Bush Rewards Iraq War Loyalists Blair, Howard, And Uribe With His Departing Medals Of Freedom
Bush Rewards Iraq War Loyalists Blair, Howard, And Uribe With His Departing Medals Of Freedom
Yesterday, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino announced that “President Bush will award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, and former Prime Ministers Tony Blair of the United Kingdom and John Howard of Australia.” Perino noted that the three leaders have been strong allies of Bush foreign policy:
The President is honoring these leaders for their work to improve the lives of their citizens and for their efforts to promote democracy, human rights and peace abroad. All three leaders have been staunch allies of the United States, particularly in combating terrorism. And their efforts to bring hope and freedom to people around the globe have made their nations, America and the world community a safer and more secure world.
Watch it:
Support for the Iraq war has become a good predictor of whether one will receive the president’s highest honor. Past recipients include neoconservative godfather Norm Podhoretz (2003), L. Paul Bremer (2004), Gen. Tommy Franks (2004), Gen. Richard Myers (2005), George Tenet (2004), and Gen. Peter Pace (2008)
Given this standard, there are no better recipients than Howard and Blair. Howard joined Bush’s Coalition of the Willing and kept a large number of Australian troops in Iraq until his defeat last year (largely due to his support of the Iraq war). In September 2007, he stated, “We have no closer alliance with any country in the world than we have with the United States.”
Similarly, Blair, derided in Britain as “Bush’s poodle,” had been Bush’s strongest Western ally and pushed the invasion of Iraq. “We’re not making it worse, they (terrorists) are making it worse,” he said, offering no regrets for supporting the war. Recently, Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced a withdrawal of British troops from Iraq.
Uribe also joined Bush in contributing forces to the Coalition of the Willing.
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“Medals of Freep-dom.”
January 6th, 2009 at 3:02 pmSo?
January 6th, 2009 at 3:06 pmPtttht.
January 6th, 2009 at 3:06 pmIf it wasn’t before, this makes the medal worthless. I feel sorry for those that had actually earned it. What a slap in the face for them.
January 6th, 2009 at 3:09 pmAnd I bet they are thrilled. I don’t know about Uribe, but Bush certainly tanked Howard and Blair’s careers.
January 6th, 2009 at 3:10 pmI wonder how embarrassed these foreign leaders are by their little “award” from Bush.
January 6th, 2009 at 3:12 pmThe emptyness of the ‘Medal of Freedom’ is clear to the World population. Every english speaking War Criminal that supported the War Crimes of the USA after the false flag operation of 9/11 has gost one.
John Howard, the right wing Australian facist is going to get his for his support of the Iraq Invasion and occupation.
HAGUE 2009! …or REVOLUTION!
January 6th, 2009 at 3:17 pmUribe, Blair and Howard
“My political career is ruined and all I got was this stupid metal”
January 6th, 2009 at 3:19 pmhey! i saw tony blair on the TODAY SHOW this morning…
great job on the mid-east envoy thing! bet no one could’ve seen this coming!
January 6th, 2009 at 3:24 pmIsn’t Columbia assassinating labor organizers? I seem to recall something about Columbia assassinating labor organizers. I believe it was mentioned once or twice during last year’s Presidential campaigns.
If I were Blair, I’d politely decline. The last thing he needs right now is another photo op with Bush.
January 6th, 2009 at 3:25 pmYeah, that Uribe guy’s all about some freedom. Link.
January 6th, 2009 at 3:27 pmkaty Says:
hey! i saw tony blair on the TODAY SHOW this morning…
Please tell me he was sitting next to Ann Coulter…
January 6th, 2009 at 3:28 pmAs we learned yesterday, in bushworld failure = achievement therefore medal of freedom = medal of… great job brownie?
January 6th, 2009 at 3:29 pmMore “New World Order” Goons and Stooges.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Uv5cqh26CC0
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Vxm5eKSZNRs
January 6th, 2009 at 3:29 pmthese days, the medal of freedom ain’t even worth the amount you’d get for scrapping it for the metal.
January 6th, 2009 at 3:30 pmElBruce Says:
Please tell me he was sitting next to Ann Coulter…
no… coulter got canceled…
but i just read that she’s been rebooked… see huffpo.
for a day there i was proud, and thanked nbc for canceling… pfft.
January 6th, 2009 at 3:31 pmNow I don’t ever want to receive a Medal of Freedom, from anyone. When they make up the list of Medal of Freedom winners, can they put an asterisk next to the ones Bush awarded?
January 6th, 2009 at 3:37 pmHey doesn’t the wannabe Latin King have a boner about Uribe?
January 6th, 2009 at 3:41 pmHe sure cheapened the concept of the Medal of Freedom.
January 6th, 2009 at 3:51 pmDr. Hussein Matt Says:
Republicans in Congress Less Popular Than Bush
Wow, that’s useful to know. That shows Bush 29%, Congressional Republicans 25%, Congressional Dems 37%. So the next time a wingnut tells you that the Democratically controlled Congress has a lower approval rating than Bush… they’re wrong, sorta. Dems in Congress actually have a considerably higher approval rating than Bush.
Good ammo, Doctor. Thanks for sharing it.
January 6th, 2009 at 3:52 pmI was so happy when we FINALLY kicked out Howard.
January 6th, 2009 at 3:57 pmThe aussie editorial cartoonists had a fondness
for depicting him as Bush’s little lap dog. Thank
god Kevin Rudd is our PM now. I’m sure he’s looking
forward to working with Obama on sevral issues.
Will Mr. Howard ask former innocent Gitmo prisoner Hicks to join in the celebration. Look giving murders a Freedom Medal with only the millions that they killed will show up in sprite anyway. Satan will reward Bush for his outstanding Medal and look for the Israel Leaders to gets too for a job well done for killing as many Palestine children as they can. Blair isn’t even respected in his own country now that the truth came out. Unibe has worked closely with Bush and made alot of taxpayers money ask McCain and Joe Lieberman.
January 6th, 2009 at 4:38 pmWell sure. Isn’t that also a plank in the Republican Party platform?
January 6th, 2009 at 5:10 pmUribe is the Clolombian drug criminal who is in power because US’s support. The USA has recently tried to overturn the democratic elected governments of Evo Morales, Hugo Chavez and Rafael Correa and LOST. The USA, with its criminal and bully foringner policies towards Latin America has backflip beatifully. The majority of Latin american people despise the USA. I must say, rightly so! I grew up within 25 years of military dictatorship sponsored by the USA.
Obama so far has indicated that CHANGE will not come to Latin America.
Recently I saw an excellent interview with Chalmers Johson about the decline of the America Empire. You Tube it!! It is so relevant to understand Bush’s years and what to expect from ObamaShortChange…
Meanwhile these criminals keep on reawrding and pardomning themselves with shallow medals and useless words…
God Help America!
January 6th, 2009 at 5:59 pmI live in Australia now. As far as this shallow “Freedom” reward goes, Howrad, the Australian Facist and War criminal, can get his medal, bend over and…
January 6th, 2009 at 6:03 pmMark701
He cheapened everything he touches! America’s international position and credibility, Torture, War Crimes, the Economy and the meaning and the words ‘Freedom and Democracy’.
Its up to the people to wake up and STAY WAKE!!!
January 6th, 2009 at 6:06 pmAccept them you fools and you too will be implicated in war crimes.
How can a war prez give out anything with the word freedom in it. GMAFB
January 6th, 2009 at 6:43 pmThe Criminal Bush should shove his medals were they won’t see the light of day.
January 6th, 2009 at 7:12 pmLet’s just move on. The stench of this administration is on everything Bush touches. Wonder how Blair, Howard and Uribe feel about this notoriety?
January 6th, 2009 at 7:25 pmYOUTUBE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jw9cv2RKUTs&feature=channel
January 6th, 2009 at 8:07 pmHoward is the reason Barack and family can’t stay at the Blair House.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2009/01/06/blair_house_mystery_solved_its.html?hpid=topnews
January 6th, 2009 at 11:34 pmSo Bush’s poodles finally get their dog tags. Shouldn’t they be neutered, too?
January 7th, 2009 at 4:55 am@sacopenapa, Uribe is not in power because of support by the U.S. Uribe is not one of the typical Latin-American dictators from the 30s to 90s like Trujillo or Pinochet. Those dictators were clearly put in place by the U.S.; however, Uribe was elected democratically and has maintained a popularity of over 70-80% for over 6 years! His popularity is mainly because of the prosperity that Colombia has enjoyed during his presidency as well as his standing against the wildly unpopular FARC! The FARC is just another drug-dealing group, much like the paramilitares. There is no difference in ideology or practice. Both massacre people, and earn money from the drugs that they export to the US.
The Colombian citizens are very tired of these two groups, and the firm stance of Uribe against them has been one of the main factors for his popularity.
January 7th, 2009 at 9:02 pmOh, yes, A MARK OF SHAME MEDAL REWARD.
January 20th, 2009 at 11:06 amAnd who else would reward Blair with this MARK OF SHAME MEDAL except for His Worldwide Crimes Partner, BUSH.