Bush Does it again

[Guest guest]

The 21 nations that make up the Asia- Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) forum account for half the world’s trade. They have, however, long suspected that the biggest member, the United States, did not take it seriously.

President Bush did nothing to dispel that impression yesterday when he forgot the name of the event, referred to his Australian hosts as “Austrians”, and engaged in a public spat with the President of South Korea. To make matters worse, the security measures of the Sydney police were breached by a team of comedians, including a man dressed as Osama bin Laden.

Mr Bush flew to Australia via Iraq, and during his keynote speech to businessmen in Sydney he behaved like a man in the throes of jet lag. Many will sympathise with his mispronunciation of the South-East Asian militant organisation Jemaah Islamiyah, and his struggle with the name of the Burmese democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi. It was forgivable when he walked the wrong way off the stage and had to be guided by John Howard, the Australian Prime Minister.

But when he referred gratefully to Mr Howard’s forces in Iraq as “Austrian troops”, he had perhaps used up his credit. The worst mistake was made in the third sentence of his speech. “Thank you for being such a fine host for the Opec summit,” he said, confusing the 12-member Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries with the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation forum. “Apec summit,” he said quickly in correction. “He [Mr Howard] invited me to Opec next year.” But that wasn’t true either.

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Sadly, he's not the only one who confuses Austria with Australia.

After I returned from a trip to Austria I was repeatedly asked how

many kangaroos I got to see. Hmmmm

 

, Peter VV <swpgh01 wrote:

>

> The 21 nations that make up the Asia- Pacific Economic Co-operation

(Apec) forum account for half the world's trade. They have, however,

long suspected that the biggest member, the United States, did not

take it seriously.

> President Bush did nothing to dispel that impression yesterday when

he forgot the name of the event, referred to his Australian hosts

as " Austrians " , and engaged in a public spat with the President of

South Korea. To make matters worse, the security measures of the

Sydney police were breached by a team of comedians, including a man

dressed as Osama bin Laden.

> Mr Bush flew to Australia via Iraq, and during his keynote speech

to businessmen in Sydney he behaved like a man in the throes of jet

lag. Many will sympathise with his mispronunciation of the South-East

Asian militant organisation Jemaah Islamiyah, and his struggle with

the name of the Burmese democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi. It was

forgivable when he walked the wrong way off the stage and had to be

guided by John Howard, the Australian Prime Minister.

> But when he referred gratefully to Mr Howard's forces in Iraq

as " Austrian troops " , he had perhaps used up his credit. The worst

mistake was made in the third sentence of his speech. " Thank you for

being such a fine host for the Opec summit, " he said, confusing the

12-member Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries with the 21-

member Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation forum. " Apec summit, " he

said quickly in correction. " He [Mr Howard] invited me to Opec next

year. " But that wasn't true either.

>