Saturday, December 30, 2006 Libre: Bush and world domination By Mel Libre Seriously Now
US President George W. Bush has yet to announce his new strategy in Iraq as he is still consulting with his top aides at his Texas ranch. Attending the consultation are Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Peter Pace and Deputy National Security Adviser Jack Crouch.
Bush has received the independent bipartisan Iraq Study Group recommendations that included, among others, the withdrawal of combat troops by 2008 and the holding of talks with Iran and Syria on Iraq’s plight.
But he seems bent on increasing the number of US troops in Iraq and refusing to deal with Iran and Syria.
For sure, he will have his hands full if Saddam Hussein’s death sentence is enforced. Hussein’s martyrdom may strengthen the resolve of anti-US rebels to create chaos and violence and to turn Iraq into a total war zone. And with the death toll of American soldiers nearing the 3,000 mark and Bush’s popularity at an all-time low, the US president, if he remains proud and unwise, will be remembered in history as a failure, a mistake and a shame.
Must it take a successor to undo the blunders of the predecessor? Former US president Gerald Ford, who died this week, made two bold decisions during his term, if only to save the United States from further ruin. He granted presidential pardon to Richard Nixon (for the Watergate scandal) and withdrew US combat troops from Vietnam.
Though his presidency was short-lived, Ford let go of the gross errors of his predecessors to allow his nation to move forward. Bush should learn from Ford--–and he may yet salvage his disheveled presidency.
Bush’s blueprint of an America-modeled Muslim nation in the Middle East is but a pipedream. True, the United States sowed democracy and capitalism in the Philippines but look at what it is today. The US may claim credit for the economic juggernaut that Japan has become, but that country’s success has to do more with the creativity of the Japanese people than with what were introduced by the Americans.
Obviously, Bush belongs to an ancient time when armies conquered nations and subjugated peoples. It is possible he has styled himself as another Genghis Khan, Caesar Augustus, Napoleon Bonaparte or Adolf Hitler. But he not only lacks the military genius of those men, he does not even know how to inspire his troops.
Bush will probably do better in Iraq if he scraps his current set of advisers who seem to toe his line of irrational thinking. In exchange, he should tap those who are leaders in world domination: Bill Gates, Stephen Jobs, etc. who are conquering not only nations and kingdoms but also homes and the minds of everyone with their wares.
