In his State of the Union address last week, US President made a last-ditch attempt to salvage some of his reputation. Instead of achieving more victories for the United States on the international stage, Bush policies have proved disastrous not only in Iraq but in North Korea, Iran, Afghanistan, Sudan and Somalia.
Disappointing those who expected some radical changes in his policies, President Bush repeated his harangue on the war on terror. He blamed terrorists for all his failures in Iraq.
The State of the Union speech was apparently a clumsy attempt to cover up his failures. Bush appealed to the congressmen to give his new Iraqi plan their whole-hearted support. He also held to his theory of “pre-emptive war,” warning the Americans that Sept.11 attack was only one instance of what the terrorists are planning to do in future unless he destroyed them one and all.
While the president repeated his charges against Hezbollah, Syria and Iran as the troublemakers, he turned a blind eye to the villainous role played by Israel in worsening the situation in the Middle East. It is quite apparent that the Democrats are not pleased with Bush’s explanations in his annual speech.
Reacting to the speech, Sen. James Web said quite bluntly that Bush has burdened the country — the United States — with a war that his administration has been running in a disgraceful manner for the past four years.
Meanwhile, Americans are staging protest marches in the US streets demanding the army pull out from Iraq.
According to an international opinion poll released shortly before the delivery of the State of the Union speech, the image of the US has been badly damaged worldwide largely due to Bush White House’s wrong policies on international issues. The BBC and Associated Press made the study in 18 countries over a three-month period.
While 37 percent of the participants condemned Bush’s way of conducting the Iraq war, 49 percent believed that Washington’s policies only created more problems.
About 81 percent in the United Kingdom did not approve the US policies in Iraq while 57 percent of the US participants opposed most of Bush’s policies.
Interestingly 68 percent of them believed that the presence of the US forces in the Middle East has exacerbated tensions rather than helping find solutions to the region’s problems. The study also revealed that 66 percent of the US public believed that the country has been following wrong policies on several international issues.
It is quite clear that Bush’s current policies are unacceptable to the majority of the people not only in the US but the world at large.
As it is quite evident that the US public does not trust the present administration, it should step down before it throws more regions to bloody wars with its wrong perceptions and misguided policies.
One wonders if the present administration led by Bush and his Vice President Dick Cheney has the moral courage and political will to own up their failure and offer their resignations. Is it not what the true democratic spirit calls for?
