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Bush, bin Laden, and abandoned baby
Apec
By Richard S Ehrlich
BANGKOK - US President George Bush said on
Sunday that Osama bin Laden's newest tape proves "there
is still a danger", and he thanked Thailand's military
for sending troops to Afghanistan and Iraq. Hundreds of
Thai civilians in a peaceful street protest, meanwhile,
condemned Bush's "imperialism" and demanded that all
US-led forces withdraw from Iraq.
In an unusual
coincidence, both Bush and bin Laden focused on their
worldwide war against each other in the run-up to an
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in
Bangkok, whose main two-day session ends on Tuesday.
"The bin Laden tape should say to everybody the
'war on terror' goes on, that there is still a danger
for free nations and that free nations need to work
together, more than ever, to share intelligence, cut off
money and bring these potential killers or killers to
justice," Bush told journalists while sitting next to
Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra on Sunday.
In a separate statement, Bush told Thai troops
not to listen to bin Laden or feel empathy for any
terrorists. "You must oppose the propaganda and hatred
that feeds their cause," Bush said in a speech to Thai
troops at the Royal Thai Army headquarters in Bangkok.
Bush was delighted with Bangkok for helping the
US Central Intelligence Agency capture an alleged senior
Indonesian terrorist known as Hambali during a raid in
Thailand in August. Bush's consideration of Thailand as
a "major non-NATO ally", however, also coincided with
bin Laden's broadcast against the US president for
"begging mercenaries from every corner of the world" to
help the Pentagon.
"This begging has destroyed
your [Bush's] pride and revealed how trivial and weak
you are after claiming to defend the whole world," bin
Laden said in a broadcast on Saturday translated by
Qatar-based Aljazeera television. "He [Bush] is still
following the mentality of his ancestors who killed the
native Americans to take their land and wealth," bin
Laden said, referring to the US invasion and occupation
of Iraq.
Bin Laden told US troops: "You are
spilling your blood to swell the bank accounts of the
White House gang and their fellow arms dealers and the
proprietors of great companies. And the greatest folly
in life is to sell your life for the lives of others."
After arriving here in Thailand Saturday, the US
president was to rub shoulders with 20 other
Asia-Pacific leaders, including Malaysia's Prime
Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who, also on Saturday, warned
that Australian government officials could be arrested
as "terrorists" in Muslim-majority Malaysia.
Scorning Bush's description of Australia as an
allied regional "sheriff", Mahathir said: "I can assure
Australia that if it acts as a sheriff in this country
it will be treated as a terrorist and dealt with as a
terrorist," The Australian newspaper reported on Sunday.
Australia's opposition foreign affairs
spokesman, Kevin Rudd said, "Mahathir's comments today
are so extreme that it starts to become difficult to
distinguish his statements from those of Osama bin
Laden. "An incitement to religious violence yesterday
[Friday] followed by the description of Australia as a
terrorist state today requires John Howard to use APEC
in Bangkok to bring about comprehensive regional
condemnation of this man."
In an interview with
Bush before he embarked on his Asia trip, The Australian
newspaper asked whether he agreed with Australian Prime
Minister John Howard's comment in 1999 that his nation
was America's "deputy sheriff". Bush replied, "No. We
don't see it as a deputy sheriff. We see it as a
sheriff."
In remarks that also disturbed some
APEC leaders, Mahathir told an applauding, 57-nation
Islamic conference on Friday, "Today the Jews rule this
world by proxy," and added, "1.3 billion Muslims cannot
be defeated by a few million Jews."
APEC,
meanwhile, was also expected to consider Washington's
currency dispute with Japan and China, plus America's
problems with North Korea's nuclear aspirations and
Southeast Asia's disagreement with US-led sanctions
against the military regime in Myanmar.
In a
symbolic act that has raised eyebrows, an abandoned baby
was nicknamed "Apec" after he was discovered unconscious
in a garbage bag near a summit venue. Thai police found
the baby while patrolling an APEC motorcade route and
named him accordingly, but the infant was in critical
condition and fighting for its life on Sunday after
being revived in a Bangkok hospital.
Bush is
midway through his six-day, six-nation trip, which
included about 17 hours in Japan, eight hours in the
Philippines and a planned three nights in Bangkok,
followed by 15 hours in Singapore, three hours in
Indonesia and 21 hours in Australia.
(Copyright
2003 Richard S Ehrlich.)
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