Tsunami Reveals Bush’s Dark Side

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It is said that adversity reveals character. Sadly, the tsunami that struck South Asia revealed a cold hearted, uncaring President. After three full days of silence, President George W Bush finally expressed sorrow Wednesday at the nearly 100,000 lives lost across South Asia. What was he doing? Vacationing at his ranch in Crawford, Texas.

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Both British Prime Minister Tony Blair and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder quickly voiced expressions of sorrow. But, not President Bush. He seemed curiously disconnected from the growing catastrophe –content, as he was, with issuing bland statements of dismay through his press office.

This cold-hearted response to the human tragedy was matched by an equally uncaring expression of help. President Bush pledged a measly $15 million in aid to the 12 nations hardest hit by the tsunami. This $15 million represents 0.00014% of our ($11 trillion) Gross Domestic Product.


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He could have pledged several billions of our money to tsunami relief on Sunday, the day after Christmas, and, then, challenged Europe and the Arabs to match his generosity. They would have been hard pressed to refuse, given their interests in the affected region.

Then, he could have put our unparalleled military air transport system at the disposal of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies – appointed the retiring Secretary of State Colin Powell to coordinate the international rebuilding effort – and sat back and piled up political capital that he could have used to help him out in Iraq, Syria, Iran, and Palestine.

But, none of this happened because Bush does not have any empathy for the poor.

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http://www.washingtondispatch.com/article_10630.shtml