The Bush goes to the Steppes
From the New York Times:
ULAN BATOR, Mongolia, Nov. 21 - If you are an American president in need of just a few hours of temporary political asylum - no debate about Iraq, no Chinese leaders resisting the American agenda and plenty of adulation - here is an approach: Come to the endless steppes that Ghengis Khan made famous.
Hey - it's been a long time, but the pillager is back.
When Air Force One descended low over the barren but breathtaking landscape here, few Mongolians had ever seen anything like it.
Mongolians near the airport have never seen a 747? What the fuck?
I sincerely doubt it - if Air Force One can land there, odds are it ain't the first 747 to ever land there. Lay off the hyperbole, David.
None of the previous American presidents had made the journey while in office.
Because why? Care to fill us in instead of being a travel writer, David?
And so Mongolians came into this tattered post-Soviet capital, past what will soon be a monument celebrating the spectacular victories eight centuries ago, when the Mongol empire stretched from the Yellow Sea to Baghdad, to hear George W. Bush tell them that today, "Mongolia and the United States are standing together as brothers in the cause of freedom."
I'm sure they're all breathing a sigh of relief.
There is something else that seemed to thrill Mr. Bush about Mongolia: presidential entertainment is vivid.
Does he get free tickets to see Jarhead?
As his limousine raced across the steppe,
Must have been pretty fucking bumpy. Oh, wait - you mean the ROAD on the steppe.
a team of Mongolian warriors - carrying spears and shields and wearing the body armor that Ghengis Khan used to subdue territory that Mr. Bush is still grappling with 800 years later - suddenly appeared and galloped alongside
He wouldn't tolerate this from an American on a Palomino. Or am I wrong?
Pity. I hope he enjoyed his vetted show.
.....Iraq, Every Day, Everywhere
If Mongolia won its way into Mr. Bush's heart with its unflagging support for the war in Iraq, its attitude was the exception on his four-day trip. The war is deeply unpopular in Japan, his first stop, and his motorcade did not exactly attract huge crowds.
I don't like to hang around slaughterhouses, either. They smell like shit and death.
Things were worse in South Korea, where the defense minister announced, as a fact, that South Korea planned to trim its more than 3,000 troops in Iraq by a third next year.
Whoops!
Mr. Bush's aides scrambled to win a retraction. The president's national security adviser, Stephen J. Hadley, called the South Korean foreign minister and was reassured, he said, of the country's "commitment to the mission."
We're committing to the mission of winning the war on terrorism by helping you commit to winning the war on terra!
President Bush may love Texas, and his ranch, as he reminded Mongolians when he compared their land to his beloved state. But his enthusiasm does not extend to another Mongolian passion - horses.
"I maht act like a cowboy, but I'll be damned if I ride one of those four-legged devils. Rummy told me that those bastards are off-limits."
When Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld was here a month ago, the Mongolians presented him with their highest honor: a beautiful gelding that he named Montana. So in a delicate act of diplomacy, the White House secured an agreement that President Enkhbayar Nambar would not give Mr. Bush a horse. But since the secretary of defense had to look his gift in the mouth - leaving it here, at least temporarily, because it was a bit difficult to transport on his official plane - Mr. Bush found another way to saddle up.
"I'm here on an important international mission," Mr. Bush said at the opening of his speech in Government House. "Secretary Rumsfeld asked me to check on his horse."
Heh heh. Rummy, we needed some glue to hold our Iraq strategery together...sorry 'bout 'yer horsie.
-D
ULAN BATOR, Mongolia, Nov. 21 - If you are an American president in need of just a few hours of temporary political asylum - no debate about Iraq, no Chinese leaders resisting the American agenda and plenty of adulation - here is an approach: Come to the endless steppes that Ghengis Khan made famous.
Hey - it's been a long time, but the pillager is back.
When Air Force One descended low over the barren but breathtaking landscape here, few Mongolians had ever seen anything like it.
Mongolians near the airport have never seen a 747? What the fuck?
I sincerely doubt it - if Air Force One can land there, odds are it ain't the first 747 to ever land there. Lay off the hyperbole, David.
None of the previous American presidents had made the journey while in office.
Because why? Care to fill us in instead of being a travel writer, David?
And so Mongolians came into this tattered post-Soviet capital, past what will soon be a monument celebrating the spectacular victories eight centuries ago, when the Mongol empire stretched from the Yellow Sea to Baghdad, to hear George W. Bush tell them that today, "Mongolia and the United States are standing together as brothers in the cause of freedom."
I'm sure they're all breathing a sigh of relief.
There is something else that seemed to thrill Mr. Bush about Mongolia: presidential entertainment is vivid.
Does he get free tickets to see Jarhead?
As his limousine raced across the steppe,
Must have been pretty fucking bumpy. Oh, wait - you mean the ROAD on the steppe.
a team of Mongolian warriors - carrying spears and shields and wearing the body armor that Ghengis Khan used to subdue territory that Mr. Bush is still grappling with 800 years later - suddenly appeared and galloped alongside
He wouldn't tolerate this from an American on a Palomino. Or am I wrong?
Pity. I hope he enjoyed his vetted show.
.....Iraq, Every Day, Everywhere
If Mongolia won its way into Mr. Bush's heart with its unflagging support for the war in Iraq, its attitude was the exception on his four-day trip. The war is deeply unpopular in Japan, his first stop, and his motorcade did not exactly attract huge crowds.
I don't like to hang around slaughterhouses, either. They smell like shit and death.
Things were worse in South Korea, where the defense minister announced, as a fact, that South Korea planned to trim its more than 3,000 troops in Iraq by a third next year.
Whoops!
Mr. Bush's aides scrambled to win a retraction. The president's national security adviser, Stephen J. Hadley, called the South Korean foreign minister and was reassured, he said, of the country's "commitment to the mission."
We're committing to the mission of winning the war on terrorism by helping you commit to winning the war on terra!
President Bush may love Texas, and his ranch, as he reminded Mongolians when he compared their land to his beloved state. But his enthusiasm does not extend to another Mongolian passion - horses.
"I maht act like a cowboy, but I'll be damned if I ride one of those four-legged devils. Rummy told me that those bastards are off-limits."
When Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld was here a month ago, the Mongolians presented him with their highest honor: a beautiful gelding that he named Montana. So in a delicate act of diplomacy, the White House secured an agreement that President Enkhbayar Nambar would not give Mr. Bush a horse. But since the secretary of defense had to look his gift in the mouth - leaving it here, at least temporarily, because it was a bit difficult to transport on his official plane - Mr. Bush found another way to saddle up.
"I'm here on an important international mission," Mr. Bush said at the opening of his speech in Government House. "Secretary Rumsfeld asked me to check on his horse."
Heh heh. Rummy, we needed some glue to hold our Iraq strategery together...sorry 'bout 'yer horsie.
-D
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posted by Doug at 1:52 AM
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