The foreign policy legacy of George W. Bush

[Skeptic Ginger]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin...against-aids/2012/07/26/gJQAumGKCX_story.html

And at the same time, an abstinence only education requirement tied to the funding almost wiped out all the advances of the condom program against AIDS in Uganda.

In addition it was required said HIV drugs were purchased from more expensive US pharmaceutical manufacturers thus missing the opportunity to provide treatment for more infected people.

I guess silver linings sometimes have dark clouds.

 

[jakesteele]

W is without any doubt whatsoever a war criminal.

The only good foreign policy decision that he made was to not start a war with Iran despite the urgings of the most evil person to hold American high office in modern history (Darth Cheney, of course).

General Wesley Clark: 7 countries in 5 years
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MqVY1-ncBI

I think all of the crap going on in the Mid East is a direct result of Jr.s and Cheny's machinations both home and abroad.

 

[Upchurch]

I think all of the crap going on in the Mid East is a direct result of Jr.s and Cheny's machinations both home and abroad.

You only think that because of the facts. Facts are meaningless. You can use facts to prove anything that is even remotely true. Facts schmacts.

 

[sunmaster14]

General Wesley Clark: 7 countries in 5 years
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MqVY1-ncBI

Ironic that. Wesley Clark is the only senior military or political official in the US that I can say with certainty deserved to be prosecuted for war crimes. He is quite possibly a psychopath.

I think all of the crap going on in the Mid East is a direct result of Jr.s and Cheny's machinations both home and abroad.

Oh yeah, sure. The Middle East was practically a utopia until W and Cheney messed it all up by removing one of the wisest and most benevolent rulers in history.

 

[Senex]

George W Bush started a war for reasons his minions fabricated. His legacy will be crap.

 

[carlitos]

Can you expand on that or give a link? I've not witnessed that, at least not any effect on that on this side of the pond, and I'm not aware, for instance, of any US involvement in trying to end the Second Congo War, the deadliest conflict since WW2.

Tell me more. I'm a big Africa-phile, and can't say I noticed a sudden turn for the better in American policy on the continent at the time........but I'm willing to hear details.

I skipped a few pages, but didn't see any reply to these:

http://www.usnews.com/news/the-repo...bamas-legacy-on-africa-lacks-compared-to-bush

"When Bush came into office, there were civil wars going on in Sudan, Congo, Angola, Liberia, Sierra Leone. And by the end of his first term, all those civil wars were over," Hudson says. "There was, I think, a very deliberate effort in the first term of the Bush administration to end those civil wars, and by ending those civil wars, enabling him in the second term to launch a very aggressive development program."

...

...Obama has a hard time measuring up to the accomplishments of Bush's development agenda when it comes to Africa. Bush started the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) to provide antiretroviral treatment and care for HIV/AIDS patients primarily in Africa – a program credited with saving millions of lives. He also increased development funding for the continent across a number of sectors, like education.

"[The U.S. Agency for International Development] went from $150 million when I started to $800 million by the time [Bush] left office in assistance, and much of that was to Africa," says Andrew Natsios, USAID administrator from 2001 to 2006. "When I started at [US]AID the total development program, not including food aid and or emergencies for civil wars, … it went from $1.2 billion when [Bush] started in early 2001 to $7 billion when he left office. So it was 600 percent increase. That's a massive increase."

Eugene Robinson: George W. Bush’s greatest legacy — his battle against AIDS

This is a moment for all Americans to be proud of the best thing George W. Bush did as president: launching an initiative to combat AIDS in Africa that has saved millions of lives.

All week, more than 20,000 delegates from around the world have been attending the 19th International AIDS Conference here in Washington. They look like any other group of conventioneers, laden with satchels and garlanded with name tags. But some of these men and women would be dead if not for Bush’s foresight and compassion.

Those are not words I frequently use to describe Bush or his presidency. But credit and praise must be given where they are due, and Bush’s accomplishment — the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR — deserves accolades. It is a reminder that the United States can still be both great and good.

...

When the Bush administration inaugurated the program in 2003, fewer than 50,000 HIV-infected people on the African continent were receiving the antire*troviral drugs that keep the virus in check and halt the progression toward full-blown AIDS. By the time Bush left office, the number had increased to nearly 2 million. Today, the United States is directly supporting antiretroviral treatment for more than 4 million men, women and children worldwide, primarily in Africa.

ETA -- I now see that a few posted answered these questions. Anyway, since "Africa" is a tag on the OP, it's worth re-mentioning I think.

 

[jakesteele]

Ironic that. Wesley Clark is the only senior military or political official in the US that I can say with certainty deserved to be prosecuted for war crimes. He is quite possibly a psychopath.

Your opinion is noted and logged.

Oh yeah, sure. The Middle East was practically a utopia until W and Cheney messed it all up by removing one of the wisest and most benevolent rulers in history.

Compared to what's happening now you could ironically say that it was much closer to a utopia back then.

 

[Crossbow]

Compared to what's happening now you could ironically say that it was much closer to a utopia back then.

It is enough to make one almost wish for the good-old days of the Cold War where the major nations just had to worry about getting destroyed in a nuclear war, while the lesser nations either kept out of the way of the major nations or carefully choose which horse to back.

 

[theprestige]

Compared to what's happening now you could ironically say that it was much closer to a utopia back then.

Kind of like the Yugoslavian Balkans under Tito. Seems like it took several years, lots of war crimes, and some forceful intervention from NATO, for all the douchebag ethnic groups in that region to settle the eff down and learn to get along, after their benevolent dictatorship was taken away from them.

Shame on the west for ever suggesting the Soviet Bloc should collapse! Things were better before!

 

[crestfallensidekick]

What do you think the second President Bush's ultimate legacy will be, at home and around the world?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpUWrl3-mc8

 

[NoahFence]

Still going?
Listen. The legacy of Bush and his foreign policy will be that those policies resulted in the worst mistake in American history.

A sizeable chunk of that is due to his illegally allowing torture.

Period.

 

[Dog Town]

Still going?
Listen. The legacy of Bush and his foreign policy will be that those policies resulted in the worst mistake in American history.

A sizeable chunk of that is due to his illegally allowing torture.

Period.

"Anger is an energy!"

 

[sunmaster14]

Still going?
Listen. The legacy of Bush and his foreign policy will be that those policies resulted in the worst mistake in American history.

This is undoubtedly the greatest exaggeration in American history.

A sizeable chunk of that is due to his illegally allowing torture.

Huh

Period.

Question mark?

 

[NoahFence]

This is undoubtedly the greatest exaggeration in American history.

Feel free to elaborate.

 

[NoahFence]

Take your time.

 

[DavidJames]

Take your time.

Be patient. I'm sure we'll hear about a half dozen or so from Obama alone that will be worse then getting thousands of Americans killed. You know, cause....liberals.

 

[NoahFence]

Well, in the absence of anything resembling a counter argument, my point stands.

The Bush legacy will be one where he presided over the worst foreign policy blunder in US history.

I'm sure the argument that we allowed ISIS to flourish will once again be attributed to the wrong guy in due time.

 

[Tony Stark]

Well, in the absence of anything resembling a counter argument, my point stands.

The Bush legacy will be one where he presided over the worst foreign policy blunder in US history.

I'm sure the argument that we allowed ISIS to flourish will once again be attributed to the wrong guy in due time.

Well Republican liars will always attribute it to Obama but everybody that is not a liar/delusional will always correctly blame the President that was really at fault (Cheney, of course).

 

[NoahFence]

...Any time now.

 

[Upchurch]

The one thing I'll give Bush on foreign affairs was the decision to go into Afghanistan. Although ultimately fruitless, I thought it was a sound decision at the time and, even in retrospect, have a hard time criticizing it.