Sunday, June 14, 2009

An Alternative Perspective

Throughout the western world and perhaps beyond, George Walker Bush is widely regarded as the most incompetent President of the modern era. Swept into office on the back of a Supreme Court ruling, the legitimacy of Bush was always in question and scandal never seemed far behind him, from his failure to go to Vietnam to brushes with drink driving. Whilst President, Bush took America and many other countries to war in Afghanistan (2001-) and Iraq (2003-). There was little evidence and little reason to go to war in the first place and in 2009, there is equally little in terms of a concrete outcome. Likewise, it was on Bush's watch that the American economy began to nose-dive, taking much of the world with it. The problem with these generalizations is that they are so general that they ignore the personal story, the less well-known impact of what others might refer to as Bush Terror. In the United States, Kosovo is synonymous with violence and warfare. People tend to forget that despite the end of the bloodshed, a country is growing in prosper and confidence. And, amazingly, Dubya had a significant role in this rejuvenation. Whilst it was Clinton who got the concept of KFOR off the ground, it was during the second term of Bush that the mandate against Serbian intrusions was finally, sufficiently strengthened. In February 2008, Bush was one of the first international leaders to recognise the Kosovan parliament's declaration of independence. Since then, violence is down, wealth is up and uncharacteristically, George W. Bush had a significant part to play.

No comments: