that was forwarded to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, prior to his departure for Annapolis,

poverty, violence and shortages led to the collapse of the education system in the Gaza Strip in failure rates of 90 percent in basic literacy and numeracy.

[Sundialsvc4]

Bush went to the Kings to reaffirm his fealty to them. To assure them that even after he leaves office, the United States military will continue to do battle with the King's enemies as before.

I am sure he also humbly thanked his lord and master for pouring billions into otherwise-bankrupt banks, for promising to make an exceptionally large purchase of weapons, and for continuing to permit petroleum to be bought and sold only in Dollars.

Yes, I am sure it was a good business deal for Mr. Bush and his business associates.

[semorg]

I am no fan of bushes, but this blog sounds more like conspiracy theory than journalism.

[Justice1]

The fact of the matter of visiting Saudi has very little in the real meaning of his trip to the Middle East other than to receive yet another assurance of giving Israeli property to the Palestinians...kind of like a warm fuzzy for the Saudis...

The United States will suffer greatly for the participation of our leaders in the Road Map Peace Plan. Furthermore, our division has only begun...

[ajax2]

Isn't a GW Bush library the final irony?

[marksiet]

Wow! Right on Marc. This however goes a bit deeper than prancing around hat in hand for dollars. The Bush family Arab alliance has been in place since even before the 1st Bush presidency. It is no secret who has the money in this world. What remains unclear by design is how the world works under the present system. Lately, however, GW has been tipping his hand flaunting his friendships with the various shieks leading to the following concerns. Is America being sold by design? Are our troubles meant to be in place to make this sale much more easily. Here is the plan as I see it happening. Bleed the US dollar and then take advantage of this weakness to prey upon US property in order to gain more control of the US market. If you look at the whole scenario, the war, the profiteers, the Iraqui government, the Saudis, Kuwait, the whole shebang then you see what amounts to a corporate takeover of America. If someone wanted to do this in a cold calculated way this would be an ideal setup to proceed with don't you think.

Let's add to that plan Bush's intention to keep us tied up in Iraq for another 10 years without Congressional approval. Further John McCain's plan to keep us in Iraq for another 100 years. You see unless they are stopped this very unpleasant thing will be accomplished. Don't say it cannot be done.

The lesson comes from Aristocracy or moneyed interests bleeding the populace to enforce their will, their power and ultimately their philosophies on this populace. It's happening ladies and gentlemen. Beware not the military industrial complex, but instead replace that with the multinational corporate raiders.

This is the Bush plan for world domination not maniacal merely calculated to rob each and every one of us of our freedom, our money and our ability to resist this "evil."

[ljsfolly]

We all have learned in the past 7 plus years that chimp man does little which doesn't benefit him or his buds. With that in mind we know that the bush clan has been like long term friends with the sauds and the oil men. Cheney the darth man has been haliburtins continuing best money maker giving freely to them when possible any no bid contract he can. Together they all trace clearly back to the same sauds and big business oil men. So what ever chimp is doing it is far too late to be trying for peace or anything that might help us. The oil prices and middle east peace are things never on the agenda before so why now? With the promise chimp has made on repeated trips to the region I guess the secret service has it's job already cut out for them.

[gregapress]

369 days.

[Pneumaticus]

Well, can we assume the president thanked King Abdullah for giving us Osama bin Laden and then the opportunity to play Napoleon in Iraq? And who knew Bush could even read, much less knew what a library is? Certainly not anyone at Yale.