Bush Administration Policies
Just like any other public figure, the 43rd president of the United States of America is no exception to public scrutiny with all kinds of critics hitting from every other end. This has been so because of the transparency that there is and also people know their democratic rights of expression. With this in mind, coupled with the zeal of the Americans and the people in the world over to get the truth there has always been public interest on anything that touches on the lives and livelihood of the people. One fact that cannot be overlooked is that any decision made in a state as powerful as the United States of America goes to a larger extent of affecting a greater number of states. This might either happen directly or indirectly to the countries in question, and the effect may either be felt instantly or in the long run. Putting all this in mind, we take a look at how some of the policies adapted and used by the former president of the United States of America, George Bush. Most of these may be considered as misguided policies that had an undesirable implication on the reputation of former president Bush and tainted the image of the United States of America to the rest of the world
A number of factors with regards to the bush administration and how he handled some issues have lead to the question marks that have been raised concerning his administration. Such include his way of handling critical matters in a hands- off manner, lack of concern for the ordinary citizen who shoulders the burden of paying taxes to the government, questionable government accountability, misguided domestic policies, foreign policies administered with an iron fist and were considered as bullying by many nations, negligence when it came to matters appertaining healthcare. However, there still might be a good number of Americans who might argue that George Bush’s policies were relevant and went a good way towards improving the stature of the United States of America in the world. This, they argue was achieved through the reinforcement of the United Stated Military by the recruitment of more youth in the army and also by channeling record amounts of funds into upgrading the country’s artillery thus, making it a nation well prepared to defend its territories.
Further still, they argue that former president Bush’s heavy investment in the war on terrorism paid off as the terrorists as we know them could not come into America as they pleased and neither could they perform their operations in America as they know they could be easily traced, captured and brought to justice even before they were successful with their operations. There was also the aspect of investment as directed by the then president Bush into research. To some people, this sounds like a worthy cause. However, the truth is that investment of such funds that was channeled towards more of research aimed at the production of state of the art war machines such as the stealth bomber that is known to be a one of a kind war plane capable of evasion of detection by radar. Further still, more other funds were aimed at other purposes that are not as relevant as compared to investing science and technology, the former presidents ‘aides and those people who loved milling around the former president and his cronies.
The above sets of reasons identified by the people in support of the Bush administration cannot hold water as they are and are not as convincing too many people then and now. In contrast, the reasons explained in detail below may go a long way towards indicating that the former United States of America, George Bush’s administration policies ought to have been given a second thought by the electorate in the United States of America.
President Bush’s government accountability was all but questionable. This is evident when we put in mind the contracts taken up by Halliburton, the scandal involving Abramoff, data mining and the NSA wiretaps, the outing of V. Palme, the CIA agent, the abuse of prisons both at Guantanamo Bay and at Abu Graib,the secret prisons associated with the United States government and established in Eastern Europe, the fact that a defense spending oversight authority was not established during his tenure, the inaction of Homeland Security and monetary abuses, manipulation of intelligence to become “faulty” resulting in the occurrence of war, the 2000 Florida vote fix,townhall meetings that were staged having hand- picked dupes and last but not least, the running of propaganda advertisements both in the United States and abroad. Clearly, with such information at hand, it is really hard to pass the verdict that president Bush’s administration was accountable as there are numerous questions still lingering and left unanswered up till now.
There is also an issue with the domestic policies with former president Bush’s administration. This was seen by the making of FEMA as a part of Homeland Security followed by the appointment of an ally to run the organization. It can also be remembered that there was an attempt by the former president to appoint an unqualified and a long- time ally into the Supreme Court only to have his own party to force him to withdraw her name. There is also the incident of Terry Schiavo and the fiasco that involved “The Culture of Life” which served to highlight the hypocrisy of his government.
When it came to foreign policy, former president Bush’s administration sent out a wrong message to the world. His foreign policy techniques were often perceived as a form of bullying that often required a lot of explaining and apologies from the United States government. Out of these failed foreign policy missions, those countries that were frequently brushing shoulders with the United States such as Iran, N. Korea, Russia, China and any country that hated the US had their reason for doing so validated by many a nation in the world. From this failed foreign policy mission, it was the American people who felt the loss as their credibility to the world was put into question. There were also other people and causes that felt the pinch of the misguided policies. These include the African countries that depended on aid from the US government and was then ignored and science and AIDS researchers that are to be given due attention by the government. With all these factors considered, it is fair to say that the administration was not doing a good job at all as its foreign policy missions were based on fear, ignorance and disrespect for the rest of the world.
Another key aspect that the Bush administration is linked to is the war on terrorism. Much of the United States’ taxpayers’ money ranging in billions of dollars has so far been spent on the unending war against terrorism. Much to the pain of most Americans, there has been rumors that the terrorism that was being fought by the Bush administration was actually self- made for the political gains of a number of the elite politicians who had the issue of terrorism in mind so as to swing the votes of the Americans in their favor. It has been known that the key beneficiaries of the war against terrorism were the same politicians who instigated it and are known defense contractors.
It is speculated that from the war against terrorism, former vice president Dick Cheney, through Halliburton, raked in a whopping $36,086,635. It is also known that the minimum amount of accounting irregularity that occurred while Cheney was at the helm of the company was not less than $100,000,000. With all this in mind, we still ask ourselves, do the people in the Bush administration ever know how much money they cost the taxpayers? And if that is not pressing enough, do they realize how much they tainted the image of the United States of America? Hardest of all the questions to ask them is, do they ever recognize how many lives were lost both in the battlefields and at home and the pain it caused to the affected families, friends and the American public at large?
Given all the above mentioned facts, it is clear to say that former president Bush’s administration policies were way below par as they have left a gaping hole both in the economy and in the lives of Americans. All these just attributed to the personal gains of a specific elite group.
