January 23 , 2009
Bush Quits the China Shop
President George W. Bush has just stepped out of the China shop, wearing his usual, though inappropriate, grin and hoping that history will take a long-term view of his tenure instead of taking the immediate rubble and disaster as his legacy. But, history hardly makes an allowance for the follies particularly of the most important person of the world even if he has taken several of his decisions according to his conscience and in national interest as seen by him.
“I believe when people objectively analyze this administration, they’ll say ‘Well, I see now what he was trying to do’”, Bush said last month (December). Historians say it could take decades. And, Bush has himself said on another occasion,“I’ll be dead when they finally figure it out.”
The books about his administration that have already appeared on the market are, by and large, stringently critical of his policies. Some prominent columnists have even called him “the worst President of America”. Surveys held late last month showed that more than two-thirds of Americans thought Bush would go down in history as a “poor” President, while 28% thought him to be the “worst”. Undoubtedly, his was the least successful Presidencies in American history.
Only an unusually dedicated penman would dare come out with a treatise upholding his vital decision. It took the Bush strategist, Karl Rowe, to say last May, “I’m absolutely positive history will be kind to this president who made the right decision in a difficult time for the nation.” Only a Carl Rowe, the guide and guru of Bush, who was intimately involved in many political decisions of Bush and his principal idea-man during both elections, could make such a positive assessment.
Fact of the matter is that Bush took a remarkable opportunity given to an unlikely President and spending it, plunged his country and the world with it into more turmoil than it was already in. He operated like a bull in the China shop.
He gave an unvarnished picture of his demeanor when he landed in commando uniform on an aircraft carrier flaunting the banner “Mission Accomplished”. The mission, whatever its contours, continues to hang fire till today.
Throughout the eight years of his rule, he has consistently conveyed the impression of being an incurious, unreflective person, who like an impatient Texas cowboy, takes quick and firm decisions even on highly complicated issues. He would then stick to those decisions come what may. Admitting his mistakes or changing course is just not in his nature. He would rather attribute his mistakes to his aides or advisory agencies. Invasion of Iraq, for instance, he contended was caused by wrong information furnished by the intelligence agencies. Some thought in-depth, probing queries, would have given him an objective picture of the situation. But, the hallmark of his Presidency has been curiosity that was quite conspicuous by its absence.
Scion of a wealthy and politically well-heeled family, he could get admissions at Yale and Harvard and become subsequently the Governor of Texas. Big business was looking for installing a pliable person like Bush in power in the first place. The people who made his rise possible knew exactly what they were foisting on the world. But, they might not have foreseen how their handiwork would play out in 9/11 and Katrina, both unforeseen and unexpected.
Bush, nurturing his cowboy mentality, became a personification of “How dare you attack a super power?” and was looking for an enemy to hit back. Intelligence agencies readily picked up Osama bin Ladin, an anti-Saudi-dynasty agitator who had elected to shift to Afghanistan to fight against the Soviet invasion. He vehemently denied that he had anything to do with the attacks on the Twin Towers. The leader of the
19-member group was an Egyptian and most of the other terrorists were Saudi nationals. Yet, the Bush administration decided to attack and occupy Afghanistan and topple the Taliban regime. Seven years have passed since then and the US and coalition forces are still stuck in that country. The pro-US government of Hamid Karzai is confined to Kabul and it is proposed to send 30,000 more US troops to finish Taliban resistance, to set up an effective Afghan government to be able to pull out of that country all foreign forces. That has yet to happen!
In the spring of 2003, Paul Wolfowitz, Deputy Defense Secretary, is said to have crafted the plan to attack Iraq on the ground that it had weapons of mass destruction, was in league with Al Qaeda and was a gathering threat to the United States – all proved wrong subsequently. Ignoring unprecedented worldwide demonstrations against the war and the UN urgings, Bush endorsed the plan and authorized the unilateral invasion of Iraq. Over 4,000 US soldiers have lost their lives and the toll of Iraqis numbers over 750,000. The US and its allies are still stuck in the quagmire; over a trillion dollars have been spent on the war effort. Bush became a war President to be allowed a second term on that ground. Iraq, by no stretch of imagination could have been a threat to the sole super power ten times its size and with the biggest war machine of the world. Iraq was, no doubt, a threat to neighboring Israel and had participated in all anti-Israel wars. Israeli lobbies supported the invasion of Iraq, which is now realized as a great policy mistake of Bush administration.
The harsh, if not totally cruel, treatment of prisoners in Abu Gharib and Guatanamo Bay, the Patriot Act, the Homeland Security operations and the intensive searches at ports of entry, created a panicky situation particularly for Muslim citizens. Mr. Bush claimed to have saved the country from a second terrorist attack through such measures. Over time we will learn whether such policing by the government did deter an attack. Perhaps the terrorists were too busy with targets in Iraq and Afghanistan to bother about the US mainland.
The biggest recession since the early 1930s has taken, during Mr. Bush’s watch, not only the US but the rest of the world in its cruel grip. The fall of investment companies, banks, businesses and stock markets is common knowledge. The severity of the crash may be gauged from the fact that the conservative Republican government had to resort to socialist measures to stop the fall.
Mr. Bush may have saved the US from another attack, but we have, in the process, lost our soul, our economy, the rule of law and international respect for our values. That is the legacy of Mr. Bush.
Mark Twain had said about Wagner: “Wagner’s operas are not as bad as they sound”.
One may say about Bush: His legacy may not be as bad as it may actually turn out to be. - arifhussaini@hotmail.com
