Stigweard:

"I heard somebody say, 'Where's (Nelson) Mandela?' Well, Mandela's dead. Because Saddam killed all the Mandelas." -George W. Bush, on the former South African president, who is still very much alive, Washington, D.C., Sept. 20, 2007"

Now I take it that the "(Nelson)" is yours plus the "on the former South African president, who is still very much alive" is also your input

OK, for anybody who is actually interested in the truth of the matter. Stigweard is perfectly correct in as much that George W. Bush did say the following during a press conference on 20th September, 2007, here's how Associated Press covered it:

***On Iraq, Bush said there was progress in local communities but that people are dissatisfied with the central government.

"Part of the reason why there's not this instant democracy in Iraq is because people are still recovering from Saddam Hussein's brutal rule. Sort of an interesting comment, I heard somebody say, `Where's Mandela?' Well, Mandela's dead because Saddam Hussein killed all the Mandelas."

It was a reference to the charismatic former leader of South Africa who helped reconcile his country after decades of racial division. Mandela is still alive.*** - as reported by Associated Press.

So Stigweard it wasn't "on the former South African president" at all was it? Which sort of begs the question why you would deliberately go out of your way to misinform people on this forum? Are you normally in the habit of telling lies? Is this the sort of behaviour that you deem acceptable?

I certainly do not. If you are going to quote something, quote it accurately and put that quote in the context it was set. You should not under any circumstances do as you have done cherry-pick a quote and then invent the context it was supposedly given in.

"I heard somebody say, `Where's Mandela?'" - Meaning in the context of what was being talked about, where was the 'Nelson Mandela' figurehead, or leader, in Iraq that could draw the different factions together politically in a similar environment of reconstruction, co-operation and reconciliation that the real Nelson Mandela achieved in South Africa at the end of the Apartheid era.

President Bush's response, "Well, Mandela's dead because Saddam Hussein killed all the Mandelas.", was perfectly correct in relation to any potential Iraqi 'Nelson Mandela' figure. Saddam Hussein for 24 years had brooked no opposition whatsoever and had ruthlessly slaughtered anyone who dared to challenge him. Had Nelson Mandela been unfortunate enough to have been an Iraqi who opposed Saddam during that period the world would never have heard of him, he would have been arrested, tortured and executed immediately, along with most of his friends and family.