Summary
Consider how this looks from Caracas, or Santiago, or Managua. The [Bush] administration denounces [Hugo Chavez] as a threat to stability. The same administration proclaims it will act pre-emptively with military force, covertly or overtly, to eliminate potential threats "before they have formed," in the president's words. It has unleashed the CIA, used high tech weaponry to "take out" suspected terrorists, and demonstrated in Guantamo and elsewhere, that its agents are prepared to trample laws and treaties when national security is at stake.
In Venezuela, the Bush administration is already seen as implicated in the April 2002 coup attempt against Chavez. The Bush White House rushed to recognize the coup leaders one day after they announced Chavez had been deposed, only to discover that the Venezuelan people would defend the democracy that the US administration had scorned. Prudence alone makes President Chavez take the threat of the president's close political ally very seriously.In the same week [Pat Robertson] tossed off his threat to Chavez, Dr. Martin Luther King's widow, Coretta, was hospitalized with a stroke. America's churches have always contained contradiction. Southern churches once hosted lynchings of African Americans, supported segregation, denounced King as a terrorist, and stoked the demons within us. But leaders of the faith also came to Dr. King's side, advocated non-violence, and appealed to our better angels. Americans have to choose - Robertson or King, assassination or engagement, the big stick or the good neighbor. Too many people looking at America from the outside think that choice has already been made the wrong way. It is up to us to prove them wrong.See the full content of this document
Extract
America; From the Outside In
To get a good sense of America in the world, it helps to look from the outside in. This week, I traveled to Venezuela to meet with President Hugo Chavez and address the National Assembly. Here's how America appears to many of its neighbors to the South.
President Hug...See the full content of this document
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