Bush Warns Iran

From the Washington Post:

Bush sought to address the Iranian people directly, saying: "You have a right to live under a government that listens to your wishes, respects your talents and allows you to build better lives for your families. Unfortunately, your government denies you these opportunities and threatens the peace and stability of your neighbors. So we call on the regime in Tehran to heed your will and to make itself accountable to you."

Change a few names and the president could have been addressing us here in the US, his own people. He does not listen to our wishes. He is at 34% approval rating. He does not respect us. He spies on us, and he is not allowing us to build better lives for our families. He denies opportunity to many, while helping to make the rich richer. His own policies and actions are the biggest threats to our peace and security. His maladministration operates in secrecy and does not make itself accountable to us. How can he speak about these things? What hypocrisy! It makes my blood boil when he lectures the leaders of other countries about freedom, when he has taken away the freedoms of his own citizens and made such a gigantic mess of things here at home.

Recently, I heard of one person who is self-employed, who had to drop his health insurance, because he could no longer afford it. Just today, I heard of another couple whose employer pays half their premium, but they will have to pay $200 more a month for the same insurance coverage, because premiums have risen. They soon won't be able to afford to pay even with help from their employer. Is that taking care of your own people, Mr. Bush? Give me a break from your lectures to other leaders! You have no moral standing to lecture anyone.

Bush's comments on Iran were part of a speech devoted to advancing the cause of freedom and democracy in the Middle East. It was the latest in a steady volley of attacks on the country in the past week that began even before he left for Jerusalem last Tuesday.

Let's hope that the Iranian leadership won't take you as an example of how a leader advances freedom and democracy, Mr. Bush. We'll be well rid of your leadership when your term ends in a year. I'm only sorry that we have to wait that long, allowing you to do further damage, before you fade into the sunset.

Bush is trying to persuade Arab countries to join U.S. efforts to pressure Iran, though many appear ambivalent about the administration's campaign following a new U.S. intelligence report that concluded Iran stopped a nuclear weapons program in 2003

According to Newsweek:

In public, President Bush has been careful to reassure Israel and other allies that he still sees Iran as a threat, while not disavowing his administration's recent National Intelligence Estimate.
....

But in private conversations with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert last week, the president all but disowned the document, said a senior administration official who accompanied Bush on his six-nation trip to the Mideast.

Bush's conclusions differ from those of his own intelligence agencies. On what evidence does he base his own differing conclusions? I'm sure that the views that he voiced are very much in line with what Olmert wants to hear, but where does Bush get his information to arrive at the different conslusions? Why did a "senior administration official who accompanied Bush on his six-nation trip" see fit to leak this bit of information? Does this official think that it's odd that Bush forms conclusions that differ from his own intelligence agencies? I know I do.