Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Bush exeunte--at last

Tenderfoot that I am, I simply cannot watch the last farewells of George W. Bush. Fortunately, my friend at Gay Species (gayspecies.blogspot.com) is made of stronger stuff. Here are his astute comments:


"George W. Bush gave a final exit news conference in the midst of disbelief. G.W.B. admits to some mistakes, refused to talk about pardons, cautioned the Republican Party to be inclusive and wondered aloud what it would feel like to make coffee for his wife, Laura, at their ranch in Crawford, TX. His observations -- if one can call them that -- or his reminiscences -- if one admits a huge capacity for self-deception and imagination -- were breathtaking for their contempt of people's intelligence and his own oblivion of the facts.

"For every one of his major failures (time did not permit the minor ones) -- including some of the potential 269 crimes, not the least his admission to committing war crimes --he retorted that, “all these debates will matter not if there is another attack on the homeland.” A one-issue president, who gets the one issue wrong, too. Seven days until redemption, or at least, relief cannot come fast enough."


Absolutely. One of the recent revelations is that Bush signed off personally on torture. Should he not be tried as a war criminal? It seems that Obama, in his quest for "consensus" (with war criminals?), will not hear of it.

It is time to revive the Bertrand Russell Commission that operated during the Vietnam War. Bush can be tried before an international tribunal. Of course the US will not surrender the culprit, but perhaps he could be obstructed, as was General Augusto Pinochet, his fellow war criminal, from traveling abroad. At home, house arrest would be best--possibly in the company of his fellow swindler Bernard Madoff. Bush "made off" with the United States.

A case can be made for GWB as the Manchurian Candidate. Could any avowed enemy of the US have accomplished even half as much to devastate our country? And in this light, will an an invitation to set up shop in Bin Laden's hideout be long in coming? They are two peas in a pod. And I am told that there is some similarity between the landscape of NW Pakistan and Texas.

Many will console themelves by saying that Bush's greatest accomplishment is to devastate the Republican Party. Yes, that is something. However, we do still have a two-party system, and the Republicans recovered from Richard Nixon--after a fashion. Can there be recovery from George W. Bush? That seems doubtful. Only a Tacitus could fully record the immense desert of his crimes and stupidities.

1 Comments:

Blogger Stephen said...

I think that Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Gonzales, and Yoo (for starters) should be tried for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Didn't the US establish the precedent after WWII? Obama can (and will) refuse to extradite them. They could be arrested elsewhere, but you think that Bush wants to travel outside the US? I don't.

4:57 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home