Owei Lakemfa
26 December 2008
opinion
Eight years ago, the United States (US) a country that proudly holds up itself as the bastion of democracy was in a dilemma and disgrace. Its presidential elections had been rigged, and a fumbling politician, George .W. Bush, son of a not-so-inspiring former president, was imposed as new president.
In contrast to a Bush who did not know much about world politics, his opponent, Al Gore who clearly won the popular vote, is a knowledgeable man of ideas with a demonstrable commitment to a better world.
Even when in 2004, the Americans had the opportunity of making amends, majority of them failed to do so; they voted Bush back into office. So the last eight years have been like years of self-inflicted pains and suffering by the American people.
They have a completely run down economy to show for it. With massive home foreclosures, and economic uncertainty, Americans do not even know the true diagnosis of their economic ailments. For months, they have debated and wondered whether they are facing a recession, in recession or depression.
An unprecedented two million Americans have lost their jobs this year alone. If their three biggest auto companies; GM, Ford and Chrysler were to go down as they threaten to, it would be a major disaster approaching the Hurricane Katrina calamity. Except that this will be Hurricane Bush. Already Chrysler has stopped production with three million jobs directly or indirectly threatened.
The Bush phenomenon has been so tragic that when Hurricane Katrina struck, the world watched in wonder how the world's biggest super power could not do much in a short period to rescue its citizens from the floods and its attendant challenges. The Americans caught in that disaster were literarily abandoned to their fate.
Perhaps, it is in its external relations that the Bush administration had the most negative impact. The world was not really a safe place, but in eight years, Bush made it far more dangerous a place to live in. Iraq was under a dictatorship headed by Saddam Hussein and Afghanistan under an archaic, unbending Taliban rule led by Mullah Omar. Following the tragic 9/11 bombings, Bush turned his rage on these countries. Five years later. Americans and its allies are stuck, anarchy has taken the place of order.
The Senior Bush had during the Gulf War raced to the gates of Baghdad and stopped. Militarily, the Americans and their allies could have taken the city and over run Iraq. They did not and this was not a mistake, they thought through the implications. So contended with freeing Kuwait and teaching the Iraqis a lesson, they withdrew.
But a more intemperate Bush with an inability to think things through, raced across the desert, overran Iraq, judicially executed its leaders and plunged the country into chaos. The Iraqi and Afghan wars showed the bestial nature of a number of Americans troops and their political leadership as they tortured prisoners, carried out extra judicial executions and turned civilian targets including marriage ceremonies into legitimate military targets.
The US doubtlessly has been a world leader, but sadly, even after becoming the unipolar power in the world, it has shrunk in its influence.
The Bush policies in the Middle East were a complete disaster. It had no clues on how to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Similarly, it displayed a poor understanding of issuesn relating to Syria, North Korea and Iran.
The Cold War was over by the time Bush came to power. The Warsaw Pact of the former Eastern Bloc had collapsed. But curiously, Bush's policy was to further expand the rival North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) at a very fast pace. Then he over reached himself by trying to quickly bring in Russia's neighbours, Ukraine and Georgia, and building a so-called Missile Defence Shield right on Russia's borders.
A not-too-wise Georgia on Washington's promptings, then ignited an unnecessary war with Russia and its allies. These twin events have done much to reignite super power rivalry and set the world again on an unnecessary, but mutually destructive arms race.
By January 20, 2009, we hope to see the backs of Bush and his war-mongering Vice, Dick Cheney. Doubtlessly, the world would heave a sigh of relief as tension may drop universally.
History will judge George Bush for making the world a more dangerous place to live in in terms of insecurity, environmental and human rights violations. Including for shielding American soldiers and citizens from the international court for gross human right violations.
Bush will be assessed by his turning kidnapping across the globe, and detaining human beings without trial, into state policy. He would be judged for plucking law abiding citizens from the streets of Europe, transporting them across countries and dumping them in detention centres. Only last week, three Algerians kidnapped by US forces on the streets of Bosnia were released after seven years. The reason; a mere suspicion that as Arab-looking men, they might want to bomb the US Embassy.
Eight years ago, the American people got self immolated by electing Bush. But like the proverbial phoenix, they have risen from the ashes to clear the White House of Bush and replacing him with a promising Barrack Obama.
Ironically, the world owes Bush some gratitude. But for a fumbling, incompetent and clueless Bush that crashed the American economy and introduced fear in the hearts of his country people, we might not have had an Obama as US president. With the latter, America has the chance of tackling its socio-economic problems. It also has the opportunity to review and rebuild its international relations. As the Bush gets completely cleared out of the White House, we pray the world is never re-visited with his type of presidency.
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