Dean Calls Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki An "Anti-Semite." 
The AP reports:
"Democratic Party chairman Howard Dean on Wednesday called Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki an 'anti-Semite' for failing to denounce Hezbollah for its attacks against Israel. ... 'The Iraqi prime minister is an anti-Semite,' the Democratic leader told a gathering of business leaders in Florida. 'We don't need to spend $200 and $300 and $500 billion dollars bringing democracy to Iraq to turn it over to people who believe that Israel doesn't have a right to defend itself and who refuse to condemn Hezbollah.'"
As the Washington Post reports, Maliki "declined to disavow his critical comments on Israel's incursion into Lebanon or denounce Hezbollah's killing and kidnapping of Israeli troops that precipitated the fighting, handing Democrats a wedge that they eagerly used." In addition, President Bush's "promise to fortify troop presence in Baghdad virtually foreclosed major troop withdrawals before November's midterm election."
But he forgot to call him a propaganda puppet for the Bush Administration:
"Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki appealed to Congress Wednesday to press the war in Iraq with money and troops, portraying his country as crucial to the U.S. as a front line in the war on terror and comparing violence there to the Sept. 11 attacks." Addressing a joint meeting of Congress, Maliki said, "Do not imagine that this problem is solely an Iraqi problem because the terrorist front represents a threat to all free countries and free people of the world."
Fortunately, the Financial Times noticed the puppeteering. Offering the headline "Al-Maliki Echoes White House In Address," the FT reports:
"...some of Mr Maliki's lines echoed key administration themes. The White House acknowledged having conversations about the speech with the Iraqi leader. Where US president George W. Bush has hailed liberty as 'God's gift to humanity', Mr Maliki said, 'I believe these human rights are not an artifact construct reserved for the few. They are the divine entitlement for all.'"
KEYWORDS: Howard Dean, Iraq, Israel, Lebanon, Hezbollah, Middle East
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