WASHINGTON, Sept 22: The United States on Friday expressed disappointment at barbed comments aimed at President George W. Bush at the UN General Assembly this week and said it damaged the United Nations.

President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela called Bush “the devil” while Iran’s President Ahmad Ahmadinejad used his speech to world leaders to launch a strong attack on the Bush administration’s “hegemony”.

John Bolton, the US ambassador to the United Nations, said: “I think there is perhaps more of an inclination to vent those emotions here because they are more likely to get a positive reception.

“I think that behaviour doesn’t do them any credit and it certainly doesn’t benefit the United Nations,” Bolton told reporters.

“I think there are obviously some leaders who are more willing to express anti-American sentiments in public, but I don’t think for example that this year President Chavez was more anti-American than in the past.”

Bolton said that the anti-American sentiment “just gets a better reception here”.

He added “It is not surprising and I think it is important, frankly, for people to hear this because I do think it is a reflection of what some of these people think, and I don’t think it helps when the American people get to hear it directly.”—AFP