Bush on Bush

Or, how to be delusional about ones legacy.

George Bush last week gave interviews to various Middle East news outlets in preparation for his visit this week to the Middle East. In answering the questions its clear that George W. Bush is living in a parallel universe of his own construction.    

Israel’s Channel 2 News

“I can predict that the historians will say that George W. Bush recognized the threats of the 21st century, clearly defined them, and had great faith in the capacity of liberty to transform hopelessness to hope, and laid the foundation for peace by making some awfully difficult decisions,”

Reality would suggest otherwise: From the very beginning of his administration George Bush sought policy initiatives that would justify an American invasion of Iraq a country which; though ruled by a dictator Saddam Hussein was of no overt threat to the United States or other countries in the Middle East.  Richard Clarke who served as President Clinton’s adviser on Counter Terrorism (Which was considered a Cabinet Level Post) was conveyed over to the Bush administration to serve in the same capacity. With Bush’s focus on Iraq Richard Clarke’s position and title were down graded to the point that until the September 11, 2001 attacks there had only been two meetings involving the threat of terrorism to the interests of the United States. The terrorism threat was so low that the now famous August 6, 2001 Presidential Daily Briefing titled

Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in US was ignored. When asked about it at a Senate Hearing then National Security adviser  Condoleezza Rice stated that the title was “Not specific about the threat the United States faced from Osama Bin Laden.” Bush faced up to other problems of the 21 century by ignoring them. Case in point the issue of the Palestinian Israeli conflict, North Korea, Iran and Pakistan.

Speaking to Nahum Barnea and Shimon Shiffer of the Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot.

“When he needed to be tough, he acted strong, and when he needed to have vision he understood the power of freedom to be trans-formative,”

Bush attempted to bring political pluralism to a country (Iraq) which had no such history. He cynically believed that the forced importation of Western Liberal Political Theory would change a region of nations which had only known authoritarian rule throughout their existence and like Iraq had no history of open government or free political expression.  Trans-formative it was: With the countries of the Middle East far from being more open to in fact being more repressive than before the invasion of Iraq.  

Nadia Bilbassy-Charters of al-Arabiya Television

The Bush record, is one of liberation — “liberation, by the way, not only from dictatorship, but from disease around the world, like HIV/AIDS or malaria.”

On a personal basis, Bush told Bilbassy-Charters that he hopes that people would know “that he hurts when he sees poverty and hopelessness” and “that he’s a realistic guy.”

Liberation of what and whom? Bush administration policies have lead to liberation not of repressed people or countries but of corporations to exploit the natural and human resources of the impoverished around the world. Iraq, the single country Bush sought to “Liberate” from dictatorial   rule is a complete disaster. The war continues, the economy is ruined, there has been mass internal displacement, millions more have become refugees, the Iraqi government is completely dysfunctional and ethnic killings continue apace. Liberation has done wonders; for the military industrial complex and corporations like Haliburton and KBR through no-bid contracts. If it wasn’t for the UN and many volunteer groups and foundations the problems with HIV/AIDS and malaria would be far worse.

President Bush hurts when he sees poverty and hopelessness. He hurts so much that more than two years after hurricane Katrina much of the Gulf Coast of America remains as it was just after the hurricane struck. A complete disaster. Thousands are still living in temporary housing,(FEMA trailers which are considered a health risk) large portions of Louisiana and Mississippi have not been rebuilt. Those being the areas where the economically disadvantaged live. While those areas least in need of government assistance have received the lions share of it. Again like Iraq the biggest winners in all of this were the corporations who received those wonderful no-bid contracts for hurricane recovery and clean-up.

George Bush’s caring for those less fortunate knows no bounds thats why he veto the S-Chip bill which would have provided health care to children whose parents could ill afford to buy health insurance because the costs far out weight their incomes.