Bush Middle East tour: ABC of failure

Too little, too late. A puerile and shallow attempt by a failed statesman to set right in less than one year what he should have done seven years earlier. If George Bush had had a “Clinton moment” breaking down and admitting he had failed miserably in two Presidential terms, he might have garnered more sympathy than with this pathetic and predictable display of arrogance, belligerance and chauvisism, an ABC of failure which has haunted his years in office.

George Bush spent seven years wasting hundreds of billions of dollars of his taxpayers’ money and hundreds of thousands of innocent lives in spreading freedom and democracy, Texas style, with the bullet. With less than a year to go in office, he waltzes into the Middle East for the first time, reiterating the same old soundbites about the glories of all things American and doing nothing whatsoever in terms of construcive, groundbreaking work to solve the crisis which is caused not by Iran, as he claims, but by Israel’s stealing of lands and constant refusal to abide by UN laws. And the USA, as Israel’s main supporter, is its partner in crime.

Proposals for Israel to cease the building of more colonies and to pull out of lands occupied in and since 1967 were hailed by some as good will. However, surely this is paramount to telling a criminal he is not to steal any more than he already has done. Suggestions for Israel to pay reparations to the Palestinians whose lands were stolen is surely for the Palestinians to decide, not a man from West Texas whose grasp of international affairs leaves so much to be desired.

As for “freedom and democracy”, how befitting it is to see George Bush saying these words standing beside his family’s old friends, the Saudi Royal family, who lead perhaps one of the most undemocratic regimes in the world.

The most strident example of George Bush’s total lack of touch with the real world and present-day geopolitics was his sabre-rattling against Iran, the country which pursues a peaceful nuclear energy programme, as is its right under international law. Where was the mention about Israel’s nuclear arsenal in the Negev Desert? If Iran pursues a nuclear energy programme, Israel already has nuclear warheads. Since when was that legal under international law?

Stating that Iran “should be confronted” is a telling sign of the years to come and a clear warning to Teheran to get ready for a campaign of smear stories and lies to invent some trumped-up excuse to invade (like Iraq´s WMD “being driven around in vehicles”). If the fight against extremism is, in the words of George Bush, the struggle of our times, then it is precisely this extremism which he and his regime have fuelled since 2001.

The icing on the cake was the reference to future generations of historians who would praise the USA’s Iraq policy. Let us not wait for the future...

Indeed, let us praise George Bush’s Iraq policy. How wonderful it was to break every law in the book, disregard the UNO and breach the UN Charter by launching a savage and illegal act of butchery in that country. How noble it was to break the Geneva Convention, murdering children, women and old folk in their homes. How magnanimous it was to deploy cluster bombs in civilian areas.

How just it was to dole out billionnaire reconstruction contracts to White House cronies without tender. How much respect the President’s Armed Forces earned with their massacre of civilians, rape of teenage girls, torture sessions in concentration camps such as Abu Ghraib and selection of civilian structures with military equipment! What a symbol of righteousness, that Lynndie England, “just having fun” in a medieval-style torture chamber.

And how much of an improvement it was for Iraqi society to have a government imposed on them, made up of elements from the fringes of Iraqi society,hurriedly bundled together in a London hotel and told they would be the new ruling class of the country they had been exiled from. How great it is to see Iraqi society ruled by a clique of political Islamists who pass laws enabling husbands to beat up wives who misbehave. And what a shining example the electoral process was. “Who are we voting for?” was a much-asked question among Iraqi voters, not aired on US TV channels.

George Bush, indeed, should be basking in glory. After all, his policy has destroyed a whole state and has been directly or indirectly responsible for the deaths of 200.000 civilians. Instead of investing the two hundred thousand million dollars this escapade has cost (to date) in healthcare or education programmes, he blindly and defiantly justifies his policy as right.

In short, George Bush’s speech in Abu Dhabi on 13th January is a puerile and shallow attempt by the worst President in US history to justify the unjustifiable, a desperate and misguided plea to remove the guilt from his shoulders, for making one of the most colossal mistakes in the history of Mankind and for insulting the very precepts upon which his nation was founded.

How can this man who signed 152 death warrants (Saddam Hussein signed 148 and was hanged) stand and mention the name of God? How can this man seriously expound the virtues of free trade when his country practises protectionism, setting in place artificial mechanisms such as tariffs and subsidies to guarantee that trade is free for some but not for all? How can he rant and rave about Iran supporting the Taleban when members of his own administration were the ones responsible for launching the Mujaheddin terrorists in Afghanistan, when Washington backs Islamic Albanian terrorists in Kosovo?

In short, not one single word in his speech makes any sense at all, since the person who delivered it has countered each and every one of the claims it makes. To finish as George Bush did (addressing the nations in the Middle east area).

To the people of the United States of America: You have been led by a criminal clique of elitists who have hijacked your nation and taken it on a journey of corporate greed, led by a bunch of murderous, selfish neo-conservative war criminals, for the last seven years. These people have done more damage to the international image of your country than any other group in power since its foundation in the 18th century. It is time to hold your governments accountable for what they promised and it is time to ask them questions to judge what they intend to do in their policy after election, it is time to bring these criminals to justice to answer for the crimes they have committed.

As for George Bush, he is finished. A sad, lonely figure he cuts, knowing he is universally despised, knowing he is responsible for the screams of hundreds of thousands of families across the globe, ringing in his ears. As with the rest of his life before he managed to become President, he has wasted and squandered millions of dollars in ill-managed and poorly planned grade-school-style ventures and has nothing whatsoever to show for it.

It is unlikely that Bush will have a “Clinton moment” because to turn on the tap and cry crocodile tears requires a modicum of intelligence. Hillary Clinton, however, may well have a “Bush moment”, especially since the masters pulling her strings are AIPAC - American Israel Public Affairs Committee. As the saying goes, Show me your friends and I will tell you who you are. It is clear what Hillary Clinton represents and if she is elected, then watch out, Iran.

The USA’s foreign policy seems set to continue with one small difference. Instead of Iraq, read “Iran”. And Washington’s nerve centre will continue to be Tel Aviv.

Timothy BANCROFT-HINCHEY

PRAVDA.Ru

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Author`s name Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey
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