Snapshots: An X-ray of Cameroon�s Democracy, Governance and Unification

38. G.W. Bush Jnr’s Betrayal of Democracy

145 38 G.W. Bush Jnr’s Betrayal of Democracy Monday 17 May 2004 (1)Bush’s Unsettling Precedents Of all American presidents in recent times, G.W. Bush Jnr can be singled out as one who has failed to symbolize the democratic ideals that the United States represents. When papa’s boy was declared winner of the 1999 presidential election after a controversial vote count and re-count coupled with allegations that his brother, Governor of Florida had rigged the election in that state in his favour, the forces of change in Africa took it as an ill omen for the nascent democratic revolution in the continent. The mere suggestion of vote rigging in the U.S. was viewed by democratic activists as an unfortunate encouragement for many an African dictator or autocrat to justify electoral malpractices by simply pointing a finger at Uncle Sam and declaring: “we have no democratic lessons to learn from abroad, least of all from the United States.” The tragic events of September 11 2001 became a turning point as American foreign policy went haywire. Mr. Bush lustily embarked on a “ war against terror” that was widely interpreted as a war against Islam. He waged war on Iraq against the sound advice of the United Nations and even though he won the war, he failed to win the peace. The miserable trophy of the Iraq war was a half-dazed, dishevelled ex-dictator Saddam Hussein who was smoked out of hiding like a rat mole. The consequences of the ill-advised war have exposed Mr. Bush as a reckless cowboy who is capable of tossing democratic principles to the wind if only to prove his sado-masochism. His international raids on suspected terrorists have resulted in the incarceration off 146 hundreds of innocent people including children at Gwantanamo Bay without the least regard for human rights and due process. To justify his violations, he mischievously labels the suspects ass “enemy combatants” and has put them in indefinite detention without recourse to legal assistance. Mr. Bush’s awkward attempts to restore peace and stability in Iraq are likely to end in a fiasco. The brutal treatment of alleged Iraqi offenders in detention by American soldiers has tuned the image of liberators into oppressors. Recent incidents of sadism in which American soldiers force detainees into collective orgies of sodomy and other despicable acts are the ugly climax of a bellicose foreign policy equally reflected in his handling of the Palestinian question. We learn from a certain biographer that GW Bush Jnr while in college was a member of an occultist club called “Skulls and Bones” which indulged in satanic rites and rituals involving the use of coffins and pirate symbols. Mr. Was shown on TV the other day turning hot steaks (or was it pancakes?) without the courtesy of donning a chef’s cap; a campaign gimmick that may endear him to gourmets, culinary and con artists but not to a serious minded electorate that is likely to send him packing from the White House to the back house. (2) The Albatross Decidedly the Lion Man has been jolted from inertia following the creation of two commissions of enquiry in less than a month, giving the impression that a heavier axe is about to fall and much bigger heads are going to roll. This time around, the matter in question is beyond the offence of lese majeste and misdemeanour in high office. It has to do with the sleazy purchase of a presidential jet that has proven to be a potential death trap for the Prince. And the sheer indication of regicide is not only treasonable but is by implication, beyond pardon. The grapevine has it that the presidential Boeing which was not even on the “Okrika” (second hand) market had been fished out of a junkyard, having run for more than two decades for the Malagasy 147 Airways. We are told it was procured for a tidy package of CFA 100 billion. American business moguls and Hollywood stars pick up custom made jets for anything between CFA1.5 billion to CFA 2.5-quote me! Irrespective of Biya’s unimpressive leadership and in respect for human life-the only ABSOLUTE right ordained by the Almighty-the scandal surrounding the purchase of the ill-fated jet christened THE ALBATROSS, purchased with tax payers money by managers of a Highly Indebted Poor Country and again...