Bye Bye George!

During a recent chat with a reporter,a well-respected Arab head of state was asked what he thought of Barack Obamabecoming US president. "I don't think that's as important as George Bush leavingoffice," he answered. "The man would never listen. He would call meetings andwould never listen," he added, the right modicum of disgust in his voice. Thisis probably one of the most charitable assessments of the eight years of Bushpresidency on the Arab street, which has faced the brunt of the US foreignpolicy adventures. In the months and weeks preceding the Iraqinvasion, the cereal box United Nations headquarters was constantly buzzing withone phrase: Weapons of mass destruction. Almost anyone who had heard theSecurity Council debates or had a chat with Hans Blix, the Swedish diplomat whoas chief UN weapons inspector headed the hunt for Saddam Hussein's hiddenarsenal, was convinced that it didn't exist in the form Bush & Co. insisted.Blix had photographs, data, interviews. But that failed to sway Bush, then vicepresident Dick Cheney and his defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld. That was thesingular folly that went on to change how the world looked at America and howAmerica responded to those glares.Bush isn't the first Americanpresident to put national security above everything else. But the belligerencewith which his administration did it pockmarked the world. True, Osama bin Ladenhad shown that short of an all-out response, nothing would stop him fromspreading further mayhem. Hence, US troops wading into Afghanistan to crush theTaliban were welcomed. That was an opportunity and could have provided a roadmapto containing terrorism. But Bush clearly squandered that with his Iraqadventure, something that he has now admitted was done based on "theintelligence failure in Iraq"."President Bush and his warlieutenants who have directly or indirectly executed the invasion of Iraq havemisled the American people, committed men and money to an illegal war, resultingin more than 4,000 deaths and unnecessarily put tens of thousands of Americansin harm's way," said Ayman El-Amir in a recent appraisal of the Bush years forthe respected Egyptian weekly Al-Ahram. And the monetary cost: More than $2trillion, according to Nobel prize-winning economist JosephStiglitz. While his war on terror actually failed to prevent a spurtin attacks across the globe, the sharpened rhetoric led to a civilizationalchasm of sorts, widening the gulf between how world perceived America and howthe Bush team viewed themselves and the world through the neo-conservativeprism. Asian allies were embarrassed and traditional friends in Europe werealienated. While Iraq will count as the emblematic failure, Bush'sdamage trail extends also into the economic and environmental arena. The impactof the go-by given to regulation by his team has left the US economy in tattersand sent several healthier ones across the world into a recessionary tailspin.And as the moghuls of US high-finance go scot-free, US tax-payers are left tofund huge bail-outs. On the environment, again as Stiglitz puts itin a recent article on Bush's seven deadly sins, Dubya tried to persuadeAmericans that global warming was fiction. "For eight years we did nothing,"Stiglitz said. But through all this, India has little to complainabout. Since Leonid Brezhnev's bear hug days, India has never benefited so muchfrom a superpower embrace. His foreign office took a few years to de-hyphenateIndia-Pakistan, but once that happened, Manmohan Singh was singled out forspecial treatment by Washington. The nuclear deal became a personal agenda forBush as his political and diplomatic commandos pushed it through the Hill,Brussels and Vienna. While that has opened India to a new world of technologyand promise of more sustainable electricity, Washington's acknowledgement ofIndia's regional role has helped our dealings at both bilateral andmulti-lateral forums. Even as his ratings plummeted to record lows at home,Bush was being toasted in India as a true friend. It's safe for him to considerit a retirement home. -President Bush's best legacy may be for Asia - the signing of the nuclear dealwith India, recasting of relations with China, an enhanced partnership withASEAN - even though the North Korea problem isunresolved- Bush backers point to the fact that there have been no major terrorist attackson US soil since 2001, and he should get some credit for that. However, there isno escaping that 9/11 happened on Bush'swatch - Spent billionsin Africa on AIDS treatment and prevention programs, plus a major malariaabatement initiative, saving an estimated 10 millionlives -Policy of using pre-emptive war all over the globe if necessary to stoppotential enemies bitterly divided Americans and isolated America from Europeand much of the world -Never caught Osama but set off the Iraq war. Cost: Over 4,000 US lives, tens ofthousands of Iraqi lives and over $2 trillion - His administrationwas unprepared for the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina that hit New Orleans inAugust 2005, killing - Critics point to his government's financial mismanagement,turning a $170 billion surplus into a record $600 billion deficit. They arguethat the laissez-faire approach to economic management and the failure toregulate the over-heated sub-prime market facilitated the crumbling of WallStreet in 2008 - TheBush-Cheney legacy destroyed GOP's congressional majority. The Republican partyalso lost over 3 lakh voters thisyearYou helped our nation celebrate its bicentennial in 17...1976 - to Queen Elizabeth, May 7, 2007 As John Howard accuratelynoted when he went to thank the Austrian troops there last year... - Referringto Australian troops as "Austrian troops," Sept 7, 2007I'll be longgone before some smart person ever figures out what happened inside this OvalOffice - May 12, 2008Your eminence, you're looking good - To PopeBenedict XVI, using the title for Catholic cardinals, rather than addressing himas "your holiness," June 13, 2008And they have no disregard forhuman life -On the brutality of Afghan fighters, July 15, 2008Ididn't grow up in the ocean - as a matter of fact - near the ocean- I grew up inthe desert. Therefore, it was a pleasant contrast to see the ocean. And Iparticularly like it when I'm fishing - Sept 26, 2008This thaw -took a while to thaw, it's going to take a while to unthaw - On liquidity in themarkets, Oct. 20, 2008I've abandoned free market principles to save thefree market system - Dec. 16, 2008