Democracy Discarded

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

The New York Sun

What part of freedom do the Bushes – father and son – not understand?

That our ” friends and allies” in Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq abandon democratic reforms is no surprise. But for the current American president to walk away from pledges to advance freedom in the Middle East is galling.

What is it with those Bushes, father and son, that allows them to betray so easily America’s fundamental purpose?

Remember the broken promise of the elder President Bush to the Iraqi people back in 1991? He urged them to rise in revolt against Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein only to stand back as Iraqis subsequently were killed by the thousands. He watched the slaughter without lifting his patrician’s eyebrow.

Indeed, why is it that most of America’s leading lights, those who spend years battling for higher American values, once out of office become willing prostitutes offering their expertise to bury those values?

Okay, there’s the paycheck, but don’t certain people make even a reptile’s skin crawl?

How could any American leading figure hang on to rotten brutes and purveyors of darkness such as President Mubarak of Egypt, Muammar Gadhafi of Libya, and King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia?

Between them, the aforementioned trio holds about 200,000 political prisoners without trial or charges. They have killed, tortured, or ordered the murder of a few thousand more, enslaved women, destroyed economies, and robbed their countries blind, siphoning billions of loot – a plundered wealth sitting in cold marbled palaces dotting the globe.

Look at the Carlyle Group, a Rolls Royce of private investments that is also a who’s-who of political operatives. Among its partners are the elder President Bush (whose title is “top adviser”) and many of his pals, including a former secretary of state, James A. Baker III; a former defense secretary, Frank C. Carlucci; a former White House budget chief, Richard Darman, and a former British prime minister, John Major. Is it a surprise the group manages several tens of billions of dollars of Saudi, Kuwaiti, Qatari, and United Arab Emirates money? Nor will it be a surprise if George W. Bush, once retired from office, brings his expertise to bear on how to reel in more of those billions from oil-rich Arab dictators.

The question the Bushes, the Clintons, the Madeleine Albrights, and the Bob Doles of American politics must answer is: How does sleeping with dictators and brutal murderers square with pledges of higher purpose?

On January 20, 2005, George W. Bush stirred hope in the darkened heartland of Islam and enslaved Muslims around the world when he declared:

“It is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world.”

Speaking in the inaugural speech watched by millions of hopeful Arabs, the president went on to assert that “Across the generations we have proclaimed the imperative of self-government, because no one is fit to be a master, and no one deserves to be a slave. Advancing these ideals is the mission that created our nation.”

One cannot say such words and then shake hands or do business with a murdering marauding thug such as Colonel Gadhafi, who personally ordered the killing of more than 400 American and French air passengers, not to mention thousands of his own people. For that matter, why is America extending respect to Egypt’s master dictator, Mr. Mubarak, and his thieving sons while their police forces this week beat up, arrested, and are torturing scores of judges protesting fake elections and corruption in government? Next week it shall be someone else’s turn, as the wheel of Egyptian repression never rests under Mr. Mubarak’s 25-year travesty of a rule.

Over in Saudi Arabia, the Bushes “biggest friend” is teddy bear King Abdullah and his coterie of 22,000 Saudi princes – Royal Family & Co. Inc. – who have been bilking the largest oil producing country on earth for money to build palaces, enslave women, sire more princes who will need to build more palaces and promote Wahabi Islamic fanaticism.

As the slogan of the main Egyptian opposition movement goes: Enough.


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