> Once
more, with feeling
Ms. Divina Valenciano-Acker should re-read the article I’ve
written. The “Unpopularity of President Bush” is predicated on the
following: Despite a strong economy, Bush has a hard time claiming
credit for it because of his unpopularity. His unpopularity is not
imagined because that is what every national polling results were
showing. Clearly, there were several good reasons that contributed
to his dismal poll showing: the Iraq War - poor intelligence that
led to erroneous war-planning decisions, war casualties, enormous
war expense (Halliburton’s milking cow); the Libby-Rove
investigations (and Libby’s indictment), and more importantly,
Bush himself who made those unilateral decisions. His cowboy image
while viewed before as an asset is now viewed with skepticism and
a flaw.
Ms. Acker’s argument is clearly a partisan defense of President
Bush. On the Kyoto & ABM treaty decisions and invasion of Iraq,
Bush is viewed by the world as a bully for unilaterally making
those decisions – regardless of his reasons. Now, on your claim
that the Kyoto Protocol supporters are relying on flawed science,
from what I can see the only flawed science in play is the one
that Bush relied upon to advance his argument. By being a
signatory to the protocol would have required the U.S. to
implement stringent measures to curb carbon dioxide environmental
emissions – a step that Republicans do not want to make because it
would take away profits from loyal supporters of the Republican
Party – that is the truth behind the president’s decision. Global
warming is very real whether Ms. Acker believes it or not.
Just in case she does not know, Filipinos are also flocking to
Australia, Hongkong, Singapore, Canada, Israel, Middle East
including Iraq – yes that’s how desperate many of our kababayans
have become. The economic picture in the Philippines is not pretty
and consequently driving Filipinos to seek greener pastures
elsewhere NOT because economy in the US is strong. The US is just
one of the many destinations.
President Bush has made a big thing about exporting democracy
particularly to Islamic countries. Exporting is a polite word –
really it is nothing but continuing a tradition of imperialism
that dates back centuries ago. A simplistic notion that an
election was held and therefore, democracy has taken roots is a
rather naïve interpretation of facts. With the Shiites now firmly
in place in Iraq, would soon create headaches for the US not to
mention the ongoing insurgency. In Palestine, Hamas victory in the
US pushed election the other day will also soon further dampen the
prospects of peace in that part of the world. What is heartless,
Ms. Aker is someone who does not see anything wrong with hundreds
of thousands of homeless Iraqis and mounting casualties in both
sides of the war – just so America could export democracy. I have
served the US military for almost 30 years and one of the hardest
jobs we had to do as a Casualty Assistance Officer is to inform a
loved one regarding the death of a spouse, brother, sister,
parent, friend at ungodly hours. Fighting in brutal wars such as
what is happening in Iraq is fun to watch on televisions and movie
screens with your favorite actors playing but not so on the
battlefield. So, I don’t expect Ms. Acker to understand what wars
are all about.
And finally, have some objectivity. The quote on George Bush is
really a joke with “uh, uh” spoken in between words.
