This morning in the U.S. the much anticipated memoirs of former U.S. president George W. Bush, Decision Points, will go on sale for $35. Bush timed the release for just after the midterm elections in the U.S. to avoid the distraction of being asked for his views on candidates during the promotional tour.
For the past week, leaked passages from the book have appeared in the international media, revealing what went through the mind of the 43rd U.S. president — for example, after the terrorist attacks in New York on September 11, 2001. This controversial leader, loathed throughout the Arab and Muslim world, finally tells us why he waged two long wars on Afghanistan and Iraq and left crumbling states in his wake in Palestine, Pakistan, Lebanon and Sudan.
Bush is clearly unapologetic about all that he did, but in one of his speeches prior to the book release, he admitted that his biggest regret was not finding WMDs in Iraq. He also claimed he was misled by the CIA. Bush, who jokes that his domestic policy now constitutes nothing but taking out the trash and washing the dishes, relates a very distorted version of events during one of the worst chapters in Arab-U.S. relations.
Contrary to popular lore in the U.S. or what grassroots Arabs believed, the man was no fool and was not being manipulated by anybody — either in the U.S. or Israel. He had a clear objective in U.S.-Arab relations and knew exactly what he was doing when he promoted the "Saddam has WMDs" argument, sent his troops into Iraq, confined Yasser Arafat to an office in Ramallah, refused to punish Israel for any of its atrocities (memorably in Jenin) or allowed the Israeli army to mercilessly bomb the Gaza Strip weeks before he left the White House.
Publication of presidential memoirs is a long-held tradition in the U.S. ever since the Second World War, upheld by every president except John F. Kennedy, who was famously shot before completing his presidential term, in November 1963. No president has been as controversial as Bush, however, and certainly nobody else managed to single-handedly damage America's image in all four corners of the globe
For the past week, leaked passages from the book have appeared in the international media, revealing what went through the mind of the 43rd U.S. president — for example, after the terrorist attacks in New York on September 11, 2001. This controversial leader, loathed throughout the Arab and Muslim world, finally tells us why he waged two long wars on Afghanistan and Iraq and left crumbling states in his wake in Palestine, Pakistan, Lebanon and Sudan.
Bush is clearly unapologetic about all that he did, but in one of his speeches prior to the book release, he admitted that his biggest regret was not finding WMDs in Iraq. He also claimed he was misled by the CIA. Bush, who jokes that his domestic policy now constitutes nothing but taking out the trash and washing the dishes, relates a very distorted version of events during one of the worst chapters in Arab-U.S. relations.
Contrary to popular lore in the U.S. or what grassroots Arabs believed, the man was no fool and was not being manipulated by anybody — either in the U.S. or Israel. He had a clear objective in U.S.-Arab relations and knew exactly what he was doing when he promoted the "Saddam has WMDs" argument, sent his troops into Iraq, confined Yasser Arafat to an office in Ramallah, refused to punish Israel for any of its atrocities (memorably in Jenin) or allowed the Israeli army to mercilessly bomb the Gaza Strip weeks before he left the White House.
Publication of presidential memoirs is a long-held tradition in the U.S. ever since the Second World War, upheld by every president except John F. Kennedy, who was famously shot before completing his presidential term, in November 1963. No president has been as controversial as Bush, however, and certainly nobody else managed to single-handedly damage America's image in all four corners of the globe