Bush Calls for End to Violent Protests

Jordan's King Abdullah II, left, comments about the recent violence triggered by drawings of the Prophet Muhammad as he met with President Bush, Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2006, in the Oval Office at the White House. Bush told reporters 'We reject violence as a way to express discontent with what may be printed in a free press.' (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)

Here's a small story from Yahoo News:

WASHINGTON -
President Bush on Wednesday pleaded for an end to violence triggered by drawings of the Prophet Muhammad and also said that press freedom should be exercised with sensitivity.

"We reject violence as a way to express discontent with what may be printed in a free press," Bush said.

"I call upon the governments around the world to stop the violence, to be respectful, to protect property, protect the lives of innocent diplomats who are serving their countries overseas," the president said.

Bush also said that Americans believe in a free press, and added, "With freedom comes the responsibility to be thoughtful about others."

Bush made his comments after a meeting in the Oval Office with King Abdullah II of Jordan.

"With all respect to press freedoms, obviously anything that villifies the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, or attacks Muslim sensibilities, I believe, needs to be condemned," the king said.

He went on to say that those who want to protest "should do it thoughfully, articulately, express their views peacefully."

"When we see protests, when we see destruction, when we see violence, especially if it ends up taking the lives of innocent people, is completely unacceptable," he added. "Islam, like Christianity and Judaism, is a religion of peace, tolerance, moderation."

Okay, Mr. President, how many Middle Easter people are going to listen to what you have said, and will end their violent protests on these drawings of the Prophet Muhammad?

I didn't think so.

So why did Bush make this call to end the violence? It is all political. These protests were started after the European press printed these drawings in Danish and Norwegian publications. The protests that have spread through the Middle East, have been directed against the Danish and Norwegian embassies--with calls to boycott products from Denmark and Norway. Since the Middle Eastern protests are directed against Denmark and Norway--and not against the United States--this provides an opening for President Bush to play the moderate voice of reason here, in making calls to end the violence. There is just one problem here. Nobody in the Middle East is going to listen to President Bush--not after what he has done there with the invasion of Iraq and the subsequent insurgency raging there, the prisoner torture abuses in Abu Gharib prison in Iraq and the other CIA-prisons in Eastern Europe, the Bush remarks on bombing the Al Jazeera television network, the Pentagon's paying of Iraqi journalists to write stories in the Iraqi press that is favorable to the U.S. position, the reconstruction disaster in Iraq, Bush's demands against a democratically-elected Hamas government in the Palestinian Authority--the list can go on here. Bush has no credibility in the Middle East, so his calls to end the violence will fall on deaf ears there.

Of course, this will play out nicely on the cable news stations here in the U.S. And it will resonate well with Bush's right-wingnut base in showing Bush as a strong, decisive leader, while the Republican minions will attack the Democrats as being in support for the terrorists. This is a photo and TV-op, to be used in this year's midterm election campaign. It shows the president as a moderator in a crisis that the U.S. didn't create or is not involved in, which will play well in red-state Republican enclaves.

That is what the story is about.