Can Bush be a great man?

Sorry is the hardest word

Let us pre-empt the President before he announces another idea that seems to promote more militarism rather than diplomacy.

A letter in the International Newsweek (January 8, 2007) suggests Mr. George W, Bush saying something along these lines.

“I’m sorry, we made a mistake. There were no weapons of mass destruction. But, hey, we freed you of your dictator, and now we’d give you a hand in rebuilding your country to live in peace!”

Matthias Weislmeier from Augsburg, Germany might be in the running for the Nobel Prize in the not too distant future, this a quote from his letter to the editor.

If Mr. Bush were to give voice to these words, mouthing them with clarity, purpose and conviction, this would cause tectonic shifts in the insurgency – chance would be a fine thing – we can however, hope.

As far back as 2004 before we crossed the bridge over which we can no more traverse because the burnt bridge represents the killing of Saddam Hussein – a member of a U.S. Special Operations unit after one of those Fallujah “wars” who remains anonymous said, “I feel we should let Saddam out of jail and say, ‘Sorry, we didn’t realize you were so brutal because you had to be’”.

Look and learn

If anything, it shows how America did not understand the complexities of the Iraqi society and how he held it together even though he was reviled by his people. It did not mean that their release through America’s invasion would yield a World War II type acclaim of the public filling the streets with ticker-tape parades of jubilation.

The disbanding of everything Baathist from the army to all other personnel in government establishments completely destabilised the country and fuelled the insurgency – contrast that with Nelson Mandela who did not visit the evil of Apartheid on the whites of South Africa by seizing their businesses or property, it prevented a white insurgency that would have completely destabilised the country and turned it into a penniless Zimbabwe.

The inability for the Bush administration to employ the tools of diplomacy to address the neighbours of Iraq who have more than a vested interest in ensuring Iraq is peaceful means the opportunity for resolution of the Iraqi problem has been lost, time and time again.

It is surprising that Condoleezza Rice still retains her post considering the failure she has been to speak softly rather than bluster like a lose Texan cannon with complete intransigence.

If we cannot learn to say sorry, we would be sorry when the sorry state of our affairs leaves no one about to say sorry to us and help us along.