(Democratic presidential hopeful Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton addresses the California Democratic Convention in San Diego, Saturday, April 28, 2007. Photo courtesy AP)
Public memory is notoriously short. Let us jog our memory a bit. US President George W. Bush once made a dramatic statement that the ‘mission in Iraq has been accomplished’.
In the next two or three days the world would observe the fourth anniversary of that memorable President Bush speech, which has since become a classic sample of the ‘bluff and bluster’ game of Bush and Co.
On May 1, 2003, the world leaders heard Bush’s unbelievable claim and began to wonder whether an era of peace and security was round the corner. The US citizens breathed a sigh of relief and dreamt of peaceful flow of cheap oil from Iraqi fields to sustain their lifestyles.
Let me quote from Wikipedia: ” ‘Mission Accomplished’, a military phrase associated with completing a mission, is in recent years particularly associated with a sign displayed on the USS Abraham Lincoln as President George W. Bush addressed the United States on May 1, 2003.
(President George W. Bush addresses sailors and the nation from the flight deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln of the coast of San Diego, California May 1, 2003.)
“Bush stated at the time that this was the end to major combat operations in Iraq. While this statement did coincide with an end to the conventional phase of the war, Bush’s assertion — and the sign — became controversial after guerilla warfare in Iraq increased during the Iraqi insurgency. The vast majority of casualties, among both coalition and Iraqi combatants, and from Iraqi civilians, have occurred after the speech.”
How time flies!!!
On Saturday US Democrat Hillary Clinton mocked the US President for his ‘Mission Accomplished’ speech and said his conduct of the Iraq war was ‘one of the darkest blots on leadership we’ve ever had.’
Addressing delegates at the California State Democratic Party convention, Clinton said that if elected president in 2008, she would end the war.
That ‘Mission Accomplished’ speech, Clinton said, was “one of the most shameful episodes in American history. … The only mission he accomplished was the re-election of Republicans.”
For more on this please click here…
Meanwhile does anyone remember about the much touted American-financed rebuilding programmes in Iraq?
Please click here to read about them…
“In a troubling sign for the American-financed rebuilding program in Iraq, inspectors for a federal oversight agency have found that in a sampling of eight projects that the United States had declared successes, seven were no longer operating as designed because of plumbing and electrical failures, lack of proper maintenance, apparent looting and expensive equipment that lay idle…”
Swaraaj Chauhan describes his two-decade-long stint as a full-time journalist as eventful, purposeful, and full of joy and excitement. In 1993 he could foresee a different work culture appearing on the horizon, and decided to devote full time to teaching journalism (also, partly, with a desire to give back to the community from where he had enriched himself so much.)
Alongside, he worked for about a year in 1993 for the US State Department’s SPAN magazine, a nearly five-decade-old art and culture monthly magazine promoting US-India relations. It gave him an excellent opportunity to learn about things American, plus the pleasure of playing tennis in the lavish American embassy compound in the heart of New Delhi.
In !995 he joined WWF-India as a full-time media and environment education consultant and worked there for five years travelling a great deal, including to Husum in Germany as a part of the international team to formulate WWF’s Eco-tourism policy.
He taught journalism to honors students in a college affiliated to the University of Delhi, as also at the prestigious Indian Institute of Mass Communication where he lectured on “Development Journalism” to mid-career journalists/Information officers from the SAARC, African, East European and Latin American countries, for eight years.
In 2004 the BBC World Service Trust (BBC WST) selected him as a Trainer/Mentor for India under a European Union project. In 2008/09 He completed another European Union-funded project for the BBC WST related to Disaster Management and media coverage in two eastern States in India — West Bengal and Orissa.
Last year, he spent a couple of months in Australia and enjoyed trekking, and also taught for a while at the University of South Australia.
Recently, he was appointed as a Member of the Board of Studies at Chitkara University in Chandigarh, a beautiful city in North India designed by the famous Swiss/French architect Le Corbusier. He also teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students there.
He loves trekking, especially in the hills, and never misses an opportunity to play a game of tennis. The Western and Indian classical music are always within his reach for instant relaxation.
And last, but not least, is his firm belief in the power of the positive thought to heal oneself and others.