Revisionist History
Of late, President George W. Bush seems to be interested in his legacy or how history will see his Presidency. Since it might be a little bit early to be writing the actual history, I thought it might be a great opportunity to write the history that could have been. So, here goes.
As former President George W. Bush flies back to Crawford, XYZ News has decided to examine the legacy he will leave to the 44th President of the United States, President-Elect, Rudolph W. Giuliani. Part of that legacy must include the landslide election of Giuliani. He rose to prominence during the attacks of 911 and continued to win the hearts and minds of the American people when he was sent by the administration to broker a peace deal between the Israelis and the Palestinians as a part of the larger Bush “Middle East Marshal Plan”. Bush’s Marshal Plan capitalized on the world wide outpouring of support after the attacks of 911. Giuliani, widely touted as the wrong man for the job because of his lack of foreign policy experience, used his common sense approach to broker a successful deal between Hamas, Fatah and Israel.
That deal began a period of unparalleled investment in Gaza and the West Bank that continues today. The investment was originally a part of Bush’s Marshal Plan. However, the U. S. investment shamed many other rich Arab countries to address the squalor that was Gaza and poorer areas of the West Bank. To date, the original 100 billion dollar American investment has spurred over trillion dollars in infrastructure and housing investments which have almost eliminated the need for any of the Palestinian refugee camps. That investment has also blunted desire for Palestinian right of return negotiated in the Giuliani Accords. Additionally, as part of the accords, Archbishop Desmond Tutu has presided over more than six months of “Truth and Reconciliation Commission” style hearings. The hearings have now become more about rooting out corruption among Palestinian politicians than actual atrocities committed by either side.
On the other side of the Middle East, American dollars were also followed by Arab dollars. Miles and miles of roads have been built in Afghanistan. Water and electricity have come to areas for the first time in history. Another first for the Afghans is the replacement of poppies by food crops. Wahhabi clerics should take part of the credit for this change as they have begun to call drug production a sin against Islam. Many clerics have moved from terrorist watch lists to welcomed guests.
A guest in Iran, Muqtada Al-Sadr, has used his new clout from overthrowing the Saddam Hussein Regime to call for free and fair elections in Iran. Democratic elections have become an old game for Al-Sadr. He successfully used democratic elections after Hussein’s ouster to consolidate Shiite power while blunting western criticism.
After criticizing the Russians publicly, the Bush Administration privately negotiated the largest treaty since first strategic arms limitation agreements of the seventies. A French, American and Russian consortium has agreed to sell commercial nuclear technology and equipment to India, Iran and others to be determined. The genius of the agreement is how the Russians realize the sale of high tech nuclear technology while the rest of the world is allowed the opportunity to fully monitor the programs.
Ok, wake up from this fantasy. I hear Hamas is back to humming rockets into Israel.