Bush, Obstinately

Published in El Mundo
(Spain) on 12 November 2010
by Ricard Gonzalez (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by David Brodsky. Edited by Jessica Boesl.
If George Bush's objective with the publication of his memoirs “Decision Point” and the ensuing round of promotional interviews for the book was the rehabilitation of his battered image in American society, I very much doubt that he will succeed.

For this to occur, the former president would have to either provide new information on his presidency that could alter the judgment on the merits of his decisions, or show at least some degree of regret concerning his most controversial policies. Nevertheless, he does neither of these. His memoirs are largely redundant and self-indulgent.

"Decision Points" provides little new information on his presidency. Instead, it offers a number of interesting anecdotes about his private life, such as the question he posed while drunk to a friend of his mother's: "What is sex like after 50?"

As far as his policy decisions are concerned, it is ridiculous that at this stage Bush continues to insist that "waterboarding" (or the "submarino" [submarine] in Spanish-speaking lands) is not torture. For all that his lawyers may have told him at the time that it was a legal practice, it's hard to believe that the former president was so stupid as to not know that they were lying to him.

In any case, even if that could have been true, by now Bush must already have heard more than once that the U.S. Army denounced “waterboarding” as torture when the Japanese military used the procedure against American prisoners during World War II.

Therefore, one has to be a hypocrite and a coward, in addition to being a dangerous cynic, to continue to insist on television that “waterboarding” is not torture. What is it that Bush is trying to tell us, that it is torture only when it is applied to U.S. citizens, but not when they are the ones who are applying it?

If the former president considers the use of torture in the fight against terrorism to be legitimate, then let him say so openly, and that will be the moral debate we will have. But it is insulting for him to repeat to us the same tired old song when experts in human rights are unanimous in considering “waterboarding” to be an abuse.

Probably, Bush doesn't realize that his comments only serve to tarnish the image of the U.S. One of the things for which the world's only superpower is most reproached is the double standard by which it measures the actions of its troops or those of its allies.

This same week we have seen yet another example. While in 2006 Israel chose to blockade Gaza and isolate Hamas, among other things, for not having agreed to the famous "Road Map," Israel itself was "punished" only with a small verbal reprimand when it flagrantly violated the Road Map by building new settlements. And nobody in Washington has even the slightest intention to question the approximately $3 billion of aid that American taxpayers annually send to Israel.


Si el objetivo de George Bush con la publicación de su libro de memorias “Decision Points” y la consiguiente ronda de entrevistas de promoción del mismo era rehabilitar su maltrecha imagen entre la sociedad estadounidense, dudo mucho que lo consiga.

Para ello, el ex presidente debería o bien aportar nueva información sobre su presidencia que pueda variar el juicio que merecieron sus decisiones, o al menos mostrar algún tipo de arrepentimiento sobre sus más controvertidas políticas. Sin embargo, no hace ni una cosa ni la otra. Sus memorias son más bien redundantes, y autocomplacientes.

Poca información nueva aporta “Decision Points” sobre su presidencia. En cambio, sí desvela algunas anécdota curiosas sobre su vida privada, como la pregunta que le hizo a una amiga de su madre en plena borrachera sobre “¿cómo es el sexo después de los 50?”.

En cuanto a sus decisiones políticas, es ridículo que a estas alturas Bush continúe insistiendo que el "waterboarding" (o el “submarino” en tierras de habla hispana) no es una tortura. Por mucho que sus abogados le dijeran en su momento que era una práctica legal, cuesta creer que el ex presidente fuera tan estúpido como no saber que le mentían.

En todo caso, aún y cuando eso pudiera ser verdad, ahora ya Bush debe haber escuchado alguna vez que el ejército estadounidense denunció como tortura el “waterboarding” cuando los militares japoneses lo practicaron a sus prisioneros de guerra en la II Guerra Mundial.

Por lo tanto, se necesita ser un hipócrita y un cobarde, además de un caradura de cuidado, para continuar argumentando en televisión que el “waterboarding” no es una tortura. ¿Qué es lo que nos intenta decir Bush, que sólo es tortura cuando lo sufren los ciudadanos norteamericanos, pero no cuando son ellos quienes lo practican?

Si el ex presidente considera que es legítimo el uso de la tortura en la lucha contra el terrorismo, pues que lo diga abiertamente, y ése será el debate moral que tendremos. Pero es insultante que nos repita la misma cancioncita cuando todos los expertos en derechos humanos coinciden valorar el “waterboarding” como un maltrato.

Probablemente, Bush no se da cuenta de que estos comentarios sólo sirven para ensuciar la imagen de EEUU. Una de las cosas que más se le echa encara a la única superpotencia mundial es su doble vara de medir las acciones de sus tropas, o sus aliados.

Esta misma semana hemos visto el enésimo ejemplo. Mientras en 2006, se optó por bloquear a Gaza y aislar a Hamas, entre otras cosas, por no suscribir la famosa Hoja de Ruta, a Israel sólo se le “castiga” con una pequeña reprimenda verbal cuando la viola de forma flagrante construyendo nuevos asentamientos. Y nadie en Washington ni tan siquiera se plantea tocar los cerca 3.000 millones de dólares anuales de ayuda que sus contribuyentes envían a Israel.
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