A 'more hopeful' world ruled by peaceful militarists

Another feature of President Bush's address to the UN was him pretending to be a benevolent peacemaker, a beacon of light to rival Mandela and Gandhi.

He used the phrases "a more hopeful alternative," "a more hopeful future" (twice), "a bright future," "a more tolerant and hopeful society" and "a more hopeful world" to describe what he claims to advance and support.

"Our goal is to help you build a more tolerant and hopeful society that honors people of all faiths and promote the peace," he said, adding that every country should want, "A free society where people live at peace with each other and at peace with the world."

In the last five years, this man who wants 'peace with the world':

-Has invaded Afghanistan (the only action that might remotely be close to justifiable)

-Has launched an unprovoked invasion of Iraq and ignited a civil war (even the Marine intelligence chief has said that there is almost nothing the military can do to slow the chaos in western Iraq.

-Incessantly used belligerent rhetoric against Iran and refused to exclude military action against the country (thus further encouraging them to develop nuclear weapons if they weren't doing so already or to accelerate their development if they were)

-Blindly supported Israeli destruction of southern Lebanon

-Said he'd be willing to send troops to Pakistan, even though his buddy Gen. Musharaff has said his government would vehemently oppose such a violation of his country's sovereignty. In fact, one of the administration's highest ranking officials allegedly* threatened to bomb Pakistan 'back to the Stone Age.'

All of these are Muslim countries. While the president claims he's not at war with Islam, and that might not even be his intent, it's pretty easy to see how Muslims might think otherwise. Some non-Muslim countries suffer under brutal dictatorships. I'm sure Zimbabweans, Equatorian Guineans and Burmese would love "a more hopeful future." But Bush has never talked about western military intervention against any of them.

If all of this belligerence and unprovoked militarism fits his definition of 'hopeful,' then no wonder the president has screwed up the world so badly.

*-Update: For the record, I saw Armitage on CNN and he denied ever making such a comment.