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Bush is a great man, says President Kufuor
E. Ablorh-Odjidja, Ghanadot
I am sure this statement is bound to unnerve some people around
the world. If it doesn’t, you will not be living in a period
called post-Iraq.
Like Kufuor, I am a believer that Bush is a great man. But was
there ever a question about his greatness or was it assumed that
he would never be considered great?
Questions about Bush’s greatness or lack thereof are valid and
must be answered. The momentous events that have shaped his
administration demand some answers. Not surprising, some
members of the world community have made up their mind about
Bush since Florida 2000. I make mine with the help of issues
that have impacted me most as an African.
To start with, I am very aware that decisions that Bush has
made, as leader of the world only super power, have impacted
many in big and diverse ways. That fact is incontrovertible.
The issue of Iraq belongs here. But if I were a Kurd or a
Shiite, I would have welcomed his decision for regime change in
Iraq.
I am also comfortable with the thought that history will judge
Bush on the basis of the decisions and actions he has taken. I
presume or hope that history will be kind to him.
Great men do make mistakes. It is the courage and justness with
which they make their decision that we must applaud. It will be
left for history to decide whether it is better to dither and
wait for people to die, like at Auschwitz or Rwanda, or fight to
save a few.
Often, the world has shown lack of courage in the face of
tyranny and genocide, but has been quick to explain its inaction
with “reasonableness.” Bush has the propensity for moving
forward with his decisions once made, at speed that some have
described as “foolishly stubborn.” His decision to go to war
with Iraq, his detractors say, is an example. So this
“rashness” has often been used by his detractors to contrast
their brand of “reasonableness” or failure or unwillingness to act.
President Kufuor made his paean to Bush while on a state visit
to the US. In a detailed address, he made it known that no world
leader, and especially an American president, has helped Africa
to the extent that Bush has.
President Kufuor’s assertion can be tested. He has seen
President Bush’s help for Africa up close and at first hand – as
president of Ghana and as one time chair of the AU and has been
impressed. Likewise, President Bush respect for Kufuor has
grown over the years to culminate in the invitation for a state
visit that is accorded very few leaders of the world.
For President Kufuor, the crown in Bush’s policy for Africa must
be the compact for the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) that
Ghana won in 2006. The MCA is a product of Bush's Millennium
Challenge Corporation (MCC) that was set up specifically to
award "development grants—not loans—in partnership with
countries willing to undertake political, economic, and social
policy reforms" and also to rule justly, according to Ambassador
John Danilovich CEO of MCC.
The MCA is a new twist to US foreign policy. Its creativeness
stands as one great testament of an American mind that seeks to
help shape development in a lesser privileged world. Africa
receives the largest portion of the grants. And Bush is the
initiator.
Another element of Bush successes in Africa is the time and
energy he has devoted to pursue a policy of fighting HIV/AIDS
globally through his PEPFAR project. It has drawn little praise,
but it is saving lives on a huge scale.
In April 2008, Bush’s effort for PEPFAR was further rewarded by
US Congress with the passage of $50 billion to support the
project worldwide. Of this amount $9 billion will go strictly
to fight malaria and tuberculosis, diseases that affect
predominantly HIV/AIDS patients in Africa.
The amount of money spent so far in combating HIV/AIDS and its
impact on Africa has been phenomenal and surpasses any that has
been promoted by previous US administrations. Considering that
there are no political gains for Bush here, we can only
acknowledge his motivation as selfless and claim it as an
extension of his often stated “compassionate conservatism”
doctrine.
This is not the best of times for America. Even at a time when
the US economy is suffering and Bush popularity with the
American public is at its lowest, he has managed to draw these
huge funds from Congress to fight HIV/AIDS.
But, his detractors would point out that whatever his victories
are elsewhere, they cannot compare with his “folly” of invading
Iraq. Unfortunately, among this crowd are the very same who
cry that nothing is being done for Darfur.
People are dying in Darfur and Bush doesn’t care, they claim.
He went to war in Iraq for oil and people died and are dying.
For some strange reason the motive of oil for Iraq is not
applied to Sudan. Sudan has oil. The Chinese are going for it
and people are dying, even more so than in Iraq.
Yet, no one has attacked Sudan from outside. Is it reasonable
to assume that the rest of the world is just content to watch
and to let this genocide in Darfur play itself out, just like it
did in Rwanda? In that case, the question should be, where is
that great leader of a great nation who can help to stamp out
the atrocities and tyrannies we see in Sudan and saw in Iraq?
The suspicion is that Bush would have done something firm about
Darfur. But courage has its limit. You cannot continue to be
battered by negative world opinion and persist to think forever
that you are right in doing what humanity wants.
Listen to Keith Olbermann, NBC Anchor, who on January 11, 2007,
said this about Bush: “Only this president could look out over a
vista of 3,008 dead and 22,834 wounded in Iraq, and finally say,
“Where mistakes have been made, the responsibility rests with
me” — only to follow that by proposing to repeat the identical
mistake ... in Iran.” Make it Sudan for Keith.
You want to ask Keith Olbermann, “How about the vista of the
dead in Darfur?” You want to know whether he was just counting
the dead or weighing principles.
Olbermann is not alone in thinking that it takes only
“reasonableness” to end atrocities. Unfortunately, it is such
thinking or inaction that creates more evil. History is replete
with examples - Rwanda, Darfur, Cambodia.
For now, Iraq will be a torn in Bush’s legacy. The world, as
represented in the UN Security Council, agreed that Saddam
Hussein was a bad actor on the global scene. What they didn’t
agree on was that it was time to go to war. The war was Bush’s
decision. Should things improve in Iraq, he wins.
But it is to be hoped that the test for Bush's greatness will
not be marred by a simple fact of victory in Iraq. Winning is
not the only issue. The ability to recognize the problem early
and the willingness to do something drastic about it is what
greatness is about. Of this Bush and Kufuor are in agreement.
E. Ablorh-Odjidja, Publisher
www.ghanadot.com,
Washington, DC,
September 20, 2008
Permission to publish: Please feel free to publish or
reproduce, with credits, unedited. If posted at a website,
email a copy of the web page to
publisher@ghanadot.com . Or
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