By Tichaona Zindoga Published: 2012
Former US president George W Bush occupies a dark place in the minds of many people across the world.

He is the man who falsely accused Iraq of having weapons of mass destruction and went on to invade the country without the approval of the United Nations Security Council in 2003.

In a burst of blasphemy – well, to those who are God-fearing – he charged that God had instructed him to pulverize Iraq where abuses have been committed and chaos remains the only legacy he bequeathed.

In his “war on terror”, Bush ordered a method of torture called waterboarding to extract confessions from suspected terrorists.

In Afghanistan he razed whole villages to the ground and killed infants he accused of being “Islamist millitants”.

He is accused of having initiated renditions – the illegal exchange of suspects – and maintained secret prisons and torture camps.

His catalogue of crimes is as long as it is ugly.

Yet this man is walking scot-free.

The question that remains is: Will anybody ever arrest Bush?

For their part, African countries a fortnight ago embraced him and even scoffed at calls to arrest him.

Bush visited Ethiopia, Tanzania and Zambia to raise awareness on cancer and HIV and AIDS.

Ahead of the visit by Bush, human rights watchdog Amnesty International had called on African countries to arrest the man blamed for torture during his anti-terror war.

Analysts point out that for many African countries, laying a hand on George W Bush would be suicidal.

Bush initiated, in 2003, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) which helps African governments secure antiretroviral drugs for HIV positive people for free.

The Barrack Obama administration has continued with PEPFAR.

America continues to be one of the biggest donors to an Africa that, despite its wealth, is inclined to look outside for alms.

Charles Mangongera, a Zimbabwean political scientist, says small countries “have neither the will nor the muscle” to arrest Bush.

“They know that the ramifications of ruffling the feathers of the rich and powerful countries are devastasting for countries whose budgets are largely supported by the West,” he told The Southern Times.

He said he saw at play “the unfair balance of world politics where certain rules apply to certain states but not to the rich and powerful”.

After all, the US is pushing for the arrest of Omar al-Bashir, the President of North Sudan, for alleged crimes against humanity but will not countenance any American being taken to the International Criminal Court (read the American Servicemembers Act/Hague Invasion Act).

Asked whether any country would ever arrest criminals like Bush, Mangongera said: “You never know.

“The US is quickly losing its political and economic dominance of the world stage and that might also mean losing certain privileges including the ‘untouchable’ status.”

America has thus far showed its exceptionalism by refusing to recognize the International Criminal Court and will not have its citizens prosecuted there.

This exceptionalism has everything to do with being a superpower, which America religiously uses with impunity.

Although Bush did not visit Switzerland in February for fear of prosecution, in October, Canada refused to heed a similar call for his arrest by Amnesty International; raising questions as to whether indeed small countries can tackle such warmongers.

One report says Ethiopians “had a good laugh about Amnesty International’s appeal, which most say is a ‘foolish’ publicity stunt to win African support for the rights group”.

Ethiopia enjoys a good relationship with the US – and was actually in good books with Bush in his infamous war on terror.

So loyal to Bush was Ethiopia that Ethiopia’s leader Meles Zenawi was – along with Tony Blair – nicknamed “America’s poodle”, says one report.

Ethiopia is said to be one of the top recipients of US aid and the arrest would be “devastating”.

Tanzania also welcomed Bush with open arms.

As a political analyst Azaveli Lwaitama was quoted saying: “The Tanzanian government needs every coin it can get, even from the devil.”

Tanzania’s constitution prohibits former heads of state from being prosecuted.

Zambia’s leader Michael Sata told Amnesty off.

He said: “Tell them to hang, and also please ask them to create their own country and wait for Bush to visit their country so that they can arrest him to suit their wish and not here in Zambia.”

It would be good to see African leaders showing similar solidarity with their counterparts when the US and its Western allies arrest the continent’s leaders…

The opinion of the world is split on George Bush.

Some people actually view Bush as a hero.

Legislator Peter King, also chairman of the US Congressional House Homeland Security Committee, thinks Bush must be honoured instead.

He said in a statement: “If Amnesty International had any intellectual honesty, it would give President Bush a medal to honour him for liberating so many oppressed Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan and for assisting millions of AIDS victims in Africa.”

It remains dubitable whether the world can actually afford the Messiahs who come in the form and nature of a gladiator like Bush.

Meanwhile, an African has become the chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court, possibly heralding a new chapter for the court which has the notoriety of having arrested only Africans.

Gambian Fatou Bensouda (50) replaces Argentine Luis Ocampo-Moreno whom she has been deputizing since 2004.

An African prosecutor was the politically-sought outcome to give an African face to the ICC and Bensouda marched to the top as a Tanzanian candidate pulled out of the race.

Could this see the likes of Bush finally being nabbed so that they can answer to charges of human rights abuses? Any international court worth its salt should.

At any rate, it is assumed that a person is innocent until proven guilty (though many people might find it hard to swallow for some).

Zimbabwe’s former Ambassador to China, Chris Mutsvangwa, needs convincing that things will change at the ICC.

“We have said it before. What matters is not the civil servant but the whole institution that needs to be reformed,” he says.
Source: http://www.southerntimesafrica.com/news_article.php?id=6509&title=Will%20anyone%20%20ever%20arrest%20%20George%20W%20Bush?&type=93