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September 19, 2005
Hugo Chavez...
Settling well into his new role as heir apparent to Fidel Castro as the most humiliating thorn in the side of U.S. policy, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez last week earned a round of thunderous applaus after tearing the Bush Administration a new one in a speech at the United Nations during a global summit marking the international body's 60th anniversary.
“There were never weapons of mass destruction, but Iraq was bombed, and, over U.N. objections, (it was) occupied and continues being occupied,” he said, speaking one day after Bush addressed the U.N. and, later, the American people (where he prattled on about God, the U.S. army, and hurricane Katrina).
Chavez said that the attack on Iraq launched by the United States without U.N. demonstrated America's lack of respect for the organization, and suggested moving its headquarters from New York City to an international city “outside the sovereignty of any state.”
He also accused the United States of "abetting "international terrorism," according to the Washington Post.
"The only place where a person can ask for another head of state to be assassinated is the United States, which is what happened recently with the Reverend Pat Robertson, a very close friend of the White House," Chavez said. "He publicly asked for my assassination and he's still walking the streets."
At one point, a U.N. official handed Chavez note advising his allotted five minutes was up. But the Venuzuelan presigent threw it on the floor, turned toward the president of the General Assembly, Jan Eliasson of Sweden, and said: "I think the president of the United States spoke for twenty minutes here yesterday. I would ask your indulgence to let me finish my statement."
After his speech, Chavez got the loudest applause of the summit, according to observers present.
That evening, Chavez appeared on ABC's Nightline, where he told Ted Koppell he had documentary evidence that the United States was preparing scenerios to attack Venezuela under the code name Operation Balboa (read full transcript).
Decent coverage of the speech (many are derived from AP coverage, though it is interesting what elements of the speech different papers chose to include or omit:
Washington Post
Globe and Mail (Ottowa, Ont.)
San Francisco Chronicle
Posted by MJuhre at September 19, 2005 05:22 PM