In Bali, Bush Hears Criticism on Iraq, Israel

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-102203bush_lat,1,184205.story?coll=la-home-headlines

7:32 PM PDT, October 22, 2003 E-mail story Print


In Bali, Bush Hears Criticism on Iraq, Israel


By Maura Reynolds and Richard C. Paddock, Times Staff Writers


DENPASAR, Indonesia — In a rare face-to-face meeting with critics, President Bush got an earful Wednesday from Muslim leaders who denounced his policies of occupying Iraq and siding with Israel against Palestinians.<snip>

"In the case of Iraq, the U.S. chose to go to war rather than use peaceful means," Azra said he told the president. "He was struck when I said the U.S. had failed to use democracy. I told him we need an example from the U.S., the world's oldest democracy."

The clerics also criticized Bush's use of the term "crusade" after Sept. 11 to describe the war against terrorism. To Muslims, the word invokes the Crusades of the Middle Ages and implies that it is a war against Islam.<snip>

The religious leaders questioned why the United States still occupied Iraq when it had already accomplished its goal of overthrowing Saddam Hussein.<snip>

you wanna bet Bush doesn't give a shit....
(stupid LATimes sign up) :thumbsdown: