Africa Loves George W. Bush

Max Peck / February 15, 2008, 12:42 PM / Global Political Relations / #5

Endee, a Liberian pop star, demonstrates her celebratory dance inside of her recording studio. “Have you heard who’s coming to America?” she purrs. One of her dancers answers: “George Bush is coming to America” – and so, naturally, they dance.

President George Bush, the man demonized by the American media and public (and for good reason, many would argue) is indeed taking a trip to Liberia, where he is loved. In fact, he is loved all across the entire continent of Africa, where many hold the U.S. in higher regard than many Americans do. Liberia itself was founded in 1847 by freed U.S. slaves and hasn’t exactly prospered, but has recently become the benefactor of U.S. funding allocated by President Bush, under the heading of Bush’s Millennium Challenge Corporation.

So why has Bush sent over $15 billion to Africa in the past five years? For one, a fifth of all U.S. oil imports come from the African nation Nigeria, and it seems wise to build leverage in that part of the world in respect to oil’s ever-expanding importance (and impending peak oil disaster). Secondly, the vast, ungoverned spaces of northern Africa have been recognized as possible battlegrounds for terrorist breeding and activity – currently the U.S. has 1,200 troops stationed in Djibouti, where Africa’s anti-terrorism is officially centralized.

Researcher Peter Pham points out that it is important to the world’s future that countries in Africa have secure, defined boarders to “prevent them from becoming breeding grounds for terror.”

Two more things Liberians are grateful to George Bush for: his role in the dethronement of former President Charles Taylor, and his recent cancellation of the country’s debt to the U.S.

As for my opinion, as if it’s worth anything, I’ll go with the law of averages. If George Bush has the U.S. involved in something, there are probably many more underlying motives to be uncovered.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/WireStory?id=4295418&page=1
Associated Press