detested,
his record includes undeniable successes.
Le Figaro, France
The 'Good Points'
of George W. Bush
"At a time when 'Obamania' is
in full swing, why not say all the good things we can about George W. Bush? … Colin
Powell, Condoleezza Rice, Hank Paulson and General Petraeus in Baghdad, as well
as Zalmay Khalilzad, ambassador and a veritable patron of Afghanistan, will in
time come to be seen as true statesmen whose achievements are simply
impressive."
At a time when
"Obamania" is in full swing, why not say all the good things we can
about George W. Bush, if not about the eight years he spent battling terrorism?
Indeed, a certain amount of false evidence has been laid at the doorstep of the
current U.S. president.
The first such item is in the
process of crumbling before our eyes: not only was the destruction of the
Baathist regime in Iraq not a failure for the United States, but it's now
turning into a genuine success. First of all, because indeed, Saddam Hussein
did a good job organizing what was left of Iraq's state apparatus into an
unwavering support system for terrorist operations that America found
intolerable. Then, because the current transformation of Iraq has had a
considerable medium-term impact: Iraqis have voted freely three times since
2003, although to be sure, these free elections are not yet entirely pluralist.
Nevertheless, they have played a role in helping assess the actual size of the
three major communities in the country [Sunni, Shiite and Kurd] and have also
allowed the real political majority to emerge in Iraq [Shiites rather than
Sunnis].
The precedent has proven
useful in Lebanon and Palestine, with results that are clearly dangerous. But
isn't reckoning with this danger better than indefinitely continuing the bitter
comedy of minority regimes in the Middle East? And to be sure, in Baghdad, it's
the ayatollahs - who are much more devoted to neighboring Iran than the
American bayonets that permit them to reign without much difficulty - who
dominate political life. The result, which doesn't appear very encouraging, is
actually quite a benefit, in that it has forced the less enlightened ayatollahs
in power in Tehran and Qom, from charting a course between their desire to
quickly develop a nuclear weapon and their obligation to the Shiite community
as a whole, in other words, choosing a middle way between an open alliance with
the United States and militant anti-Americanism.
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
PRESIDENTIAL POLITICAL FUN FROM
THE ONION
If George Bush has been slow
to truly understand the scope of the upheaval he has created in the region, one
must also recognize his increasingly evident focus on Tehran over the last two years.
The publication of an evaluation by all American intelligence agencies in 2007 , which minimized
the technical achievements of Iran in terms of creating a nuclear weapon -
questionable though the data may be - at least showed that America was ruling
out any hasty military solution to the problem. This immediately resulted to
the neutralization of the oddball Moqtada Sadr in Iraq and obtained a
reasonable compromise in Lebanon, which then allowed [Syrian President] Bashar
al-Assad to rid his government of all adventurists who had been polluting it.
If we consider several other
areas of international politics, we see that George Bush has consistently
conducted a moderate and effective policy: far from picking a quarrel with
China, Washington has done everything possible to resolve the problem of the
North Korean Bomb based on a regional consensus - and has largely succeeded,
especially as the Taiwanese independence movement has been calmed
democratically [A more pro-China government has been elected in Taiwan].
Finally, by combining a
non-violent confrontation with Chavez in Venezuela with unfailing financial and
military support to President Uribe's Colombia, George Bush is leaving his
successor a situation in Latin America that is considerably improved,
especially if we add the victory of Calderon's Christian Democrats in Mexico
and the relationship, especially economically and technologically (on the issue
of ethanol) with Lula's Brazil.
As for the rest, and this is
essential, we now see that by maintaining strong growth, and even at this
moment, by keeping America from entering a recession that the bursting of the
subprime bubble clearly provoked, George Bush, helped mightily by [FED
Chairman] Ben Bernanke and Henry Paulson, his remarkable treasury secretary,
has done unparalleled service to the whole of Europe.
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
Colin Powell, Condoleezza
Rice, the already-mentioned Hank Paulson, and General Petraeus in Baghdad, as
well as Zalmay Khalilzad, ambassador and a veritable patron of Afghanistan, will
in time come to be seen as true statesmen whose achievements are simply
impressive. Of course, such an assessment avoids evoking the many failures of
domestic policy and, unfortunately, of international policy - notably an
anti-Russia policy that is completely absurd. But here, on the eve of the
presidential election in this first part of the American balance sheet, we
wanted to recall the old principle of Roman law, audiatur et altera pars [hear
the other side], or in other words: give the accused the right to present his
case.
