My world: Bush's 'Reign of Error' - Game Over

Bush's Reign of Error (*): Game Over

Eight years of disaster politics, errors, nonsense, narcisim and incompetence finally come to an end. After Obama’s election we still had to endure him some long couple of months (something totally ridiculous in American administration I must say). Instead the new President elected should have taken office soon after being elected. It was time to move over, not to see a puppet president pretend he mattered. Bush had no legitimacy nor capacity to continue leading the country.

George W. ends his mandate as one of the most unpopular presidents in modern times - 80 percent of Americans will not miss him after he leaves the White House and only one-third want him to play a post-presidency role in public life. In fact it’s almost as if he is long gone. As Frank Rich wrote in an excellent article in the NYT, “you start to pity him until you remember how vast the wreckage is. It stretches from the Middle East to Wall Street to Main Street and even into the heavens, which have been a safe haven for toxins under his passive stewardship. The discrepancy between the grandeur of the failure and the stature of the man is a puzzlement. We are still trying to compute it.”

George W. has tried desperatly, in the last months, to do something positive, so as to leave a “not too bad” image behind him, in vain however. He is alone and most have long abandoned the sinking ship. Of course History will judge and tell but Americans (nor the world) do not have to wait years to know that Bush was one of the worse US presidents, if not the worst. And the world knows all too well the wreckage he left behind and how the world situation (in relation to peace & global understanding & living together) has deteriorated since Bush came to power.

Of course most Americans only discovered this a bit too late – mostly after Hurricane Catrina in New Orleans in 2005, yet they reelected him in 2004, remember? Yes that is amazing, indeed. As for me I never liked Bush and his politics, since the beginning, and also not his administration and always spoke out against them (and you may check my previous posts). However he was able to convince most Americans to trust him and half of the world to follow him to Iraq and support his war against “terrorism” and against the 'axis of evil'.

But it's not only a question of being "forgotten" or trying to be remembered for something positive he didn't do. Bush & co., after he comes out of office, even risk being pursued by American Justice, for crimes committed by his administration (murder, torture, etc). Vincent Bugliosi, for instance, one of the prosecutors of Los Angeles, has prepared a document to take Bush to justice. The reasoning behind is that, if he is able to demonstrate that Bush has not taken his country to war for self-defence, but that he knew he was deliberately using false pretexts to go to war, then all American soldiers were killed illegally, then it is about murders we are talking. But also Vice-President Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice, former White-House Counsellor Karl Rowe are also Bugliosi's targets. And Bugliosi is not the only one thinking about legal prosecution. Two cities in Vermont, Brattleboro and Marlboro have also voted to prosecute Bush legally. And others are considering the issue seriously. Obama however has not been specific about the issue, but this is one of the most popular questions raised in the site change.gov opened by Obama: “Will you appoint a Special Prosecutor (ideally Patrick Fitzgerald) to independently investigate the gravest crimes of the Bush Administration, including torture and warrantless wiretapping?” Biden and Obama say that they would rather look to the future but did not rule this out. Prosecution by the IPC (CPI in french) seems however out of question because the US have not recognised it.

And I know, George W. Bush is not worth remembering, maybe not even worth a post in my blog. Yet it is important to remember certain things so that the future generations can learn with History. And with errors. Certain things should never repeat.

So where are we today? What are Bush’s achievements after all? Iraq burned, Afganistan is far from safe, Palestina is helpless, Israel stronger (and mad) as never, terrorism multiplied around the world, civil liberties shrinked, harsh interrogation techniques (read torture) came back, New Orleans flooded, Wall Street fell, the Banks went bankrupt, US debt raised exponentially and so did unemployment, Bush’s adminsitartion ignored intelligence warnings and was unable to prevent September 11 and the US have ignored the serious threat of global warming. And the list could go on… However, as Frank Rich said in the NYT, “Bush remained oblivious to each and every pratfall on his watch”.

Yet, we may miss him, or better, the joke he made of himself. As the Los Angeles Times wrote, ‘You know you'll miss the president who declared: "Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." You know you'll miss the man who showed his empathy by remarking, "You're working hard to put food on your family."

Yes, they are right. After W, who are we going to laugh at? Who are we going to hate?

(*) as the Motherjones put it.

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