Chavez calls Bush ‘the devil’

UNITED NATIONS – Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez stunned the UN General Assembly with a speech on Wednesday in which he called US President George W. Bush “the devil” who acts like he owns the world.

Chavez infuriated US officials with his sarcastic presentation in which he said “yesterday the devil came here,” referring to Bush’s speech from the same stage on Tuesday. “And it still smells of sulphur today, this table that I am now standing in front of.”Chavez then crossed himself, brought his hands together as if in prayer and looked up to the ceiling of the assembly chamber.”Yesterday, ladies and gentlemen, from this rostrum, the president of the United States, the gentleman I call ‘the devil’, came here, talking as if he owned the world.Truly.As the owner of the world.”Chavez launched a virulent attack on what he called US “hegemony” and “imperialism” and renewed calls for drastic reform of the United Nations to reduce US influence.His speech was warmly applauded.It was the second anti-Bush tirade at the assembly in two days, following Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s speech Tuesday.Chavez brandished a book called Hegemony or Survival by left-wing US intellectual Noam Chomsky, quoted Greek philosopher Aristotle and said that Bush’s vision of democracy was like a script for an Alfred Hitchcock thriller.He said the film should be called ‘The Devil’s Recipe’.Chavez called Bush “a liar” and “a tyrant” who should be taken before an international tribunal because of the US-led invasion of Iraq.He said Bush supports terrorism and that the US president’s speech to the UN assembly on Tuesday should be examined by a psychiatrist.”We cannot allow world dictatorship to be consolidated,” he said.US “imperialism,” he added, was “a threat to the survival of the human race.”Bush promoted “a false democracy of the elite” and a “democracy of bombs”.The left-wing Venezuelan president is a frequent critic of the US administration, which he accuses of backing a plot to overthrow him.He renewed the accusation during the speech.Washington considers Chavez, a close ally of communist Cuba, to be a destabilising influence in Latin America – even as the United States is a major consumer of Venezuelan oil.When asked about the speech, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she would “not dignify” the attack with a comment.”It is not becoming of a head of state,” she said.Nampa-AFP”And it still smells of sulphur today, this table that I am now standing in front of.”Chavez then crossed himself, brought his hands together as if in prayer and looked up to the ceiling of the assembly chamber.”Yesterday, ladies and gentlemen, from this rostrum, the president of the United States, the gentleman I call ‘the devil’, came here, talking as if he owned the world.Truly.As the owner of the world.”Chavez launched a virulent attack on what he called US “hegemony” and “imperialism” and renewed calls for drastic reform of the United Nations to reduce US influence.His speech was warmly applauded.It was the second anti-Bush tirade at the assembly in two days, following Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s speech Tuesday.Chavez brandished a book called Hegemony or Survival by left-wing US intellectual Noam Chomsky, quoted Greek philosopher Aristotle and said that Bush’s vision of democracy was like a script for an Alfred Hitchcock thriller.He said the film should be called ‘The Devil’s Recipe’.Chavez called Bush “a liar” and “a tyrant” who should be taken before an international tribunal because of the US-led invasion of Iraq.He said Bush supports terrorism and that the US president’s speech to the UN assembly on Tuesday should be examined by a psychiatrist.”We cannot allow world dictatorship to be consolidated,” he said.US “imperialism,” he added, was “a threat to the survival of the human race.”Bush promoted “a false democracy of the elite” and a “democracy of bombs”.The left-wing Venezuelan president is a frequent critic of the US administration, which he accuses of backing a plot to overthrow him.He renewed the accusation during the speech.Washington considers Chavez, a close ally of communist Cuba, to be a destabilising influence in Latin America – even as the United States is a major consumer of Venezuelan oil.When asked about the speech, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she would “not dignify” the attack with a comment.”It is not becoming of a head of state,” she said.Nampa-AFP