Saturday, May 12, 2007

Bush's Legacy

“Mr. Gonzales, do you remember the events of 29th September 2006?” Asked one of the Senator. “No” replayed Mr. Gonzales. “You don’t remember that you had a meeting in your office about the possible firings of the District Attorneys on that day?” another shot at Mr. Gonzales. “My schedule says that I had that meeting 8 of that morning but I don’t recall the happenings of that meeting” replied out beloved attorney general. And, here I thought that general of the country is supposed to be an honest and intelligent lawyer !

All though I was aghast to see clips of Gonzales’s testimony to the congress, if we take a look at the larger picture of the Bush administration, it is not at all surprising to see such a high level of incompetence. Each and every step that Bush administration took, at least with respect to foreign relation, is full of blunders, inanity and absolute arrogance in both. Of course, that’s what is expected from an administration whose chief (i.e. the President) is as dumb as our George W. Bush. I have tried to see a bit of wisdom or a bit of sense in his eyes but naada. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. He doesn’t know what he is talking about nor does he have any clue of what he is doing. And the worst thing is he doesn’t know that he doesn’t know. Of course, his administrative staff is to be blamed equally for all the ills. But the scariest part is that his subordinates are extremely shrewd and they know what they are doing. These rats are going to leave the ship soon but Mr. Bush's legacy will go down with this Titanic for ever.

Post September 11, it was obvious to attack Afghanistan but it was soon clear that bombing Afghanistan was by popular demand and the real target was Iraq. Now, every known living organism on the earth (except for the some in US) knew that Iraq has nothing to do with September 11 attacks. But bush administration first tried to connect the non existing dots on the map and later when their leitmotif of fighting against terrorism failed they changed their tune to planting democracy in the middle east. Even if we accept the new found mission as a noble one, the administration is doing miserably in that. The terrorism never emanated from Iraq (ahem, Pakistan and Saudi. Anyone?) and democracy can’t be forced on any society.

Thinking strictly from geo-political point of view, I am ready to admit that it makes sense in sitting near to the terrorist hot-spots. By having solid base in the middle east it will be easier to keep tabs on Iran, Saudi and on Pakistan. But by sheer arrogance Bush administration failed to subdue an already battered nation and mess up the whole logic of invading that country. They let the Bathist forces dissolve in the Iraq society. The problem is, these Bathist forces are heavily armed and posses technological know-how of bombings. Gosh ! now that was stupid. Thus each and every Iraqi in Baghdad and ‘bloody’ triangle around it became a suspect, a potential suicide bomber. Without any active support from the Iraqi society, it is impossible to contain the Shia and Sunni violence. Though a spectator of this gory violence between two warring sects, the US with it’s gaucherie public relation is taking the blame.

In the mean time, Iran is dangerously close in acquiring nuclear weapons and North Korea already posses some. Pakistan is double timing both US and Taliban. Russia is growing belligerent. South American nations are increasingly getting engulfed into rabid Chavezesque anti-Americanism.

Increasingly getting isolated by failures in foreign affairs, even Mr. Bush’s internal policies are seriously questioned by his peers. True he is not running for the Presidential election but it seems that his legacy is going to haunt US as well as rest of the world for quite a sometime to come.

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