George Bush: war criminal, Fares lecturer

Perhaps on a campus where every other student drives an SUV it is appropriate to honor George H.W. Bush _ a man whose inaugural vision for America included leaving the next generation "a bigger car and a bigger bank account." I'm certain that the former president will be greeted by throngs of ambitious young capitalists eager to behold his wisdom and assume their places in the violent patriarchal world order. But the rest of us are responsible for representing countless thousands of people who cannot attend the lecture because they are dead, victims of The Patriarch himself.

George Bush deserves a conviction for war crimes, not an honor from our university. During his tenure as director of the CIA, vice-president, and then President of the United States, he aggressively violated human rights in an astounding number of countries around the world: from Grenada and Libya to nearly all of Central and South America...not to mention the first American invasion of Iraq and the disastrous sanctions which have killed one million people and are still going strong. Yet memories of his bloody reign appear to have faded into oblivion as many of the same advisors who carried out his abhorrent wars are finding executive positions in the new Bush White House.

Outside of the United States, few people have forgotten Bush's heinous crimes. I took part in a student_led trip to Nicaragua earlier this month, where reminders of a brutal 12-year war lurked around every corner. The women's center that we worked on was named after one of the region's first victims: a mother who died protecting her child from a grenade explosion. The subsistence farmer who taught me how to use a machete also showed me the paths that kidnappers used to take when they stole rural kids from their homes and forced them to be soldiers. In the capital, we saw the place where the defeated supporters of the revolution burned their guns in exchange for promises of land they would never receive.

Violetta Chamorro's victory over the Sandinista government of Daniel Ortega in 1990 came under shameful circumstances. Tens of thousands of Nicaraguan people had been killed during the Reagan/Bush years and the US government willingly footed the multi-million dollar bill. In 1986 the World Court found the US guilty of "unlawful use of force...[that] cannot be justified either by collective self-defense" and ordered the government to pay from $12 to $17 billion to Nicaragua in reparations. The US refused to obey the World Court's verdict but continued to pay millions to arm the Contras. When George Bush channeled $20 million into Chamorro's campaign fund, the people knew that the nation's death toll would continue to rise if they kept the Sandinistas in power. Thus, Bush succeeded in squashing a popular revolution that prioritized nutrition, health care, education, and women's empowerment.

Nicaragua has sunk deeper into poverty since the Contra war. Corrupt politicians steal millions from the people but continue to enjoy the support of the US government. Arnoldo Aleman, prot?©g?© of the US and President from 1997 until 2002, allegedly stole more than $100 million while in office. Nicaragua is now the second-poorest country in the hemisphere, and with the Central America Free Trade Agreement backed by Bush Jr. looming on the horizon, the country is going to get even poorer. But I'm willing to bet that "ruining a small Third World country" will not be introduced at the Fares lecture as one of Bush's accomplishments.

It will be interesting to hear what they do say about his past, as it seems that everything he has ever touched is stained with blood, oil, and lies. Will they mention his role in the CIA during the destruction of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos? His enthusiastic support for the School of the Americas, where torture is part of the curriculum? The assassination attempts on the lives of numerous foreign leaders? The timely and very suspicious death of Orlando Letelier, Chilean Ambassador to the US, just a day before he was supposed to testify about US involvement in the coup and murder of Allende? Just who gets to introduce this guy anyhow? I hope he or she doesn't leave out any of this out.

It isn't terribly surprising that this year's Fares lecturer is a warmonger; I've come to expect that from male politicians. What I find most offensive is that the administration thinks that this is an appropriate time to honor Bush, as our country is poised at the edge of a war that he helped start. It feels like a public declaration of the University's support for oil wars_I don't know how else the invitation could be perceived. I hope other students are concerned about the state of a university whose president admires the leadership of a war criminal, and I hope that they show up at the Fares lecture to tell Bush that we do not welcome him at our school.

Who'll get the honor next year, President Bacow, Henry Kissinger?

Emily Good is a junior majoring in Peace and Justice Studies and Community Health.