President George W. Bush's years in the White House have been tumultuous. As he prepares to leave office in less than two weeks, The Straits Times takes stock of his security policies in the first of a three-part series.
By
Bhagyashree Garekar, US Correspondent
The war in Iraq proved to be a costly distraction from the core aim of tackling Islamic militancy, alienating the US on the world stage. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
THE misguided Iraq war notwithstanding, the world today is more secure for President George W. Bush's leadership.
When he declared a worldwide war on terror after the Sept 11, 2001 attacks, Mr Bush took a comprehensive and unambiguous stance against Islamic radicalism, the top security threat across the world.
In the glare of the disastrous Iraq war, it is easy to overlook his singularly important accomplishment - he curbed the spread of Islamic militancy triggered by the post-9/11 prominence of Osama bin Laden.
Consider that extremist groups once proliferating in hot spots across the world are now mainly contained in two areas - Iraq and the inhospitable border terrains of Pakistan. Smaller pockets are known to exist in South-east Asia, India, China and Europe.
Nevertheless, Mr Bush recognised terrorism for what it was - a battle of ideas more than a law enforcement issue - and was quick to put on notice nations known to have harboured Al-Qaeda militants.
'Either you are with us or you are with the terrorists,' he said in a speech, while the ruins of the World Trade Center lay smouldering. To many, it was the talk of a boorish Texas cowboy.
But Mr Bush meant it. He cajoled with aid and threatened with force until a swathe of governments which had openly or otherwise hosted, funded, patronised or tolerated terrorists began uprooting the local extremist groups, cutting off their access to funds and reining in fanatical preachers.
Over the next seven years, in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Sudan, Morocco, Pakistan, Indonesia and other nations, the mesmeric sway of Osama was undercut. Opinion polls of Muslim populations showed falling support for the Al-Qaeda leader and his weapon of choice - suicide bombing.
At home, Mr Bush repaired the national security apparatus in the largest revamp of the US federal government since the Cold War. With the roaring approval of the American public, he struck against terrorists abroad. US Special Forces and long-range bombers demolished Al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan, and killed or captured militants in acts of retaliation for the 9/11 attacks.
But then Mr Bush made his worst decision, using shaky evidence to claim a link between Al-Qaeda and Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, and using the speculated existence of weapons of mass destruction as a reason to invade Iraq.
It proved to be a costly distraction from the core problem of tackling Islamic fundamentalism, alienating the US in the international community, aggravating Washington's relations with the Muslim world, and paying a heavy price in lives lost. Over 4,200 US troops and over 100,000 Iraqi civilians have died since the 2003 invasion, although the violence now seems to be waning.
In a reflective mood as his departure from the White House nears, Mr Bush admitted recently that his biggest regret during his presidency was the 'intelligence failure in Iraq' that led him to base his invasion on the belief that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction.
Still, if the President could will it, he would most want to be remembered for toppling the totalitarian regimes in Iraq and Afghanistan. 'I'd like to be known as somebody who liberated 50million people and helped achieve peace,' he said last month.
He can also take credit for the dismantling of Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan's international nuclear black market network, for convincing Libya to abandon its weapons of mass destruction programme, and for efforts to contain rogue states like Syria, North Korea and Iran.
In the end, though, Iraq may outweigh all else that could be regarded as the Bush legacy.
Underlying that misadventure was Mr Bush's grand vision of being able to transplant democracy in the Middle East to counter the violent, hateful ideology of terrorism.
Whether the answer to defeating Islamic radicalism is to export Western concepts of freedom and liberty is debatable in the first place. And, in any case, the credibility of his administration's respect for human rights and the rule of law is tainted by both the notoriety of the Guantanamo Bay military detention camp, in which suspected terrorists were detained under harsh conditions and without basic legal rights, and the horrific abuse of Iraqis by American soldiers at the Abu Ghraib prison in 2004.
The popular verdict on the President leaving the nation embroiled in two wars - although he can legitimately claim he kept the homeland safe - is evident in his record low approval ratings.
What Bush defenders hope is that history will judge him less harshly than the polls.
Just as former president Harry Truman was reviled for the Korean War, in which over 54,000 American lives were lost, but eventually hailed for his strategy of containing the Cold War, Bush defenders hope the Iraq war will eventually be viewed as a smaller component of his global war against terror.
TOMORROW: Bush's legacy in the arena of the economy
US-China relations 'warmest ever'
RELATIONS between the United States and China are at their warmest ever, a senior US diplomat said in Beijing yesterday, hailing the improved ties as one of President George W. Bush's important legacies.
Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte was speaking to reporters on the second and final day of a visit to Beijing to celebrate the establishment of formal bilateral ties on Jan1, 1979.
He credited China and the US under Mr Bush as having left a legacy of increased collaboration and dialogue in economics and politics - which he said was crucial at a time of financial turmoil.
