George's Friend

If it wasn't so pitifully sad, this story would provide a good read for exemplifying the hypocrisy of the Bush administration with their total dedication to doublespeak and deceit.

Equatorial Guinean President Teodoro Obiang Nguema came to Washington last week..... he is a "good friend" of the United States, at least according to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who met with him last week in Washington. "I'm very pleased to welcome the president," Ms. Rice told reporters after the meeting. "Thank you very much for your presence here." Mr. Obiang purred back: "We are extremely pleased and hopeful that this relationship will continue to grow in friendship and cooperation."

Who is Teodoro Obiang Nguema? Why only one of the most brutal, most corrupt and unreconstructed dictators in the world. How bad is he? Well let's see:

With a population of ~540,000 people, nearly 400,000 Guineans suffer from malnutrition.

He killed or forced into exile nearly a third of the population, decimating in particular the small educated class. Some of his victims were crucified on the road leading to the airport. It was one of the 20th century’s most brutal genocides.

A recent U.S. Senate investigation detailed how he siphoned millions from his country’s treasury with the help of Riggs Bank in Washington, D.C. Although Riggs is only a medium-sized bank, Riggs has always been well connected and Jonathan Bush, the president’s uncle, is CEO of its investment arm. The committee also discovered that U.S. energy companies, including ExxonMobil, Amerada Hess, Marathon Oil, and ChevronTexaco, made questionable payments directly to Riggs Bank accounts held by members of Obiang’s regime and his family.

Although his regime once sent death threats to the U.S. ambassador, Obiang now meets with senior administration officials and even with President Bush. Equatorial Guinea has become the third-largest oil exporter in sub-Saharan Africa, after Nigeria and Angola.

The main hospital is a place for dying, not healing. The wards are dingy rooms with soiled mattresses and no medical equipment except for a couple of IV drips.

U.S. corporations are now investing more in Equatorial Guinea than in any other African country except for Nigeria and South Africa. In 2003, the Bush administration reopened the embassy, a move sharply criticized by human rights groups as a favor to the oil companies and to Obiang. Aside from the Chinese, only the Bush administration seems to like him.

The bottom line is that Equatorial Guinea is a country in which the Bush administration -- which proclaims a vast interest in promoting democracy around the globe -- could make a difference, if it wished. When it makes a demand, Obiang listens because he must. Militarily and politically, he’s a paper tiger......he knows it is well within the power of the U.S. government to depose him.

Posted on The Human Stain