“Broad” words from a shallow mind
By Brian A. Burns
Either George W. Bush is purposefully lying to save face, or he is stuck in the deep recesses of his mind where information is not welcome and where the sound of his own voice is music to his ears. At the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris, Bush reiterated his dream of forcing non-westernized people to be ruled by western-minded leaders for the sake of business relationships and natural resource grabbing… though not in those words, of course.
Instead, he spoke of a “broader battle — the battle of ideas,” and said that the focus of U.S. foreign policy is to “advance a more hopeful and broader vision, especially in the Middle East.” Of course, these remarks come from a man who has repeatedly lied about the wishes of the people of the Middle East as being one which salivates over the thought of living the American life-style. He believes, or wants us to believe, that the Middle Eastern people are all living wretched lives, and are depressed and yearning to break free from tyranny. He believes only the armed gangs and oppressive rulers are happy, though the word being screamed at him by way of protests, citizen-insurgencies, and homemade bombs is one loud and clear ‘Get out of our country and take your western ideals with you!’.
The amount of implications that accompany the word “broad” are no less than broad – it would be very difficult to come up with a more vague term. But as the art of being vague is indeed a valuable asset to politicians, in light of Bush’s 8 years of utter failure in every measure, it would almost seem surreal if anyone were to extract any sort of positivity from his ambiguity. The world over sees him as somewhat of an evil-minded dolt, and have adopted a very cautious ear when listening to him spout his ideals.
Bush used the “broad” word again when he spoke of our relationship with Europe in which he described it as “…the broadest and most vibrant it’s ever been.” The word “broad” here is a poor use of an adjective, and thanks to him and his policies, “vibrant” seems to be an admittance to there being a lot of heat and friction between us.
The fact stands that not many people throughout the world can truly trust much of what comes from the thought processes of George W. Bush, and rightly so. Considering nearly all of what he predicted surrounding his invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, and the way in which he treated already fragile relationships with many of our allies; in which he basically rejected their opinions on his foreign policies and instead adopted the “go it alone” attitude, the only thing truly “broad” that Bush is handing over to the next president in terms of foreign relations, is the broad distrust our allies have acquired over the past 8 years, and the even broader problem he created for us in the Middle East.
