Goodbye Bush, your time is up

Five days to go in the worst presidency in American history. Five long days that will free Americans and the vast majority of peoples everywhere around the world from a total failure, whose actions may well have irreparably damaged the United States, resulted in the deaths of millions, and ruined a good portion of the planet. There are not enough words in the dictionary to describe what a tragedy these past eight years were, and while George W. Bush's own verdict at his final press conference last Monday was: "We had fun," few others did.

It is now common to compare Bush, the 43rd president, to those of Harry S Truman, who left office reviled, though he enjoyed a huge even if mistaken revisionist popularity in recent years; or Richard Nixon, who resigned in disgrace but became a statesman in the minds of soothsayers; or even Bill Clinton, who was impeached but continues to receive high marks for actions that are still murky. Chances are excellent that Bush - who immodestly compares himself to Abraham Lincoln or Franklin Delano Roose-velt - will not even make the first short list of mediocre leaders and who are remembered, respectively, for dropping two atomic bombs on civilians, organising a coup d'etat, or lying to protect a soiled reputation.

It might be fair to opine that there will never be a monument in Washington for the 43rd president, although one is guaranteed for Obama even before he takes office, on account of his being the first black US head of state. Moreover, while time may alter our current assessments of the Bush presidency, what follows is a first draft submitted as evidence to the court of public opinion.

Secretive Skull and Bones Society at Yale University. C Student. Harvard MBA. Arbusto Energy. Karl Rove. Karen Hughes. Compassionate Conservative. John McCain accused of fathering an illegitimate child with an African-American woman in 2000 South Carolina campaign. Stolen election in 2000 (Florida).

Vice-President Dick Cheney. Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld. Deputy Secretary of Defence Paul Wolfowitz. National Security Council Adviser Condoleezza Rice. Secretary of State Colin Powell. A $240 billion budget surplus in 2001. No Child Left Behind. Kyoto Protocol discarded. Catastrophic policies on global warming. Squashing scientific knowledge. Plans to privatise Social Security (not implemented). Promotes religious fundamentalism. Ridicules International Criminal Court.

Rejects the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with Russia. Denounces Palestine Liberation Organisation leader Yasser Arafat. Supports Ariel Sharon as "a man of peace" along with the latter's unilateral disengagement plan.

Hainan Island EP-3E surveillance aircraft collision with a Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force jet (August 2001) and forced detention of US military personnel.

9/11. "My Pet Goat." New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Osama Bin Laden. Patriot Act. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Terrorist Surveillance Programme. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. "Axis of Evil" [North Korea, Iran, and Iraq], threatening the peace of the world. Preemptive War or Bush Doctrine. Al Qaida. War on Terrorism. "I am a war President." Afghanistan and the Taliban. Saddam Hussain. British Prime Minister Tony "Imminent Threat" Blair. Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria "Azores Photo-Op" Aznar. Old Europe. French President Jacques "freedom fries" Chirac. French Foreign Minister Dominique "cheese eating surrender monkey" de Villepin.

Weapons of mass destruction. Uranium from Niger. CIA Director George "Slam Dunk" Tenet. Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV and Valerie Plame, his outed CIA veteran operative wife. Invasion of, and war for, Iraq. "Shock and awe." "Mission Accomplished."

Poor Intelligence. "Bring Them On" illegal detentions. Attorney-General Alberto Gonzales. Justice Department attorney John C. Yoo reinterprets US Constitution. Enemy combatants. Torture. Waterboarding. Extraordinary renditions. Outsourcing security. CIA "ghost camps." Guantánamo Bay prison. Abu Ghraib. Geneva Conventions.

Stolen election in 2004 (Ohio). Enron. Haliburton. Hurricane Katrina (2005). Michael "Heck of a Job" Brown [Federal Emergency Management Agency]. New Orleans as Third World city. Shattered reputation.

2005 defence expenditures: $450 billion out of $2.4 trillion budget. Base military spending about $515 billion in 2009 (closer to $651 billion after emergency, discretionary, and supplemental spending are included). Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are funded through extra-budgetary supplements, approximately $170 billion in 2007. Awards a posthumous Purple Heart to a fallen American soldier but recommends to the recipient's mother: "Don't sell it on eBay."

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. National Security Council Adviser Stephen J. Hadley. Iranian Nuclear Programmes. Lebanon and Hezbollah (2006). President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan is ally. Tensions with Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Fiscal conservative

Bush as a "Fiscal Conservative." Greed is Good. Wall Street financial meltdown. National debt after Ronald Reagan's eight years: $1.6 trillion. $1.2 trillion deficit in 2009. National debt added during the past eight years: $7.7 trillion (for a total of over $10 trillion in early 2009). Bernard Lawrence Madoff, a former chairman of the Nasdaq stock exchange admits to "liabilities", read embezzlement, of approximately $50 billion. Successful business model. Lower standard of living for a vast majority of Americans.

Country's global reputation devastated. Muntadar Al Zaidi throws his shoes at Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki in Baghdad: "So what if the guy threw a shoe at me?" War for Gaza (2008-2009) is Hamas' fault. Bigotry is better. Ignorance is bliss. Righteousness is a Virtue. Enough said.

Dr Joseph A. Kechichian is a commentator and author of several books on Gulf affairs.