An Honest Moment?
After touring a genocide memorial in Kigali, Rwanda this week, President Bush said,
Take a moment is snigger at his awkward turn of phrase, but then take a closer look at the substance of his statement. He likely is just saying something he thinks people say after visiting a memorial to genocide. If only it were truly a moment of reflection brought on by an authentic engagement with awfulness of the suffering in Rwanda (and elsewhere). Although Bush boasts about not be reflective or introspective, there were moments in his Africa visit this week when he seemed genuinely moved by the conditions of those in desperate need. So let us hope that his accidental moment marks the first steps toward acknowledging some culpability for the ongoing suffering of Iraqis. But even if President Bush is unable to recognize how "unbelievably counterproductive" his foreign policy is, we can hope that Americans will take Bush's insight to heart in future foreign policy adventures from Iraq and Iran to Cuba and Columbia.
"A clear lesson I learned in the museum was that outside forces that tend to divide people up inside their country are unbelievably counterproductive."
Take a moment is snigger at his awkward turn of phrase, but then take a closer look at the substance of his statement. He likely is just saying something he thinks people say after visiting a memorial to genocide. If only it were truly a moment of reflection brought on by an authentic engagement with awfulness of the suffering in Rwanda (and elsewhere). Although Bush boasts about not be reflective or introspective, there were moments in his Africa visit this week when he seemed genuinely moved by the conditions of those in desperate need. So let us hope that his accidental moment marks the first steps toward acknowledging some culpability for the ongoing suffering of Iraqis. But even if President Bush is unable to recognize how "unbelievably counterproductive" his foreign policy is, we can hope that Americans will take Bush's insight to heart in future foreign policy adventures from Iraq and Iran to Cuba and Columbia.
posted by Richard Stanislaw at
2:04 PM
4 Comments:
I find that comment to be ironic as well.
But at least the good news of Bush's Africa visit is that it highlighted for us that Bush has tripled the United States’ development and humanitarian aid to Africa from the $1.4 billion in 2001 to more than $4 billion a year and He has pledged to double that amount by 2010 — to nearly $9 billion.
As frustrated as I’ve been with Bush on so many fronts, I am very excited about his commitment against AIDS and Malaria in Africa!
Bob Geldolf's article in TIME is very interesting.
You might enjoy this....
http://www.citizensugar.com/1109830
talk about an honest moment
I find it hard to believe that Bush is incapable of seeing the irony of his words, not just as it pertains to Iraq, but also the potential damage that his divisiveness creates in our own country. I do not mean to say that the tragedy of Rwanda or the many deaths that occur daily in Iraq can come close by comparison to the simple political partisanship in America, but the politics of corruption, the fixed voting, and the corporate control of media are the inside forces that have been greatly counterproductive in our country. It is in fact his style politics which has created the turmoil in Iraq and the distraction from the genocide in Darfur. The truth is that it doesn't really matter what President Bush says because even if he wanted to change his policies he is only a small cog in a much larger political machine that is not only controlling our country, but is also being dramatically counterproductive to our international neighbors.
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