BobHarris.com - Bush defines "democracy" for us

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Dennis Perrin

Bush defines "democracy" for us

Tag it now -

Saturday, 29 April 2006

Here's Bush describing Azerbaijan yesterday, according to the White House website:

[A] modern Muslim country that is able to provide for its citizens, that understands that democracy is the wave of the future.

Um... Ilham Aliyev's government engages in arbitrary imprisonment of political opponents, torture of persons in custody, and government-wide corruption which prevents any real reform. Just ask Amnesty, Human Rights Watch, or Bush's own State Department, whose most recent report reads like a laundry list in Hell:

restricted right of citizens to peacefully change their government

torture and beating of persons in custody, leading to four deaths

arbitrary arrest and detention, particularly of political opponents

harsh and life-threatening prison conditions

police impunity

lengthy pretrial detention

pervasive corruption in the judiciary

some restrictions of privacy rights

periodic interference with media freedom

excessive use of force to disperse demonstrations

limited instances of violence and societal discrimination against women

trafficking in persons

limited workers' rights

Read the U.S. government's own report. It's terrifying. No honest and/or sane person would call this "democracy."

But Azerbaijan has oil. And a bigass pipeline.

So.

There's Chimpus Maximus, just yesterday, welcoming this Saddam wannabe with open arms, saying he "understands that democracy is the wave of the future."

Bush has a truly interesting definition of the word "democracy."

As you'll see from clicking the links, Aliyev's government also uses a variety of means to circumvent international law, manipulate elections, and limit the media's ability to report the truth.

And Aliyev only came to power in an election so filled with one-sided irregularities than most objective observers considered it rigged. (Even Bush's own State Department dryly calls it "an election that did not meet international standards.")

This is apparently what Bush means when he says Azerbaijan is developing as "a modern, secular, democratic country."