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The End of the Road for George W. Bush
The Gilbert and Sullivan charade of statesmanship played out by George W. Bush and his enabler, Condoleezza Rice, as they wander the Middle East is a fitting end to seven years of misrule. Despots stripped of power are transformed from monsters into buffoons. And this is the metamorphosis that is eating away at the Bush presidency.
Bush stood in Jerusalem, uncomfortable and palpably bored. He mouthed platitudes about a peace settlement that mocked the humanitarian crisis he aided and abetted in Gaza, the rapacious land grab by Israel in the West Bank and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The diminished George Bush, increasingly irrelevant at home and abroad, is fading into insignificance. A year from now one half expects to see him stand up at the next president's inauguration and screech "I'm melting! I'm melting!" as he sinks into a puddle of slime. He will return, I expect, to his ranch, where he will be able to spend the rest of his life doing the only task for which he has shown any aptitude-cutting down brush with a chain saw.
He may yet rise again to torment us with an attack on Iran, condemning more innocents to slaughter. He and his cigar-smoking soul mate Ehud Olmert would like to go out with one more flash of mayhem and violence. But even this will not ultimately save him. Bush will soon be reduced to the cipher he once was, left to spend the rest of his life trying to salvage a legacy of shame and deceit. In a just world he would be put on trial, if not by the International Criminal Court of Justice then by the U.S. Congress. He would be forced to face up to his lies and wars of aggression. But the moral rot that infects the nation has seeped into the bowels of the legislative as well as the executive branch.
World leaders, including those whom Bush desperately wants to intimidate, now dismiss him. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said a few days ago that relations with the United States are of "no benefit to the Iranian nation. The day such relations are of benefit, I will be the first one to approve of that."
Bush will have flown from Israel to Palestine to Kuwait to Bahrain to the United Arab Emirates to Saudi Arabia to Egypt in search of a legacy, one that he hopes will lift up his name in history. But, isolated and deluded, he has yet to grasp that he and the United States are reviled and detested for our violence, arrogance and greed. The bands played on the tarmac. He was toasted at state dinners. But even our allies, including Kuwait and Egypt, know Bush is a danger to himself and others.
He publicly displayed his inability to connect rhetoric with reality. He promised peace and cooperation, a new era, a Palestinian homeland. He promised solutions that will arise from negotiations that do not exist. Negotiations, in his eyes, are always about to begin. They were about to begin a year ago. They were about to begin with Annapolis. They are about to begin now. The messy issues between the Israelis and Palestinians that he and his administration have never attempted to address-the borders, the expanding Jewish settlements and outposts, the plight of Palestinian refugees and Jerusalem-will all be seamlessly solved ... one day. But the brutal reality of the Israeli occupation barrels forward. The Jewish settlements and outposts continue to be expanded. The crisis in Gaza, with the cuts in fuel and electricity, the deadly army incursions and airstrikes, has turned the world's largest walled prison into a swamp of human misery. And huge new settlements, like Har Homa, continue to rise up on Palestinian soil.
When Bush met with the Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah he blithely defended the patchwork of Israeli roadblocks that have turned the West Bank into a series of ringed Palestinian ghettos. The roadblocks, he told Abbas, are necessary for Israeli security. He announced that the 1949 Green Line, the borders established by the United Nations, would never be restored. There would be no discussion, he said, of the status of Jerusalem. And the plight of Palestinian refugees would be solved by setting up an international fund, meaning, of course, that none would ever return. In short, he offered an unequivocal endorsement of right-wing Israeli policy with not a murmur of dissent. And the Palestinians can either have it rammed down their throat or rot. Bush will be back, he has promised, in May to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Jewish state. Olmert, no doubt, will again be fulsome in his praise, which is probably what Bush's trip to the Middle East is, at its core, really about. Bush desperately wants someone to pretend with him that he is an agent for peace and statesmanship. Olmert, who knows the callow American leader will give him everything he desires, is happy to oblige.
But as Bush basks in the glow of his own fantasy, the suffering in Gaza, one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters, along with the savage occupation of Iraq, continues to fuel widespread anger and rage. Bush has spent his time in office bolstering the Middle East's most despotic regimes, including that of Gen. Hosni Mubarak in Egypt. He approved a $20-billion arms package for these states. He has backed efforts to crush mainstream Islamic groups that have electoral legitimacy and popular support. He has stood by as these regimes have stifled democratic dissent, and he has, with Israeli encouragement, isolated governments, even friendly governments, in the Middle East that raised feeble protests. But his day is past. There is open revolt. Opinion polls show that two-thirds of Palestinians, and three-fourths of Israelis, do not believe Bush can affect events in the Palestinian territories.
The agenda of the Bush White House is exposed as irrelevant, myopic and counterproductive. Most Arab countries are in open defiance of Washington and are actively reaching out to Iran.
"As long as they [Iran] have no nuclear program ... why should we isolate Iran? Why punish Iran now?" Arab League Secretary-General Abu Moussa told The Washington Post.
The chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, is in Iran for talks. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad attended December's Gulf Cooperation Council summit. The Iranian president attended the just-completed hajj in Mecca at the invitation of the Saudi monarch, King Abdullah. Tehran is exploring the resumption of diplomatic ties with Egypt, cut since the 1979 revolution, and has offered to cooperate with Cairo in the production of nuclear energy. And the Syrian and Lebanese governments have ignored Washington's warnings to sever ties with Hezbollah and Hamas.
It is the end of the road for George Bush. The world takes less and less notice of him. He strutted and swaggered across the stage. He bellowed and raged. He plundered and murdered. And now he wants to be anointed as a peacemaker. His presidency, like his life, has been a tragic waste. But he at least he has a life. There are tens of thousands of mute graves in Gaza, Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan that stand as stark testaments to his true legacy. If he wants to redeem his time in office he should kneel before one and ask for forgiveness.
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187 Comments so far
Show AllBush will be gone, sit'in on his new porch liv'in on his new 100,000 acre ranch in Northern Paraguay....nice and close to the rich oil fields in Bolivia........GWB South Amuric'n style!
While I, too, absolutely agree w/ nearly every word that Hedges writes here, or has written, I think the correspondents above that point out that Bush's legacy is irrelevant is on point; as they say, the forces that own him, this nation, and much of the world have not been harmed by his behavior, or they would have removed him long ago and blamed it on Islamic terrorists. He wasn't even worth the effort.
For more on Hedges and his work:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Hedges#Books
Bush is just the current brand name.
We need to keep progressing toward legitimate governments, fair markets, and healthy environments.
53 weeks...
Vern,
Good point. Make sure you watch the flatware and dishes. These people are known for taking things they do not own when they (finally)leave the house.
NateW writes:
"It would not be surprising if the following occurs: upon leaving office, Dubya is indicted by the International Tribunal in The Hague. The US refuses to extradite him; not because of his guilt or innocence, but to prevent a precedent from being established. Dubya then spends the rest of his days as a despised ex-president unable to leave his own country for fear of being hauled off."
Are you aware that the Bush family has purchased almost 100,000 acres in Paraguay? A few short miles from the US Mariscal Estigarribia Military Base? My understanding is that Paraguay doesn't have an extradition agreement with the United States.
Could be for the investment I suppose (gas reserves and a huge fresh aquifer nearby) but.....
I suspect that this set of visits in the Middle East is less about Palestine and Israel, and more about getting ducks in a row regarding Iran. The 'peace initiative' stuff is just a cover. One clue for me is the firm words from Bush about how Israel is supposed to behave.
Unfortunately, our Minister of Foreign Affairs (Canada) is currently making the same visits. I hope (without that much hope) that he isn't involved in this masquerade.
"There are tens of thousands of mute graves in Gaza, Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan that stand as stark testaments to his true legacy."
Who can argue that the above quote from Mr. Hedges is not precise and accurate. Without doubt, Bush and his henchmen and henchwomen should spend the remaining years of their lives behind bars. However this is unlikely to happen and they will be transformed into statesmen and stateswomen by FOX, CNN, CBS, NBC, and ABC, New York Times etc., and then rub shoulders with the likes of Tim Russert, Wolf Blitzer (admitted victim of group think), Bill O'Really?, Ann Coulter , Wild Bill Kristol etc? That is what happens when democracy is whittled away in a coup d'etat in slow motion.
372 days to W's eviction!
I'm sorry, that delay is unacceptable.
The best thing Bush could do as a lasting legacy, and to atone for the shame he has wrought upon his family, his country and the world is to swallow the muzzle of a shotgun.
Bush is just the driver. Long after he is gone the empire will go rolling along and he will be able to watch WW3 on CNN in Crawford.
Hoa binh
What Galen said...
This is not "the end of the road" by any means. bush supporters would like to think that the cowboy rides off into the sunset and they can roll credits. I don't think that will happen. I think that justice will be served and bush will face a subpoena as soon as he leaves office. Once tried for his crimes, the next stage is a long prison sentence. The "end of the road" is a jail cell.
While I agree with everything Chris Hedges writes, I wouldn't be too sure that his successor would be any different. Obama and Hillary have supported these aggressions from day one while paying lip service to Jewish voters with their continued unconditional support for Israeli policies.
Whoever is elected president, should begin their four year term by apologizing to every country we have either invaded directly (Iraq, Afghanistan) or indirectly (supporting terrorist groups to over throw their government i.e. Venezuela, Guatemala, etc.) and pledge to close all U.S. bases world wide.
As much as I despise the policies of George Bush, our government's reckless actions abroad have been going on for several decades now.
It would not be surprising if the following occurs: upon leaving office, Dubya is indicted by the International Tribunal in The Hague. The US refuses to extradite him; not because of his guilt or innocence, but to prevent a precedent from being established. Dubya then spends the rest of his days as a despised ex-president unable to leave his own country for fear of being hauled off.
I hope that the Hague is at the end of GWBush's, along with a jail cell complete with water features
NateW - I don't think he'd ever been out of the US before being elected, so that's no biggie...
Remember my friends, when human systems of justice fail, the law of karma remains intact and inviolate.
Although I can't say I am highly evolved enough to do it, I sometimes wonder what would happen if all those who have been moved by Bush's assault against people, justice, ecology and things that matter sent him intense LOVE. Would it shatter him the way exposure to the open Covenant burned the nazis in the famous Speilberg depiction a la Indiana Jones/Raiders of the Lost Arc?
One final thought (today being stream of consciousness for me), following the manner by which children emerge from an absolutely dysfunctional household to still commit to and succeed in doing good works in the world, perhaps the rebellion of nations (particularly in South America) to America's policies and powerbrokers is the mark that Bush, as abusive parent, has managed to catalyze something good by default! Out of the blood bath/quagmire of his presidency, the world turns away to focus on what's good for each nation, rather than America's false and now pathetic claim to "it all."
So many horrible choices can be made at Bush's direct or indirect instigation before he leaves office. While he's looking for a legacy - I'm afraid where he'll look if it isn't peace. Perhaps more war - that seems to be much more easily accomplished.
Sentencing for war crimes: Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, and their NeoCon "braintrust," i.e., Perle, Wolfowitz, et.al., you will be parachuted into Al-Anbar province with nothing but a canteen of water and an Arabic dictionary so you can beg for mercy in the appropriate language.
Best wishes,
The World's Conscience.
The lesson of the so-called "War on Terror" is that the #1 terrorist on this planet over the past six years, has been GWB, albeit at the mercy of his handlers and con men. What we need to drive home to the U.S. population is that the biggest terrorist state, unfortnuately, is the USA. And this has been going on well before 9/11/01, it goes back at least 50 years, if not beginning right after WWII.
Great article, Chris. And why don't you provide the link to the article that you couldn't get published for some time. Link to every article you post and I'm looking forward to reading your book.
Suppose he should declare a National emergency and inact his Presidential powers, would he be gone? That scenerio is not off of the table either.
alexnosal and RichM are the only two users so far in this discussion that beating around the Bush just isn't going to work. We beat around the Reagan back in the 1980s and look where it got us. If one were to actually understand the real lessons from Orwell's 1984, it's that you can't just get rid of a leader and replace him/her with a better one overnight. 99+ % of the time, it's the system that needs complete reform. When the Progressives, Liberals, and Civil Libertarians get that through their skulls will there be any true hope of real justice. Until then, this country is at the point of no return and it'll stay as a lose-lose scenario.
KEM: Wanna bet that either Cheney will have Bush given a 'JFK limo ride' or another 'undisputed' Tonkin Gulf incident with Iran to kick off the planned bombing?
Why would anyone want to be President after Bush? They have to spend the next four years cleaning up his mess. You are supposed to give a child dry-erase markers, not permanent ink ones!
claudius, I think it'll be much longer than four years. This mess will take a generation to clean up, if at all. The worst seems yet to come, (sorry for the pessimism, trying to be realistic).
My question is--will the hatred of Bush spill over after he is out into any public appearance he makes?
Nixon didnt have this kind of dislike.
Blackwater security has a client for the rest of his life.
Isnt it great that the only country warped enough to like Bush is Israel?
What a country.
rebelnow,
I agree that it will take a generation or longer. I was just considering the premise that the next person only will serve one term. But you are right that this mess will last much longer than four years, if it can be cleaned up at all.
Bush won! Just wait until you see the library and statues you will build in his honor with your tax money. There must be a way to keep this great man in office. The country needs him.
When George Wanker Bush leaves office (if he leaves office) he will spend the time when he is not bass fishing, cutting down brush or playing golf, on his knees, beseeching the brutal, street brawling, frat brat punk god he believes in for a cushy spot on the other side once Armageddon takes place. Bush thinks the end of the world is at hand. He will die an old man with that end never having taken place. As he is down to the last few breaths of his wanton and criminal life, this will not dismay him. People will be whispering in his ear what a great man he was. Then the last breath will pass from his body and he will begin the unfathomable, fantastic and mind-blowing ride into Accountability. He will be wondering if someone gave him a few magic mushrooms just before he checked out. Instead of the Norman Rockwell painting he expected life on the other side to be, he will be both immensely frightened and bewildered, like Jodi Foster on her way to Vega in "Contact". Then he will find himself on a road in the desert, swearing at his beat up car that has just broken down, leaving him stranded in the famous middle of nowhere. Suddenly a man will appear, looking very much like Javier Bardem in "No Country For Old Men", carrying a large, silver, cylindrical tank with a hose coming out of the top. George Wanker Bush will scream at this man, "Don't you know who I am? Nobody but nobody treats me like this!" The man will put the tip of the hose to Bush's forehead and ZAP! This process will then repeat itself into infinity, with each encounter more terrifying than the previous one. Goodbye, you piece of human trash!
It will not be the end of the road for Bush until we have miraculously made it through the elections, without a war halting them or the R's stealing it. Only then will I be prepared to think the Bush legacy is over. Unless we grow some balls and impeach the son of loser, as well as his partners in crime, we have no assurance of anything other than misdoings on our behalf. And we will deserve everything that is done in our name because DIDN'T throw his ass in jail.
And take the Clinton contigent with you.
Will they ever leave? Such poor house guests never know when they've worn out the welcome.
Well said, RichM. The moral rot part in the article got to me. And while GE/NBC banned Kucinich as the antiwar candidate, AARP banned him as the single payer health care candidate.
Unfortunately I can't agree with your last sentence. Those of us paying attention already knew how this country operates. The vast majority still isn't paying attention. They've noticed their wallets are looking empty, and they assume a regime change will take care of that. If it doesn't they'll try another regime change. In the last 7 years, 4 elections have been stolen, and the public is still asleep about that. By now, I'm thinking they are incapable of paying attention.
kathyodat
~Kelmer~ Isreal only likes Isreal. They like our money, our brain dead and supporting Evangilical Christians and the weapons our government supplies them with, __ nukes included of course. They don't really like us, they use us and actually just suck up to us, like a sugar daddy.
Mentioning nukes, how in hell did Isreal ever get them? What on Earth have WE The People, __"WTP"__ allowed over the passing years and where were our demanding voices? Oh yeah, almost forgot, only 35 to 40% or so of "WTP", ever bother to vote.
I think we are overlooking a major issue here. What makes anyone believe that Bush is riding off into the sunset? Cheney didn't spend the last thirty years designing a fascist state so that he and his cronies could quietly retire with all those ill begotten big bucks.
One of my biggest fears is that Galen is right and we get Cheney wheelding those executive emergency powers.
Our country is broken. The only way to stop this mess is through impeachment, starting with Cheney. The cancer that has grown in this country for at least the past 50 years must be diagnosed and cut out to save the patient. Impeachment is the only peaceful way to accomplish that. Without it a bloody revolution is inevitable and very diffecult in an already mobilized police state.
"And that's all I have to say about that....." Forrest Gump
P.S. One more thing, the CIA and the Dept. of Homeland Security MUST be abondoned. NOW!!!
Rich M, you are right, lots of us (and not just in the US but around the world too) have opened our eyes to reality, so we should be grateful.
I hope to see him stand trial for war crimes, convicted, and executed. Anything less is a mockery of justice.
Tom: I believe that most civilized nations do not have capital punishment. You may have to settle for life in solitary confinement. Will that meet with your satisfaction?
That story about Bush purchasing that land in Paraguary is a myth.
Bush and White House personnel have said it is not true. So there ya go, __ it's a myth.
Daveg, as I recall, Bush visited China when his father was stationed there. He spent his time trying to pick up Chinese girls, so the story goes.
Well if the believe-the-opposite-of-whatever-comes-out-of-their-mouths-administration says they didn't buy land in Paraguay then...
Is Bush looking for a place of exile?
I read that people have brought the heart of a dead rat back to life so I guess Cheney will be immortal.
Rebel Farmer, no civilized nations have capitol punishment. We don't qualify considering that we still execute minors and engage in torture.
kathyodat.
Margaret, you read my mind.
kathyodat
"Despots stripped of power are transformed from monsters into buffoons"
Not really. Duvalier and Amin spent their lives in luxury exile. Reagan, Kissinger, Nixon, Pinochet, Hitler and Franco are heroes of the oligarchy who spend their lives basking in the adoration of the ruling class and its poorer conservative stooges.
With the possible exception of Mao, it seems only left wing despots like Stalin, Pol Pot and Caescescu are universally reviled today.
But anyone who favors the people over the oligarchy, like Kucinich, Gravel, Nader here in and in other countries like Castro, Chavez and Morales, stands to be ridiculed and victimized by the propaganda organs of the ruling class, and often murdered.
George here, or George gone, it's important to keep our eye on the ball. If we get to have an election, which candidate will:
Reject the Imperial Presidency with Action.
Reject the WOT as the same neo-con as the War on Drugs.
Repeal the Terror Laws going back to Clinton.
Repeal Nafta/Cafta – Exit the WTO/IMF/World Bank.
Restore Roosevelt Legacy levels of Taxation, Corp Regulation, & Support for Unions.
Restore Domestic Mfg.
Close 800 military bases around the globe?
With or without him, we are in the belly of a psychotic genocidal global Empire that will perpetrate ANY abomination for their Class, for their Wealth, and for their 'Private Law' over us. The MOnster Georgie was never anything more than a symptom and a fulfillment. When the Sadist goes away, the Masochist is lost and searches wildly for another Dom. Which one will you hand the whip? Assume the position.
Pieces of 8.
I am with Rebel Farmer and leobixby. The "elections" have become nothing more than a useful distraction from the concentration of power in the corporatocracy. War is great for business, and our rulers have been fomenting world conflict since at least WW II. With 9/11 they finally figured out how to sell it in the most effective way to maximize power and profit. "TOTAL KREIG", as the Nazis used to say.
I think the most revolutionary response is to love like there's no tomorrow, because there might not be...individually or collectively. Armed revolutions only continue the cycle. But if they come after me or my loved ones I can't see me going down quietly either.
I wouldn't send him to a "civilized" country for trial Rebel. I'd have his ass tried in Texas.
Surely you folks don't believe that all the conservatuives and moderates are bad and all leftists and liberals are good.
Surely you don't believe that everything GWB and the Neocons did was bad? Well........OK, I can't think of anything either.
But there are a lot of very good people on both sides and some very bad ones too. We need to get all the good folks on one side and let the rest of the small minority of extremists fade away.