Speaking ill of the devil in its own home

"This is another abuse and another abuse of power on the part of the devil. It smells of sulphur here, but God is with us and I embrace you all."

The devil in the above quotation refers to US President George W Bush. Who said it, you might ask. Its none other than the president’s chief irritant - president of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez.

Speaking at the United Nations General Assembly in New York just a day after Bush, Chávez was referring to the actions by the American authorities to prevent his personal doctor and head of security from disembarking at New York airport.

The Guardian refers to this quotation as "the phrase that will now forever be etched into UN history as one of the more colourful criticisms levelled at the US president from his own turf".

And there were more of that too:

"Yesterday, the devil came here. Right here. Right here. And it smells of sulfur still today, this table that I am now standing in front of. Yesterday, ladies and gentlemen, from this rostrum, the president of the United States, the gentleman to whom I refer as the devil, came here, talking as if he owned the world. Truly. As the owner of the world".

The Venezuelan president than went on to make the sign of the cross, brought his hands together as if praying and looked up at the ceiling.

And how did the US react to all these?

John Bolton, the US ambassador to the UN, said it was a "comic strip approach to international affairs... too bad President Chávez doesn't extend the same freedom of speech and the press to the people of Venezuela. That's my comment on his speech."

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Chavez's remarks were "not becoming for a head of state".

But the delegates and other world leaders seemed to like the sharp attack on the US, so much so they gave Chávez a vigorous applause that lasted so long that it had to be curtailed by the chair!

After all not everyone can attack the US president in his own turf.