22 June 2006
Good Advice, Odd Source
Bush today said that the example of Hungary's 1956 uprising against communist rule is an example that the people of Iraq should follow.
This is interesting coming from him, and a not-surprising display of historical ignorance that I'm sure made his Hungarian audience cringe, as Hungary's uprising was an insurgent struggle against a foreign imperialist power that had invaded them, not the struggle to learn how to be a democracy that Bush apparently thinks it was. So in this situation, we would be the Soviet Union.
So it's an apt bit of advice from a certain perspective, which the Iraqis seem to have already figured out. But why he should want to tell them this is perplexing. Perhaps it's rephrasing of "bring 'em on."
Bush today said that the example of Hungary's 1956 uprising against communist rule is an example that the people of Iraq should follow.
He compared Iraq's struggle to develop into a democracy to Hungary's effort to bring down communist rule 50 years ago and said Iraqis would need the same kind of patience as Hungarians as they try to establish a thriving democracy.
"Hungary represents the triumph of liberty over tyranny," Bush said in a speech on a hill from where Soviet troops fired on the capital Budapest in 1956 to put down the uprising.
"Hungary is now a valued member of NATO and the European Union. You know that the democratic journey is not easy but you continue to make the tough decisions that are necessary to succeed."
So it's an apt bit of advice from a certain perspective, which the Iraqis seem to have already figured out. But why he should want to tell them this is perplexing. Perhaps it's rephrasing of "bring 'em on."
Labels: politics
¶ June 22, 2006
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