On route to Beijing, Bush declared in Bangkok, “The United States believes the people of China deserve the fundamental liberty that is the natural right of all human beings. So America stands in firm opposition to China’s detention of political dissidents and human rights advocates and religious activists. We speak out for a free press, freedom of assembly, and labor rights not to antagonize China’s leaders, but because trusting its people with greater freedom is the only way for China to develop its full potential. We press for openness and justice not to impose our beliefs, but to allow the Chinese people to express theirs”.

Yet at home Aafia Siddiqui, a Muslim woman scientist who, according to London based ‘Cage Prisoners’ was kidnapped, abused, imprisoned without trial or knowledge of her whereabouts for 5 years and then shot in the chest is now going to stand ‘trial’ in New York.

Together with Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib and rendition, Bush’s speech projects the lack of US and Western moral authority in the world. The veneer of moral leadership has been removed since the War on Terror. The world needs a new leadership, honest and sincere. Will we rise up to provide it?