Engage Brain Before Starting Mouth

A short lesson in international law for Charles Rangel and Nancy Pelosi: the United Nations complex is not, by international law, located in the United States, it is sovereign in its own right. That’s why people like Fidel Castro, who cannot legally enter the United States get to make speeches at the United Nations.

Further, when veteran observers, like Professor Juan Cole, and, according to my Mother, the less experienced daytime chat people on The View conclude that “Bush started it,” you might want to avoid making silly defenses.

I believe both Pelosi and Rangel were in government in 2002 when Hugo Chavez’s plans to address the United Nations were interrupted by a coup attempt, an event that Chavez blames on the Shrubbery.

While the Shrubbery’s investigation found no problems, outside media note that the Shrubbery brought back the Iran-Contra crew including Otto Reich, Elliot Abrams, and John Negroponte, and the leaders of the coup were frequent visitors to the White House.

It is noteworthy that the US recognized the coup leader, Pedro Carmona, as the de facto president before the echoes of the gunfire faded, and didn’t condemn the coup until after it was obvious it had failed. They then started meeting with the Venezuelans who organized the recall election. Not an intelligent plan to maintain plausible deniability.

As for describing Mr. Chavez as a thug – excuse me, but where were these people when the Shrubbery tried to turn a G8 meeting in Russia into a toga party? I don’t believe Mr. Chavez has devastated the private gardens of Queen Elizabeth. US officials need to keep their mouths shut about boorish behavior, because the current resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is not exactly a model of decorum.