Straight
Talk Choosing
a World Leader
Do
We Have Any Say?
Nadia
Kabir Barb
“I
wish I wasn't the war president. Who in the heck wants to
be a war president? I don't." George W. Bush
"The
recession started upon my arrival. It could have been some
say February, some say March, some speculate maybe earlier
it started but nevertheless, it happened as we showed up here.
The attacks on our country affected our economy. Corporate
scandals affected the confidence of people and therefore affected
the economy. My decision on Iraq, this kind of march to war,
affected the economy." (Feb. 8, 2004)
This statement
had me rather perplexed and I was failing to decipher what
exactly this was supposed to mean but it is quite possible
that the author of this pearl of wisdom had as little idea
as to what he was trying to say as we do. Only one guess as
to who I am referring to. Answer: George W Bush. "Leadership
to me means duty, honour, country. It means character, and
it means listening from time to time." Excuse me, but
doesn't democracy mean having your finger on the pulse of
the nation and be listening to its concerns all the time,
Mr. President? And it doesn't get any better. In fact one
does not have to look far to find an endless stream of similar
"Bushisms". Not only are there a huge number of
websites solely dedicated to more garbled comments but also
countless books published incorporating more of Mr. Bush's
gaffes and blunders. Despite the fact that it is looking increasingly
like it is going to be a very close contest, it seems more
than likely that George "Dubya" Bush is going to
be elected as President of the United States for another four
years.
However,
if the rest of the world had a say in the US elections, we
would in all likelihood see John Kerry taking over from his
Republican counterpart. Since September 11, George Bush has
systematically eroded the sympathy of the world towards America.
His handling of the situation by attacking Afghanistan in
order to capture Osama Bin Laden was unsuccessful; and then
diverting attention from the failure of his administration
to make good on their word, by making Iraq its next target,
did nothing to endear him to millions across the world who
were opposed to the war. The existence of weapons of mass
destruction in Iraq and Saddam's links to Al Qaeda have subsequently
been disproved. The Iraqi people may have been rid of a dictator
such as Saddam Hussein but the situation in Iraq remains highly
volatile and the Iraqi people live in an environment where
insurgency, violence and poverty are a day to day occurrence.
George Bush, however, seems to be unaware of the plight of
the Iraqi people because according to him, "I'm not the
expert on how the Iraqi people think, because I live in America,
where it's nice and safe and secure." (Sept.23, 2004)
This is the man who promised to make the world a safer place
by waging war on terrorism at a global level. But instead
his invasion of Iraq with the support of his greatest ally,
Tony Blair, has not had that effect. On the contrary, it has
raised terrorism to a new level. Bush and Blair have created
an army of suicide bombers. In place of one Bin Laden, there
are now a hundred and one devoted fighters against "the
West". The world is definitely not a safer place.
This kind
of attitude and George Bush's willingness to go alone, in
other words, disregarding the opinions of countries around
the world has lead to public opinion in 10 leading countries
- including some of its closest allies - growing more antagonistic
to the United States while he has been in office. To co-exist
in a society, man must abide by certain rules and norms. Similarly,
for a country to co-exist peacefully in a global context,
it is necessary to respect the values of other countries and
for nations more powerful than others, not to impose its will
on those less able to defend themselves. But the current US
government has shown that they are believers of the saying,
"Might is right". This is an approach that does
not sit comfortably with the leaders or the people of a large
number of other countries. According to a survey, voters in
eight out of the 10 countries, including Britain, want to
see the Democrat contender, John Kerry, defeat President Bush
in the US presidential election. The results of the poll,
conducted by 10 of the world's leading newspapers, including
France's Le Monde, Japan's Asahi Shimbun, Canada's La Presse,
the Sydney Morning Herald and the Guardian, indicate that
in Australia, Britain, Canada, France, Japan, Spain and South
Korea a majority of voters share a rejection of the Iraq invasion,
contempt for the Bush administration, a growing hostility
to the US and a not-too-strong endorsement of Mr. Kerry (Guardian).
The only exceptions to this trend are the Israelis (who would
like to see Bush remain in office) and the Russians. This
sudden support for the current US administration by the Russians
could be attributable to the fact that the survey was carried
out in the immediate aftermath of the Beslan tragedy. In any
case, the US administration now finds itself in an unfamiliar
situation where it is confronted by such blatant lack of support
from even their closest allies. "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," Bush said. (August 4, 2004) Uh, yes George, whatever
you say…
Copyright
(R) thedailystar.net 2004
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