FOREIGNERS STILL INSPIRED BY AMERICA, FEEL GOOD ABOUT AMERICANS-- AND, OF COURSE, DETEST GEORGE BUSH

George Bush has a lie for every occasion. He doesn't make them up himself-- that's what speech writers do for unintelligent and lazy bosses-- but I used to wonder if he believes the lies himself. Anyway, one that always stuck in my craw was his nonsense about why "the terrorists" hate "us." According to Bush('s 2001 State of the Union speech-writer) "they hate what they see right here in this chamber: a democratically elected government... They hate our freedoms."

I lived outside of the U.S.-- all over the world-- for over 6 years, in places like India, Iran, Afghanistan, as well as Holland and Spain and France. And I travel overseas a lot-- to places like Egypt, Indonesia, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Morocco, Thailand, Japan... Aside from getting drunk and washing up in a Mexican bordertown whorehouse, Bush chose not to travel internationally before he was installed as president. People abroad do not hate our freedoms; they aspire to them.

Despite the CIA-engineered overthrown of Iran's democratically elected government in 1953, Iranians-- even the ones who recognized the insidious nature of U.S. imperialistic politics-- overwhelmingly admired American freedoms and culture when I visited twice in the 1970s. Yesterday I got back to L.A. after 3 weeks in Morocco. Despite Bush's blatant lies about spreading "democracy" (when will it be Ohio's and Florida's turn?), the Bush Regime props up-- and manipulates-- the Moroccan monarchal dictatorship to the detriment, sometimes deadly, of the actual forces of democracy. And yet, Moroccans-- even the ones who hate Bush (all the ones I met)-- love America and Americans.

Tell a Moroccan you're from the U.S. and they immediately ask, "New Jersey?" or "Oklahoma?" or "Idaho Falls?" Everyone knows someone somewhere in the U.S. and they have very good impressions of our country and its people. No one brings up Bush or U.S. foreign policies. They'd rather talk about Bill Clinton, the most admired American in the world. Everyone loves that guy. But if you persist and drag it out of them, they eventually tell you why they hate Bush (same reasons everyone outside of the Confederacy and Utah hates him), the most reviled American in history.

A couple years ago I found the same response in Turkey: "America good; Bush bad." As a traveler, I hope that attitude lasts for another few years, until we can consign him to the trashbin of history. People all over the world still look up to America and its people and ideals for inspiration and, believe it or not, leadership; this despite the fear and anger over Bush and his contemptible policies.