Is America the last man standing: How history will judge Bush's policies thirty years from now?
- KurdishMedia.com - By Aland Mizell
- 29/01/2009 00:00:00
Is America the Last Man Standing: How History Will Judge Bush’s Policies Thirty Years from Now?
The treatment of President Bush by the press has been very biased and disgraceful, so that everyday American citizens feel it is perfectly okay to speak about their leader in a disrespectful and derogatory manner. So what was the main source of hate? It is coming from twelve minutes of news coverage every day of the week, the nightly shows. When First Lady Michelle Obama made the remark about America being a mean country, I tended to agree with her, that the world is a mean world. But, our life begins to end the day we become silent about the things that matter to us. I forced myself-to write something about Bush’s polices to remind those who cannot see, cannot hear what he did for our world today. Liberty and freedom are the most precious gifts. Many people did not have to fight for the gifts; they have been offered them by people who fought with their lives. Bush could not strike a deal with terrorists and fanatics, nor could he squander the liberties. He did not have a right to do so, and if he did, future generation would never forgive him. Europe is in the final stages of Islamization, and now cannot do anything, because it has already given the states to fanatics. America is the last man standing as the last bastion of Western civilization and has not surrendered to fanatics yet. Fanatics want to rule the world. Today people who hate had many problems with Bush’s policies, an attitude that cannot be explained by poverty, oppression, the European colonialism in the past, or materialism, as many mad media claim. Nor does it have anything to do with the Israeli or Palestinian conflict or troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. The problem is that Islamic fanatics want to rule; they claim either my way or the highway. And many Europeans and American elites are willing to give in. For example, if someone threw shoes at any Muslim leader, probably Muslims around the world would take it as an assault on Islam because the leader represents the people, but no one bothered even to criticize what an Iraqi journalist did to Bush. It was an insult to the American people, and instead the man became a hero. Where is the respect? So if you do not respect me, why do you expect respect from me? Bush neither betrayed the American past nor squandered American freedom. He continued to speak up for those who believed in equality for all, and he spoke up for the Israelis because he sees defending Israel as matter of principles because Israel is a democratic country and the Jewish homeland. He asked Hamas to accept Israel as its neighbor to live side by side peacefully, but Hamas did not accept its statehood. If the role of a president or a leader is to lead his people, to stand up for his principles that he believed in so deeply, to defend his heritage, to honor his Judeo Christian values that made America and Europe what they are today, then that is why they hate him.
Why cannot Bush haters not see the untold story of the Bush legacy in Africa where millions of lives of mothers and children have been saved from malaria, where new HIV infections have been prevented, where many of those infected have been given hope through care and treatment, and where millions of young men and women were helped to get an education. Why cannot they see that Bush created the Millennium Challenge Account as a new model to encourage economic freedom? Now African people have been changed because of the Bush aid policies toward Africa. Was Bush helped because of them? Is there a vote in Africa for his political gain? Ask those that talk so negatively about Bush what they did in their lifetime for humanity. What did Muslim countries do for Africa? What did China do for Africa? What did the Russians do for Africa? What did Europe do for Africa? What was the American interest in Africa? Why did Bush help Africa? It was not about political gain; it was not about the fodder of fancy speech or phrases that simply ring hollow, Bush did it because it was the moral thing to do. Morals are a set of noble principles that originate in high spirituality and that govern human conduct. The character of Bush and his legacy was not so much revealed in what he said or the public attention he may have gotten, but in what he did when no one was looking at him.
The media’s role is to enlighten people and, therefore, it should not serve individuals’ fancies. Why can Bush haters not see who brought freedom to millions of Kurds and Afghani men and women. Bush’s history will be rewritten thirty years from now. True freedom is civilized freedom; civilization is a method of living and an attitude of equality and respect for all people. Who brought respect to millions of the Kurdish people, so that even now there is a Kurdish Iraqi President? Why for so many years did Turkey call Kurds Mountain Turks and look at the Kurds as second class, refusing to have dialogue with the Kurdish leaders? Who caused the Kurdish leader to be officially received in Ankara with dignity for the first time in history? Who brought Saddam to justice for his genocide against the Kurds? It was not Erdogan, It was not Russian, Chinese, or Arabic leaders, nor was it Hamas. Bush did it. When it comes to a lecture on justice, Erdogan has become an expert, but law is measured by justice, but not authorizes law with justice. In Turkey everybody is equal according to the new Turkish law, but Kurds cannot use Kurdish names for their children or for their streets, because it is still considered an insult to Turkishness. Erdogan pays lip service now to the Kurds but in action he is silent. Where were Turkey and the Arab world when Saddam gassed the Kurdish people in front of their eyes? Who brought respect to Afghani women and children? Once they were slaves under the Taliban regime, but they deserve to be treated as human beings and to have an education; that they have their own future is rational and reasonable. Freedom allows people to do whatever they want provided that they do not harm others for their different opinions, but still they can remain committed to truth. They hate Bush because Bush brought that freedom to them.
They hate Bush because Bush did not make a deal with Yasser Arafat when he was in the White House. They hate Bush because Bush told Hamas to accept Israel as their neighbor and included them on the list of terrorists for killing innocent Israeli men women. They hate Bush because he said either you help get rid of the devil or you will be accountable for giving terrorists a safe haven and for shedding innocent blood. They hate Bush because Bush refused to agree with the Iranian president who believes the holocaust is a myth. Relativists hate Bush because of what he stood for, particularly the idea of eternal moral absolutes and his commitment to his Christian beliefs. They hate Bush because Bush did not make marijuana legal for all citizens. They hate Bush because he defended human history in that marriage is between men and women; they hate Bush because Bush did not wave a white flag to the devil. They hate Bush because he did not approve increasing research on stem cells. Because he did not make late-term abortion legal, they hate Bush They hate Bush because Bush put terrorists in prison, so that they would not hurt more innocent people. They hate Bush because Bush declared war on fanatics and fascist ideology. They hate Bush because Bush believed the role of government is to protect people from evil and to defend them from oppression. Government should advance justice and public order, and one cannot speak of good government where those do not exist. Public office and power is transitory; we may have an administration today, but tomorrow we will not have that power in place, but truth and justice are eternal. Therefore, politicians should speak and align themselves and their policies with truth and justice.
They hate Bush because Bush said not only America is massing global warming but also China, Russia, and India. As the biggest countries to produce pollution, they also need to obey the rule and regulations for us to live in a non-polluted environment. Because Bush did not let Russia take over Georgia and the Ukraine and because he did not let North Korea develop nuclear weapons, they hate him. They hate Bush because Bush does not let aggressors pursue dominance of the world. They hate Bush, ironically, because there was no attack on American soil, after 9/11. They hate Bush because he did not let terrorists easily do money laundering and use the U.S. as their training center. They hate Bush because Bush told Syria not to let the leader of Hamas stay in his country as a safe haven.
One of the truest signs of integrity is its blunt refusal to be compromised. Bush did not compromise his principles because it is a weak man, not the strong man, who is urged to compromise. The treatment of President Bush by the press and the left is the biggest national disgrace. The greatest threat to freedom is absence of criticism, not just of a scapegoat but criticism where it is deserved. It is interesting to see even when the Iraqi journalist threw the shoe at Bush’s face, he did not realize that Bush was the one who freed him from the tyrant and that he had the privilege to protest or to say his view, but still he failed to express his view in a civilized way. Those with strong will power and good sound character will not lose any of their virtuous essence even if they are made to suffer, are criticized, or all kinds of things are being said about them and forced to change their views and ways. Because Bush did not change his views as a result of some liberals’ opinion polls or views, he was criticized. It is the weak leader who without provocation changes his thoughts and ways everyday.
They hate Bush because actions speak louder than verbal criticisms. They hate Bush because, as we see the result of Bush’s policy, nearly 1.5 million people are receiving life saving antiretroviral medications, HIV infection from HIV positive mothers has been prevent millions infants, and 29 million children have been enrolled in schools some for the first time in their lives. They hate Bush because Bush is the one who first said that genocide was being committed in Darfur. They hate Bush because Bush told China and Russia not to veto the U.N.’s Darfur Resolution, and put sanctions on the Sudanese government. Many Bush haters tend to believe or produce a conviction about the essential goodness of its causes almost as if there were no consciousness of natural human imperfection. Many left-wing liberals believe that the world we live in is not perfect, and they are the one who knows how to make it perfect. They cannot hear about, read of, or see the Rwandan genocide or Darfur’s genocide and Bush’s. Those are not all the courses of action that Bush took. Those are evil men-made disasters, so clearly we do not live in a perfect world. Why can civilized dialogue not stop them from killing thousands of innocent men and women? If something goes wrong with the world, it is not because of a natural screw up; it has to be a plot, in their view. Therefore, Bush haters believe everything that happened was Bush made. When America elects their President, they do not elect angels; we are human beings, and we all have faults and make mistakes, but it is injust and unfair to say that every negative thing that happened in this world is Bush’s fault. When we elect a person to be our leader because he or she had demonstrated a capacity for leadership, when the individual tries to lead people somewhere that people do not want to go, then people elect someone less qualified to be their leader. I am not arguing that Bush did not make mistakes or have wrong policies; of course, he had. What I am arguing is that people tend to ignore that what he did was not easy because not many leaders wanted to tackle those issues. Besides, who elected Bush for two terms as their leader?
Aland Mizell is a regular KurdishMedia.com writer and is with the MCI and can be contacted at aland_mizell1@hotmail.com
- KurdishMedia.com - By Aland Mizell
- 29/01/2009 00:00:00