Bush decision to attend Olympics stirs upset

On Thursday night, just before the start of the Fourth of July holiday, the White House announced that President Bush planned to attend the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics -- hoping to bury the news under a tray of barbecue and watermelon, fireworks and sunshine.

Human rights groups signaled that they'd noticed anyway, and expressed their disappointment.

"Despite the insistence of a broad swathe of human rights activists, (Bush) decided to ignore China's relationship with the genocidal government in Sudan and attend the 2008 Olympics," said Jerry Fowler, president of the Save Darfur Coalition. "We suspect he’s disappointed too because he carefully timed the announcement for late in the day before a holiday weekend."

China's crackdown on protests in Tibet had prompted decisions by other world leaders -- such as Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel -- not to attend the opening ceremonies. And some in Congress had called on Bush not to go.

But Bush had promised Chinese leaders he would attend and White House officials feared a cancellation would insult the Chinese people. A White House spokesman said Friday that Bush would still use his meetings with officials in China during the Games to discuss concerns over human rights and freedom of religion.

Perhaps too, U.S. presidents have taken the measure of Jimmy Carter's decision to cancel U.S. participation in the Moscow Olympics in 1976 after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan -- disappointing a generation of American athletes without slowing the Soviet advance on Kabul.

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo: Paula Bronstein / Getty Images

Comments

[frank]

I love GW Bush, he the man. And the free people of Iraq love him, and the captive people of Iran (who are praying for Mr. Bush to also free them from tyranny) love him. Can you feel it, all of a sudden the freedom loving people all over the world love him. Its in the air.....

[joe]

Correction in the last bit: The Moscow Olympics were in 1980. Jimmy Carter wasn't president yet in the summer of 1976.

[Li Yuan Fong]

This is a terrible disgrace that Mr. Bush is attending the Olympics. His attendance gives a big "thumbs up" to a terrible dictatorship. China is a repressive totalitarian regime where people are sadly oppressed, much more so than during the Tiananmen Square days. I do not understand why Mr. Bush posits himself as a champion of democracy and freedom and then visits a country where democracy and freedom are not possible. Mr. Bush should be ashamed of himself for this hipocracy. Shame on you, Mr. Bush. Shame, shame.

[Chuck]

So Bush invaded Iraq to free the Iraqi people from human rights violations and abuse. Yet china has murdered Tibetans and stifled their right to free speech. But that won't stop Bush from attending the opening ceremonies at the Olympic games. All the other major world leaders are boycotting the opening ceremonies in protest against the human right violations. Bush is a despicable hypocrite . What an embarrassment to human decency that man is! I'm ashamed he was born in my country.

[Jack]

Bush ran up massive deficits because of his reckless and unnecessary war in Iraq. He floated more than a trillion dollars in new debt to pay for the war (it was like paying for the debacle with a gigantic Master Card). The Chinese bought much of that debt. Therefore, Bush is traveling to Bejing to lick the boots of his lenders, much like he goes to Saudi Arabia (another nation that holds billions in Bush's debt) to lick their boots, too. He wants to appease China, while ignoring their deplorable human rights record, because like a junkie he needs to feed his dangerous debt habit.

This, of course, greatly weakens America because it is beholden to foreign states who are financing Bush's reckless spending. He is mortgaging both our security and our future. Hundreds of billions will now flow to the Chinese government in debt service, strengthening their nation at the expense of ours.

[Bert]

Concerns should be of, not only the human suffrage by China to its' people but also the cost too the U.S. Taxpayers. I read somewhere a few years ago that when the President flies anywhere it cost the Taxpayers about $100,000 per hour and with the huge increases in fuel cost it probably is about doubled.
So shame on you President Bush, while your telling the American people to tighten their belts and cutting domestic programs, your spending our money for your pleasure. Instead of flying everywhere, why not use today's technology and video conference?

[Matt]

Although I strongly disapprove of most of W's policies. I support this decision. A decision to boycott the Olympics will only be seen as an insult to the Chinese people. Its not the people we have a problem with, in the government.

I have many Chinese friends and this is absolutely true. Many of them dislike their own government's policies but see the Olympics and theirs, not the government's. The only think boycotting would do is make enemies of the very people we need on our side. Chinese critical of their own government. I can't tell you how many arguments I've gotten into personally over this very thing.

[Shea]

As they say, pick your battles wisely. It's pretty clear that boycotting the Olympics would be the wrong battle to take on. For those narrow minded people out there saying it's a disgrace that Bush is attending, you need to understand that the world, and even the Olympics, is more than one issue. In fact, the Olympics aren't supposed to be about politics at all, but rather the best that human kind can muster. Don't think of it as a disgrace, but rather his support of the American athletes, and more importantly, the American way, which includes our distaste for the situations everyone has mentioned on here.

It's fine if you disagree with Bush's policies, but don't cloud the Olympics with your partisan smog. Instead, do something productive, like supporting our athletes, who by the way are representing all of us on the world stage.