This is a little off the beaten track for me. I was in the midst of working on a healthcare diary when I heard CPSAN reporting this story earlier today.
Thanks to "save draft", I dropped everything. For years I have been waiting for a story like this one, now could someone locate a video?
Bush 41 was in Abu Dhabi giving a (paid) speech to the Abu Dhabi World Leadership Summit. The World Leadership Summit is huge, it's the Clinton Global Initiative of the Arab World. Its chief sponsor/benefactor is the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, a sycophant and intimate of the Bush family.
This is a description of the ADWLS from its web site. By the way, it'll set you back about $1,500 to register and attend.
The Abu Dhabi World Leadership summit will be remembered by thousands as one of the most significant and unique events in the Middle East. A gathering of the world’s most influential and revered speakers will join together to share strategies for excellence in leadership and international business development. The audience will be compromised of Senior Government Officials, dignitaries and international and regional business leaders.
See for yourself, here's a link to the web site:
http://www.abudhabisummit.ae/
Mr. Father Bush was undoubtedly paid an enormous amount of money and given perks--say a private jet to haul his ass back and forth to speak before this gathering. I'm sure he was also guaranteed a friendly audience. As an aside, never forget you'll rarely find the political class on a commerical airline--even in first class. Says everything about the state of our pitiful "homeland security".
Back to the barrage. As reported in the N.Y. 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.
http://www.nydailynews.com/...
And this.
Her comment was roundly cheered by the business and political leaders gathered in once pro-American Abu Dhabi.
The elder Bush just looked stunned.
His speech had stressed how proud he is of both his sons, the President and Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, and how much it hurt him when they are criticized.
"It takes a lot of guts to tell a father what you said about his son when I just told you that the thing that matters to my heart is my family," he said.
"My son is an honest man, he is working hard for peace, and how come everybody wants to go to the United States if the United States is so bad?"
That prompted another audience member, an American ex-pat, to tell Bush, "I think the remarks that you made about why people need to go to America to be very hostile and make the country look even worse."
It gets better--or worse, lots worse.
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."
His voice quivering, the 82-year-old Bush said, "This son is not going to back away. He's not going to change his view because some poll says this, or some poll says that, or some heartfelt comments from the lady who feels deeply in her heart about something."
If father knows best, or even knows anything, this statement: "not going to back away" is really scary news for the world.
Do yourself a favor and read the rest. Also keep in mind, before George Bush turned the world against us, Abu Dhabi was a close friend of the United States