Bush - the last of the War Presidents

The world in a Stranglehold…
By Natasha

The bad news is we are stuck with him for another term, but the good news is - thanks to American constitution - come 2009, we would never have to, ever again, watch the asinine smirk, listen to ignorant pronouncements, or tolerate blatant show of unashamed arrogance. Just as his pop, he’d disappear into the wonder world of private life and cash in on old promises. Could the Neocons dig up another Bush? History suggests that another Attila, Hitler, Mussolini, or Edi Amin are highly unlikely, and chances are we may never encounter another Bush, Cheney, Sharon or Saddam. But Americans had often thrown a few unpleasant surprises at us and they could do so once again. There is talk of another Bush-Clinton fight in 2008 – Jeb and Hilary that is. Since Americans look nowhere near ready for a woman-president, Jeb could well be the chosen one, leaving the Neocon glitter in the Whitehouse undisturbed for another eight years. This time around even the lefties might join in the prayer – God save America!
The 51% that voted him back might miss their moral master and his religious theatrics, but the other half of civilized Americans would have to carry the burden of shame for a few decades and several generations - just as the Germans had over Hitler’s misadventures. As military supremacy, by itself, proved inadequate to conquer unfamiliar lands with no-less patriotic masses - it is clear that even the hi-tech might of the US could only be employed as a shield, but never as a sword. Failure to see this reality is what transformed the adamant Super Power to a big fat Super-Boob.
Should Americans, tired of superstars, get lucky to locate a half-decent chap to occupy the Whitehouse, and display the strength of common will for common purpose - they may succeed in bringing in a sensible ruler who might have a shot at closing the great new divide, and unifying all Americans, both factions warring as fiercely as Sunnis and Shiites. However, restoring some degree of trust outside will prove much harder a task than selling the natives more rhetoric and new hopes. Even Americans can’t afford to ignore world opinion forever and risk bungling their future because of a few ill-placed bets. It is no longer a matter of ignoring a Chirac here or a Putin there. Since the world appears unwilling to buy home-grown, campaign-nurtured American vision of America the Good - the innovators they are, they better find something new to sell other than bombers, or simply stay relegated to backseat in world affairs. With glaring ineptitude in managing their own show, there is little evidence to suggest American competence to solve others’ problems, no matter how pressing their strategic interests are. If anything, last five decades of poor policies arising out of poorer understanding of global priorities and diverse cultures exposed chinks in the armour, and in the process created a larger number of less-stable, strife-torn regions in despair.
With five billion people on the planet - the 80% outside America that begs to disagree with Bush, including the 1.3 billion aggrieved, noisy Muslims that despise anything American - it could well be several Presidents before any real damage control could be accomplished. The desecration of Quran by the Prison gurads must, certainly, be the last act in the sordid American drama of Losing by Intimidation. The real teaser is in the magical outcome of Bush-style delivery of democracies. Hitler banked on his belief that the victor would never be questioned on his reasons for going to war and that any cockamamie excuse would do, as long as victory was assured. Since this new-age warrior appears to be banking on similar thesis - bleak prospects of normalcy in Iraq, run by Iraqis, must raise a few eyebrows, even in the red states of Archie Bunker’s good old US of A. The world waits in bated breath to see some order in trouble-torn lands, regardless of the means to achieve the same including the infamous Bush-doctrine. But no one wants to witness a world wounded by inept American leadership, as Presidents - hurled into the Whitehouse by virtue of the size of their money bags or the stench of moral hogwash in the fashionable new theocracy - come and go, steadily transforming America the arrogant to America the ignored.
Why is a perfect world such a laughable proposition and the mess we are in so endearing? If after centuries of moralising, we still can’t provide adequate food for the hungry, water for the thirsty, and medicine for the sick - perhaps it is time to throw the old moral book and rewrite a new one, more suited to the urgent needs of a planet under attack, not by aliens of Hollywood kind, but by its own inhabitants. Untiring efforts of Lincoln, Gandhi and other thinkers of our time, towards universal coexistence, must not go in vain. Americans can’t wreck their place in history for a Bush or two, even if they are fully sold on short-term gains arising from invasions of avarice.
Even as the embers of Iraqi war victims burn bright, buoyed by his own assessment of success in blessing Iraqis with democracy, the Prez is busy openly plotting his invasion of other points on his ludicrous axis. With Cairo fully bought off and the push he gets from faint signs of new awakening in Tel Aviv, Syria may be an easy prey. North Korea would remain his nightmare, but Iran could well be his Waterloo.
Assuming that the Neocons succeed in giving Iraqis, freedoms to choose their own destiny with their own constitution and institutions of their choice - can Americans afford the cost of half a trillion for each of such adventures, especially in view of their deficit-plagued inability to support their own welfare at home with sustainable growth, decent healthcare and a desperately needed, viable social security plan?
No one is betting on any earth shattering moves in the second term and he may well fill the time with more rhetoric and fade into oblivion as most Presidents do. It is refreshing to hear congressmen and senators talk about the need to cut-and-run – as if they had other options open to them at any time - and give Iraq back to Iraqis, just in time to score a few points for the ensuing 2006 election campaigns. What the world wants to hear from the Americans are a few simple words of honesty - their reasons for taking Iraq from Iraqis in the first place, and an apology for wanton mischief. But, since the other half of America is anxious to see him fall on his face, it is conceivable that the Republican controlled Congress would wake up one morning, smell the stench of unbridled autocracy in the Oval office and impeach this one dangerously insensitive American - albeit to walk tall on their next campaign trial. No one can avert another Tsunami, but Bushenanigans Americans can.