Monday, May 24, 2004
Commentary on the Bush speech to follow, but for now: Robert Mugabe is disturbed.
These excerpts come from this lengthy interview he recently conducted with SkyNews. Let me say up front that I wish we had reporters like Stuart Ramsay in the U.S. -- talk about grilling questions and following up. Too bad Mugabe doesn't have any scruples about lying through his teeth.
STUART RAMSAY: It is not just Britain [that has criticized you] of course, it is not just Commonwealth, Botswana has been critical in the past, South Africa and the Sadak nations, another club that you are a member of.
ROBERT MUGABE: Critical of what?
STUART RAMSAY: Critical of the fact that for example 1.3% of its economic growth in South Africa didn't happen almost as a direct result of...
ROBERT MUGABE: No, no.
STUART RAMSAY:...20 to 30,000 jobs didn't happen.
ROBERT MUGABE: No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
STUART RAMSAY: Trade declined by 15 billion rand.
ROBERT MUGABE: No, we were not the cause of that, we are not the South African economy.
STUART RAMSAY: But you were vitally linked to it at one point but now'
ROBERT MUGABE: Our trade with them has always been good, and they admit it, that in spite of the sanctions the trade has been rising, rising, rising in terms of volumes and all of the...
STUART RAMSAY: What trade is that? It's declining, not increasing.
ROBERT MUGABE: The what?
STUART RAMSAY: The trade is declining it's not increasing.
ROBERT MUGABE: No, no, no, you go and ask Irwin, he will tell you that in spite of all that has, you know, been done to Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe's trade with South Africa has always been rising, not declining.
[...]
STUART RAMSAY: You alluded to personal attacks and [highly, highly respected] Archbishop Desmond Tutu described you as a cartoon figure of the archetypal African dictator. Now why would a well respected man of the church say that?
ROBERT MUGABE: He is an angry, evil and embittered little bishop, you see, who thinks that his own view should hold.
[...]
STUART RAMSAY: The World Food Programme says that urban food shortages are approaching critical. A United Nations memo to say that you could reach the level of tonnage that is being estimated is complete nonsense and quite impossible. The farms, outsiders say, simply aren't producing enough food. You've got bread prices that the state media says could go up by 50%.
ROBERT MUGABE: So what is WFP wanting us to do?
STUART RAMSAY: What they are saying is you need food aid and therefore...
ROBERT MUGABE: We need food aid and not the land to produce, we don't need to produce?
STUART RAMSAY: No, they are saying you need produce more and you need food aid. You're saying you don't need food aid. In fact last week you were saying you would produce 2.3 million tons which far exceeds anything ever produced before. You are saying you do need food aid?
ROBERT MUGABE: We have produced that before.
STUART RAMSAY: You are not going to produce it this year though.
ROBERT MUGABE: We are producing it this year, definitely. Our estimates are there and they are showing us we will have enough food for the country and with a surplus.
STUART RAMSAY: 800,000 tons the shortfall is estimated.
ROBERT MUGABE: Why is WFP wanting to feed us when we are saying that...
STUART RAMSAY: Because they don't want people to starve.
ROBERT MUGABE: We are not hungry. It should go to hungrier people, hungrier countries than ourselves. They need the food and we urge it to go and do good work there.
STUART RAMSAY: The Archbishop of Bulawayo....
ROBERT MUGABE: Why foist this food upon us? We don't want to be choked, we have enough.
STUART RAMSAY: He says that as many as 10,000 people died as a direct result of starvation, lack of food, perhaps illnesses.
ROBERT MUGABE: No, no. That's another Tutu, the bishop, an unholy man, he thinks he is holy and telling lies all the day, every day. Oh come on, 10,000 people, where did they die? Even show me a single person who died of hunger that is.
[...]
ROBERT MUGABE: The whites who were here were mere actor farmers, ill educated and we brought in a system which is much more enlightened than the system they had, you see. Go everywhere and you will see agronomists, you will see our agritects, exchanging officers who are well educated and they give us these estimates across the country.
STUART RAMSAY: Why is it always a race issue, why is this?
ROBERT MUGABE: Well this is what we wonder. Why is it that white men always think white. There are also black men on this continent you know and they also matter, that's what you must tell Blair.
[...]
ROBERT MUGABE: …But if you are going to say I'm right when others say you are wrong, you will get self opinionated and that is what the likes of Bush and Blair are, you see.
So, there you have it. Zimbabwe is doing great, and Tony Blair is a racist egomaniac out to get the noble and democratic Mugabe.
America treats Zimbabwe as a "regional problem," and essentially leaves it to South Africa to play traffic cop in the region. I don't know what makes us think that someone with Mugabe's mindset is not going to happily consort with terrorists somewhere down the line. He was/is good friends with Lybia's Ghaddafi. Can we honestly afford to completely ignore Zimbabwe? Setting aside all humanitarian arguments, from a national security standpoint, can we afford to ignore it? I hope we don't find out that answer the hard way.
The United States must take a proactive stance in regards to Zimbabwe. Mugabe cannot be percieved as anything but a threat just waiting to manifest. For further proof, I refer you to my September 2003 column on the matter.
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