George Bush’S Great America [EN]: Chapter 355

< 354 >

“What is this nonsense! ‘Sanctions will be imposed on all disturbances occurring in the three Sudanese states!’? Such outrageous remarks! This is clearly interference in internal affairs!”

Despite voicing opposition in Africa through diplomatic statements, nothing substantial was actually happening. The only ones listening were those making the statements, so it was just an empty gesture.

Of course, the entire world wasn’t acting deaf and mute.

At this time, the general view of the international community was that while America’s somewhat extreme remarks and aggressive exertion of influence were problematic, they had prevented a war. Whether the former’s extremism and arrogance completely overshadowed the latter’s achievement was another matter.

For once, Europe was collectively voicing condemnation of the United States, and by extension, George W. Bush, through the EU.

To be precise, their sense of crisis was triggered, making them think that they might end up in such a state themselves someday. That concern wasn’t entirely unfounded. There had been more than a few times when they had tried to push boundaries without strong opposition.

In particular, even in the UK, a century-long partner, there was much debate when looked at closely. Some even suggested that British Prime Minister Tony Blair had nearly been overthrown, which speaks volumes. Of course, such a thing never actually happened, but it was evidence of the deep discord between the leaders of the two countries as seen from the outside.

In reality, the UK was actively cooperating with America’s global hegemony while rejecting some unreasonable demands.

Anyway, the important thing is that one of the most decisive factors hindering the formation of a truly integrated European force was the reality that most of Europe’s naval power depended on NATO forces, specifically the US Navy.

Failure to resolve this meant that in the event of an emergency, they would certainly lose control of the sea. This fact, along with the end of the Cold War, fueled the arms race that had been smoldering. As a result, it became one of the reasons for the European integrated forces’ navy to repeatedly expand its military power.

Thus, the ordinary people of Europe, who wanted arms reduction and the resulting increase in welfare, often cursed Bush, the perceived culprit.

And Bush, the object of their ire, was now facing a perplexing situation.

“Is this really the best we can do?”

One of the reasons Bush’s presidency was considered detrimental to America in the original timeline was his poor judgment of character. To be precise, the problem wasn’t so much his lack of judgment as his blind trust in the people he appointed.

If they were truly incompetent, they wouldn’t have risen to that position in the first place. Therefore, Bush distrusted all public officials except for his chief of staff from a very early stage, and as a result, documents piled up like skyscrapers. Even then, it was just a collection of reports, but this was a single report.

This report achieved a height comparable to, or even surpassing, the dizzying height of those skyscrapers.

Its grand name was the ‘East Iraq Report.’

“Fuck……. This is amazing. If I try to read all of this honestly, my body won’t hold up.”

“That’s what I’m saying.”

“But why is it so thick?”

“Partly because you told us to bring everything without missing a single detail, Mr. President, and decisively, because the war hasn’t been over for long, so things haven’t been organized yet. Once we cut out the unnecessary parts, it will return to a reasonable thickness.”

‘To be precise, it was to prevent them from playing tricks, but these guys might be trying to screw me over……. Hmm, I can’t say for sure that they aren’t.’

This was the result of driving the public officials like crazy every single day. It was only after hearing that some public officials were fainting or dying from overwork that he changed things to give them a little more time to spare, wasn’t it?

No matter how much money you give them, if you don’t give them time to use it, it’s no different from teasing a hungry lion with food right in front of its nose. And the enraged lion’s actions are obvious.

‘They can’t impeach me, so they’re trying to screw me over like this?’

The report contained everything from the trivial habits of terrorists that no one had ever heard of, to their personal information, their relatives, their unfortunate lives, and even minor details about their physical condition.

“I did emphasize investigating every speck of dust first, but isn’t this too much?”

He didn’t say it out loud, but he thought it was his own fault. However, he was somewhat conflicted about the idea of being undermined. Who would dare to screw over the president of this country? Because he had no tolerance for public officials and punished them severely for any misdeeds, Bush was quite feared.

It is a well-known fact that strict punishment does not have much effect on preventing crime, which is its original function, even if it soothes the feelings of the victims, but this was of a different nature. It was the awe that was concentrated on Bush personally through the karma he had created with his immense power.

As they promoted, he was a benevolent president to the people, but to public officials, he was a grim reaper, except for his chief of staff. Didn’t they see Donald Rumsfeld, whose momentum was soaring day by day, get blown away? Even Vice President Dick Cheney was just preserving his position, and the power he had in the early days of the Bush administration, when he could wield the great nation of America as he pleased, was nowhere to be found.

So where did that powerful power go? It’s a simple story. It was with the president from the beginning. It was the president’s from the beginning, and the vice president had only created a bunch of devices to enhance the president’s authority.

For example, he created his own offices in various government departments such as the Pentagon. The unitary executive theory, which his forces, including the vice president, believed in, was also similar, in that it was designed to concentrate power on the president. He transformed the unlimited trust he received from the president into the power to become the most powerful man in the world, in reality.

So, if the most basic prerequisite, the president’s trust, disappears, his power naturally disappears as well. Especially if there is no resistance from the person being deprived of power, it disappears even faster.

The CIA’s excessive expansion of power and the monopolization of the judiciary and police force further increased their fear.

Anyway, the important thing is that it was imprinted on public officials and even entrepreneurs that Bush could easily blow away not only the vice president but also anyone else if he so desired.

In addition to that fear, Bush was such an ‘intuitive’ person that when Bush ordered something, they carried it out exactly as he said, without any tricks or shortcuts. This led to some inefficiency, but it still maintained integrity.

The problem was that intuition. The CIA, as well as everyone else involved in this, clung to East Iraq and investigated so obsessively that they squeezed out even what didn’t exist, and the result was this East Iraq Report.

So, it would be more accurate to say that this report is the culmination of the evils that competent officials, fearing that they might be cut off or disappear without anyone knowing, have worked to avoid being caught by absolute power.

As Bush slowly read through the report, classifying it one by one, he had one conviction.

“It would be right to avoid providing aid to occupied East Iraq.”

“Hmm, why is that?”

“If money starts going out to this place, our finances won’t be able to handle it.”

Strictly speaking, there is enough room. However, the problem was that if we paid attention to every detail in such places, we would naturally become distant from Africa. We had been preventing wars in Africa with debts and oppression built up through aid, but if that became weak, wouldn’t they break out right away?

“We should take pride in the fact that our mercenaries performed well.”

By mercenaries, he meant the Korean and Afghan armies. These two were the armies that Bush had chosen as trustworthy. If we were to consider who to trust the most, it would be the British army, but their size was not one that the United States could suppress in an emergency. If we told them to shut up and follow, they would follow, but that was all.

The Korean and Afghan armies were not countries that could withdraw their troops due to domestic circumstances. Even if their country were to collapse in the middle, they would fight to the end. Of course, as long as they are allies and friends of the United States, such a thing would never happen, nor would the United States stand idly by.

“And decisively, the people of East Iraq don’t really welcome us.”

That’s right. Although they were persecuted, most of the people who remained in this country were conservatives and devout Muslims who inherently disliked change. Before the division, Iraq was the most capitalist country, so even if we consider them conservative, their devotion did not welcome Western forces.

Now as in the past, an occupation act that cannot obtain local cooperation is tantamount to suicide.

“I’m thinking of entrusting it to Afghanistan instead.”

“Isn’t Afghanistan too far away? The Afghan army is even a landlocked country.”

“Far away? So what if it is? Isn’t it closer than us? It will take a lot of money to improve the constitution of East Iraq. It will swallow an astronomical amount of money that we can’t easily agree to.”

“So you’re not going to give a victory speech in that country. I have no intention of being hit by the shoes they throw.”

This was a reference to the incident in the original history where Bush was almost hit by a shoe thrown by an Iraqi journalist. Bush himself brushed it off with a joke, but at the time, the authority of the president, which had been built up so strongly, was plummeting without end.

If the current Bush were to be hit, it would be another justification for war, not a joke, but there’s no need to go to a dangerous area if it’s not necessary, is there?

“Shoes?”

“That’s what happened. Anyway, not just Iraq. We had to step in because of the circumstances, but that’s it.”

“If it’s really necessary, wouldn’t a UN peacekeeping force be better? After all, Afghanistan is honestly running on the aid we give them. Of course, I’m not denying their efforts, but they will need our help for the next five years to become a normal country.”

Not a developed or middle-income country, but a normal country. A normal country with a single leader without warlords or rebels, and a complete administrative power that reaches every corner of the region. It will take five years for such a normal country to become self-sufficient, even with massive aid from the United States. This was evidence of how much the Taliban had ruined Afghanistan.

“That’s true. Then let’s do that.”

“But since we won the war, we should give something to the victorious country so that there are no complaints.”

Whether it’s Afghanistan, which wouldn’t be able to say a word even if the United States withdrew its troops, we had to give something to Korea. Even more so because we forcibly dragged them here when they didn’t want to.

“Let’s see. Korea doesn’t have the capacity to do anything externally right now…….”

“Why don’t we just permanently station a carrier strike group in the USFK [United States Forces Korea]? After all, it borders China and Russia. Isn’t it beneficial to us and beneficial to Korea?”

“That’s right. I’ll check with Korea about their intentions.”

With the Korean president accepting Bush’s proposal, a carrier strike group was permanently stationed in the USFK.