Local comments on Bush's speech

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In Washington, Bush devoted nearly half of his 51-minute address to foreign policy, warning Americans not to give in to the isolationist and protectionist tendencies that had always existed in US politics. As he berated Zimbabwe and the other less democratic nations, Bush lauded Saudi Arabia and Egypt - long-time allies that Washington - to provide greater freedoms to their citizens.
"Every step toward freedom in the world makes our country safer, and so we will act boldly in freedom's cause," Bush said. Analysts say the crisis in Zimbabwe is likely to receive more attention now that the US has assumed the presidency of the U.N. Security Council. Britain and other Western countries have for a long time now been failing to have Zimbabwe discussed in the Security Council regardless of many campaigns calling on the UN to put Zimbabwe under the spotlight.

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HARARE – THE Zimbabwe government says is it not moved by United States President George W. Bush’s statement citing Zimbabwe among some of the most undemocratic countries in the world.
State Security Minister Didymus Mutasa, one of President Mugabe’s closest allies and confidantes, said Bush’s State of the Union address confirmed he was a bully and a warmonger.
Mutasa said the Zimbabwe government remains unmoved by Bush’s comments and would not lose sleep over them at all.
In his annual State of the Union address delivered on Tuesday, Bush cited Zimbabwe along with Syria, Burma, North Korea and Iran as countries that denied their people freedom. He said the demands of justice and world peace required the US and the rest of the free world not forget the plight of those living under dictatorship.
"At the start of 2006, more than half the people of our world live in democratic nations. And we do not forget the other half - in places like Syria, Burma, Zimbabwe, North Korea, and Iran - because the demands of justice, and the peace of this world, require their freedom as well," the world's most powerful President said. Countries like Iran have since reacted angrily to Bush’s comments saying they will not be pushed into submission or change their policies to please the US.
Says Mutasa in response: "We should not and cannot allow warmongers like Bush to tarnish the image of paragons of peace and democracy like President Mugabe. We are not moved by his statements. If anything, we are proud that we are not an ally of the neo-colonialist Bush, whom I can only describe as a bully."