Bush Foreign Policy:
Screwed Up From the Start

In his first major foreign policy speech as President, G. W. Bush said: "To be relied upon when they are needed, our allies must be respected when they are not.  We have partners, not satellites."  Sound great doesn't it?  That's all it was -- sound.

Before we go any further, let's remember:  The animosity and distrust that much of the rest of the world feels about the U. S. did not come about by accident.  No, it is the result of a planned effort by the Bush administration to piss off the rest of the world on just about every issue.

The Bush administration started burning its bridges with our friends and allies almost as soon as they took office:  In his first six months, Bush withdrew the U. S. from six major agreements.  Now, we don't need to go along 100 percent with every agreement to which we are a partner -- but we cannot just cooperate when it suits us to do so -- that's the nature of a partnership  -- partners cooperate even when they don't agree completely because they know the day is coming when they will need cooperation from the other partners.

This is what Bush did in his first six months and why it was stupid to do this.

• The Kyoto Protocol.  Signed by the U. S. 12 November 1998; abandoned by George W. Bush, March 2001.
  
  The Kyoto Protocol is about global warming; the agreement acknowledges what all scientists -- except for a few crackpots -- know and understand:  global warming is happening, it is not good, and it's being caused by human activity.  The Kyoto Protocol committed the U. S. to reducing greenhouse gases to below our 1990 levels.  Rather than use this as an opportunity to develop a real energy policy, Bush caved in to big business interests, claimed the Kyoto Protocol would "wreck the economy"  (which is what he did all by himself) and he withdrew the U. S. from the Protocol.
  
  In Bonn, Germany, 178 other nations endorsed the Kyoto Protocols.  When the U. S. delegation entered the room, they were booed out.  German Prime Minister Gerhard Schroder was host of the conference and was humiliated by the U. S. actions -- we did not warn him about what we were doing.  And Bush was surprised when Schroder did not support him when the U. S. went to war in Iraq -- do you suppose there was a connection?  What was that about partnerships?
   
• The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.  Signed by Bill Clinton, 1996; opposed by George Bush from the start.
  
  The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) would ban all nuclear explosions.  Clinton signed it in 1996 and sent it to the Senate in 1997 for ratification -- where the Republicans rejected it in 1999.  For the treaty to enter into force, 44 nations, including the U. S., needed to ratify it.
  
  In 1961, Dwight Eisenhower -- no raving liberal and who worked for a nuclear test ban during his presidency -- said that not achieving a test ban "would have to be classed as the greatest disappointment of any administration, of any decade, of any time, and of any party."
  
  So, by withdrawing the U. S. from the CTBT, George Bush joined such nations as North Korea, India, and Pakistan -- all of whom opposed the CTBT.
  
   
• Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.  In force since 1972; abandoned by George W. Bush, 1 May 2001.
  
  This treaty limited the U. S. and Russia to deploying only one land-based system to defend against incoming ballistic missiles.  Bush did not like this because it interfered with his plans to reward big defense contractors with contracts to develop an anti-missile system -- in spite of the fact that tests to date show the anti-missile systems have been capable of knocking down exactly zero incoming missiles.
  
  By tearing up this treaty, George Bush pissed off the Russians and the Chinese and sent to them the message that we are back to the old days of mutually-assured destruction.  This leaves them with one choice:  Build more missiles.  That's called an arms race and I thought we all believed the world was better of without one of those.
   
• Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).  In force since 1970, undermined by G. W. Bush since 2001.
  
  The NPT says that nations without nuclear weapons will refrain from developing them.  In exchange for this pledge, the nations who do have nuclear weapons agree to work to limit the number of weapons they have.
  
  While the Bush administration has not withdrawn from the NPT, the treaty is essentially a dead letter.  The Bush administration has attended no meetings as required by the NPT and has published a report called the Nuclear Posture Review that describes several conditions under which the administration envisions using nuclear weapons.  Thus, the Bush administration has taken us from a situation in which we sought to limit the spread of nuclear weapons to a situation where we now talk about how and when to use nukes.
   
• Protocol to the Biological Weapons Convention.  Negotiated by the U. S. for ten years; abandoned by George Bush in 2001.
  
  Remember the days before the war on Iraq?  Back when the Bush administration tried to convince us that Iraq possessed vast stores of "weapons of mass destruction?"  And among those WMD were biological weapons?
  
  The Biological Weapons Convention is a treaty banning the production, possession, and use of biological -- germ warfare -- agents.  Even though 143 nations have signed the Convention, the original treaty did not have provisions to detect and ban cheating.  For ten years the U. S. had tried to negotiate anti-cheating provisions.  In 2001 the Bush administration announced it was opposed to the draft provisions.
  
  Other nations thought this meant the Bush administration would come up with tougher provisions.  Wrong.  Three years later and nothing.
   
• International Criminal Court.  Supported by every U. S. administration since the end of WW II.  The Bush administration withdrew out signature on 6 May 2002.
  
  Every time the world decides to put someone or some group on trial for war crimes, genocide, or crimes against humanity, we must go through a drawn-out process of setting up a tribunal for the specific situtation.  To avoid such delays and scrambling around, the U. S. and the rest of the world set out to establish a permanent tribunal that would try individuals for such heinous crimes.
  
  During the negotiations leading up to the formation of the ICC, the U. S. wanted to establish provisions that would protect U. S. troops from politically motivated prosecutions.  Instead of working with our treaty partners to establish such protections, the Bush administration simply withdrew from the ICC.
  
  The International Criminal Court is going to happen whether we cooperate or not.  All Bush did by withdrawing us from the ICC was ensure that we had no influence on the final design of the court and its procedures.  Smart move, George, really smart.
   
• Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects.  Conceived July 2001; rejected by G. W. Bush outright.
  
  While much attention is focused on the spread of chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons, almost every person who has died in war since the invention of the musket has been killed by rifles, machine guns, pistols, grenades, and mortars.  The purpose of this Conference was to develop international protocols that would limit the spread of small arms -- AK-47'S, M-16'S, and similar weapons.  It is these weapons that kill U. S. troops all over the world.  It is these weapons that protect terrorists and drug traffickers.  Maybe it's worth a bit of an effort to limit the spread of small arms.
  
  Now, listen closely:  Why did the Bush administration oppose this Convention? Because the National Rifle Association opposed the Convention.  The NRA got on its soapbox and claimed that if such a treaty ever went into effect, "United Nations troops would come into the homes of Americans and take their guns."  That's right folks, that's what the NRA said.  And Bush caved in to these dingbats.
  
  Strange that U. S. soldiers are dying every day in Iraq from AK-47 fire -- and we are begging Iraqis to turn in their guns -- while the Bush administration does nothing to prevent the spread of such weapons and possibly save American lives somewhere in the future.

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  And there you have it folks -- the Bush foreign policy started off by separating ourselves from partners, allies, and friends who had supported us -- and whom we had supported -- for most of the 20th Century.  And Bush wonders why no one went to war in Iraq with him.