September, 2005

Does George Bush have a future? Does he command any respect beyond America? Does he command any respect within America? It's hard to see where. Will his forthcoming day of prayer for Katrina's victims and his forthcoming enquiry, headed by himself, into what he did wrong, turn this round? It's hard to see how. Can he distract America's attention by, say, invading North Korea to confiscate Kim Jong-Il's atomic bombs? It's probable the army would mutiny if he tried. It is possible, then, that he could be impeached? Let's look at why he might be.

He took a hundred million dollars that would have strengthened the New Orleans levy and stopped the water breaking through, and spent it on the Iraq war, eight hours' worth of the Iraq war at the current rate of spending. If he'd spent the money, not a lot of money relatively, on the levee it might well not have broken, and the thousands, probably, that died would not have died and the millions, certainly, that were made unhappy (by the loss of their homes, heirlooms, pet dogs, jobs, jazz clubs, graveyards, continuity of education, familiar neighbourhoods, faith in God) would not have been made unhappy. The waters would not have broken through and New Orleans would have been, pretty much, the way it was, a beloved destination, a bustling economy and, for jazz lovers, a sacred site.

Despite this Bush, though culpable, might have passed it off as bad luck or God's mysterious will had not the money that might have stopped it been spent on what some would call Halliburton's War. And the connection between Bush, Cheney, Halliburton, the sexed-up evidence for an urgent war that wasn't urgent at all -- according to Colin Powell anyway, but what would he know -- and now costs two hundred and fifty million dollars a day, of which eight hours' worth would, could, might have saved New Orleans, is impeachable stuff. Bush vowed at his swearing-in to preserve and protect the Union and not only delivered chaos, bankruptcy, bereavement, madness, toxic waterways, misery and endless war but did it (some would say) to enrich his mates at Halliburton.

Is this worse than lying on oath about Monica Lewinski? Some would say so. Is a war got up to profit a particular company, or a particular series of companies an impeachable offence? Some might tend to that view. Is there anyone left on earth, as a matter of fact, who any more admires, truly admires George Bush? The numbers are down to the hundreds, I think, all of them like Barney in The Simpsons.

All this incidentally shows how well 9/11 was handled by Carl Rove and Bush's other minders. Instead of doing the morally obvious thing and enquiring urgently and bitterly into why the warnings weren't headed and how the hijackers got on the planes, they held church services, sang patriotic songs and praised the American character for its grit and resilience and selflessness till half the world believed it. Americans behaved well in time of catastrophe, they said, and gave each bereaved family eight million dollars to ensure that this was so. (The current proffered sum in New Orleans is two thousand, and the goodwill of the black Americans thus rewarded dwindling.)

But they can't do any of the 9/11 stuff now after Hurricane Katrina. God seems culpable. Americans behaved badly -- raping and murdering children and putting them in the fridge, neglecting putrid corpses on superhighways, separating by force old women and their dogs. No black musician if asked would turn up to sing. No Billy Graham turn up to pray. No Bin Laden take responsibility for an Act of Allah, though he might say Allah is wise. And George Bush, on the face of it, seems to have wrecked America's economy, trashed an immortal city as he did Baghdad and killed a good few thousand people and needlessly, how needlessly, tormented their pet dogs.

He could plead Accidental Massacre, or Inadvertent Multiple Manslaughter or say neglecting the levies seemed like a good idea at the time, like the hundred thousand needlessly killed in Iraq, but an impeachment hearing wouldn't, I think, go well for him, nor would his assertion that he 'talks to God', whom he regards as his 'true father', before he makes decisions. Nor would his decision to protect the Bin Laden family after 9/11 by flying these material witnesses out of the country, and so on. So will he be impeached? It's possible, the odds now sixty-forty against but shortening daily. Does he deserve to be impeached? You bet.