"Somebody was asking me the other day - President Bush is now talking about freedom for the Arab world. I say, well, that's great. I was talking about that fifty years ago"

Lakhdar Brahimi's quote is a reflection on the existing state of the Arab world and the development that has actually been made in terms of freedom. He is indicating that the current president, George W. Bush, is only now speaking about freedom for the Arab world, while he himself has actually been promoting for it for fifty years. This recommends that the progress made in the Arab world has been slow and that it has actually taken a long time for the concept of liberty to acquire traction. Brahimi is most likely revealing his aggravation at the absence of progress and the slow speed of modification. He is also most likely revealing his hope that the current president's efforts will finally cause the liberty that he has actually been advocating for so long.