Was just reading this article about a press conference earlier this week in which Bush and Karsai addressed a few questions from th press. (
Chicago Sun Times)
Quote:
Freedom's just another word for dodging tough questions
May 27, 2005
BY DEBRA PICKETT SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST
The news from Washington is like a bad Broadway show, the kind that promises to make you laugh and cry and be better than "Cats."
The comedy came first. On Monday, President Bush stood beside Afghan President Hamid Karzai for a "Joint Press Availability."
Asked if the Iraqi insurgency was getting more difficult to defeat militarily, Bush answered with a classic Dubya-ism.
"No, I don't think so," he said, "I think they're being defeated. And that's why they continue to fight."
It's the sort of answer that makes you pause and scratch your head for just long enough to give him a chance to change the subject. He's quite masterful at doing this, which made me wonder if he hadn't taken Karzai aside before the press conference and whispered in his ear, "Listen, Hammie, these reporters are tricky. You better let me handle 'em. I've got 'em wrapped around my finger with this whole newspeak war-is-peace idea Karl found in some book from the 1980s."
But Bush's Orwellian logic -- good for only a cynical chuckle -- was definitely not the comic high point of the afternoon. Instead, for sheer free press-thwarting brilliance, Karzai easily won the day.
After the two men made some opening remarks, talking about the glories of bringing democracy to Afghanistan, Bush announced, "And in the spirit of the free press, we'll answer a couple of questions."
..."Somebody from the Afghan press?" he asked next.
There was an awkward silence, which Karzai gamely tried to fill in by asking, "Anybody from the Afghan press? Do we have an Afghan press?"
Then he spotted the single reporter his government had permitted to travel outside Afghanistan.
"Oh, here he is," Karzai said, as the room filled with the not-quite-warm laughter of people who suspect they might actually be the butt of a joke but aren't sure.
It turned out, National Public Radio journalist David Greene reported later, there were nine other Afghan reporters who were to have followed Karzai on his U.S. visit but, at the last minute, the Karzai government decided to withhold their travel permits for fear the journalists might try to escape their troubled homeland.
Made me wonder if we are all free to leave? I mean, if I found another country that would have me and did all the paper work, would I be able to leave? Would you?
What if millions tried to leave? Would that be allowed? At what point does it become the interest of the government to stop people from leaving? Are there certain professions that keep people from being able to move to another country such as a nuclear scientist?
Would it have been such a terrible thing for the 6 Iraqi reporters to leave? Are no Iraqi's currently allowed to leave their country?
Can a country that does not allow citizens to leave be considered a free country?
(Before ya get all excited, it's not about me leaving, it's actually the bigger questions I want addressed)