During his May 18 radio program, host Rush Limbaugh predicted that Democrats would react to the May 17 suicide bombing that killed the president of the Iraqi Governing Council by complaining that “we could have prevented this ... if we would have just really gotten some decent intelligence from prisoners that we had incarcerated at Abu Ghraib prison.” Limbaugh claimed that Democrats will soon be asking, “Where was the torture when we needed it?” and said, "[D]on't be surprised if [Democrat billionaire investor and philanthropist] George Soros puts up a few hundred million dollars for a torture institute at the new torture university to teach people how it's really done, to show how Bush and Rumsfeld are inept."

George Soros, a Hungarian-born American who survived the Nazi occupation, is the founder and chairman of Open Society Institute (OSI), which “promotes civil society and democratic institutions by funding human rights organizations and independent newspapers,” according to an April 16 article in The Washington Post. Soros is the president and chairman of Soros Fund Management LLC.

On December 15, 2002, The New York Times referred to Soros as a “human rights crusader.” According to Soros's bio on the OSI website, Soros is also founder and chairman of the Soros foundations network, a network of philanthropic organizations that are active in more than 50 countries and “have spent more than $400 million annually to support projects in these and other focus areas.” The OSI website notes, “Soros has been active as a philanthropist since 1979, when he began providing funds to help black students attend the University of Cape Town in apartheid South Africa.”

From the May 18 Rush Limbaugh Show:

LIMBAUGH: [A] suicide bomber killed the rotating president of the Iraqi Governing Council [Ezzedine Salim, on May 17]. Now, I'm sitting here and I'm sitting here, waiting. I am waiting for [Senator] Ted Kennedy to get up on the floor of the U.S. Senate and to demand that we could have prevented this. We could have prevented this suicide bombing if we would have just really gotten some decent intelligence from prisoners that we had incarcerated at Abu Ghraib prison. ... I'm waiting for the unblinking [House Democratic Leader] Nancy Pelosi to be shocked that we have not done whatever necessary to find out more about these kinds of actions before they take place. And I'm going to wait for [CNN anchor] Wolf Blitz [sic] to line up [Senators] Carl Levin and Joe Biden and Pat Leahy to demand an inquiry -- how come it is that we don't have decent enough intel to find out when these kind of events are going to happen.

In other words, where was the torture when we needed it? [laughter] Well? Where was the torture when we -- why did we stop short? Why did we stop short and not really get the information necessary from the people that we had. Not -- well, that one. You think this is a reach! You think this is a stretch? Come on, now. It's an election year. And to get a Liberal in the White House, anything goes. It doesn't matter if it's hypocrisy, or not. If it -- if -- if -- if they think that it'll get the White House, they'll say it. They'll do it.

I mean, don't be surprised if George Soros puts up a few hundred million dollars for a torture institute at the new torture university to teach people how it's really done, to show how Bush and Rumsfeld are inept.

Look, we're facing an election. The Left will say anything -- anything -- to get a Democrat in the White House, as is -- as is evidenced.

You know, what I'm trying to do, actually, here is put this in some sort of context. Look at what we're doing. We are still, at this moment, wringing our hands over these photos out of this prison. ... The Democrats. The Left. They're still wringing their hands over these prison photos -- all this abuse! All of this humiliation. Meanwhile, there's a car bombing. The president of the Iraqi Provisional Authority is blown up into smithereens and we're still worried about what we're doing -- in the prison.

You know, we, folks -- you and I, the administration -- we're focused on Iraqi freedom and all these other Democrats are focused on the Kerry inauguration, and that is about the best way to put all this in perspective.