Still President Bush has another 11 days in office – and then we can start the clean up. It’s going to make Chernobyl look like a summer holiday. He’s been like a really bad tenant, cooking indoors on an open fire, raising chickens in the pantry and shitting in the sink. Unfortunately, the stakes were a lot higher than the upkeep of an investment. In the rudderless days of the transition between Presidents, Bush is focusing on crafting a legacy – while Gaza burns, economists despair and Afghanistan becomes the new Iraq (or Vietnam). Talk about bad timing.
In general, the long transition is a horrible idea. The outgoing President has idle hands and the knowledge that his position and privilege will soon be gone. In their final days in the White House, lame duckers often re-discover their power to pardon criminals (at random), dramatically modify legislation and tea-leaf that lamp that they’ve always liked so much. Bush so far has pushed through a few late night anti-environment bills and been sparring with his pardons (with the notable exception of Scooter Libby) – however, he is giving out Medals of Freedom like they’re candy canes at Santa’s Workshop.
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest honour the US bestows on a civilian. It is awarded at the discretion of the President – I guess in a similar way to which the Queen hands out knighthoods. Past recipients include Mother Teresa, Muhammad Ali, Neil Armstrong (and Buzz), Jesse Jackson and Stormin’ Norman Schwarzkopf. All worthwhile nominees, given it is designed to recognize individuals who have made "an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavours."
What I take particular issue with here is that Bush is blatantly using the medal to reward cronies and collaborators past and present. In 2004, he hung the medal around the neck of former CIA head George Tenet. The same George Tenet that presided over the colossal intelligence failures that led to 9/11 and who called invading Iraq a “slam dunk”. Worse however, this month will see the honour bestowed on three particularly dubious suspects: Tony Blair, Columbian President Alvaro Uribe and our own John Howard. Apparently, “all three leaders have been staunch allies of the United States, particularly in combating terrorism”. More accurately, these three leaders have blindly stuck with the US during their failed two front war and offered carte blanche praise for the unpopular Bush.
The whole affair has just added a final sour taste to the shit sandwich that has been the Bush years. The ceremony, no doubt hailing the success of the ‘coalition of the willing, will be one of Dubya’s final acts as commander-in-chief (hopefully) and an integral part of spinning a positive legacy. In the years ahead, I hope the medals bring cold comfort to Howard and Blair particularly, as they lay awake and wonder of their complicity in the worst US Presidency the world has seen.
