A 500 Million dollar donation to the United Nations from a private foundation headed up by Bill Gates has captured the imagination of people everywhere. It is an astounding sum of money. It is a welcome contribution to a fund that is running short of its requirements due to the delinquency of committed donor nations in the G8. Despite the Gates donation, the fund is 2.7B shy of what it needs to adequately deal with the challenge of AIDs in Africa.

500 Million dollars. That’s 1.5 percent of what George W. Bush has spent in Iraq.

Let’s rewind to 2001. It is post September 11, and Bush is standing on the pile of rubble, speaking to America and the world, letting his intentions be known.

images.jpgWhat if, instead of pledging to kill the terrorists, he had done something truly remarkable? George W. Bush has said that he accepts Jesus Christ as his personal saviour. What if, in the face of an attack, he had followed Christ’s example and turned the other cheek? What if, instead of taking actions that have now resulted in the deaths of a minimum of 40k civilians, alienated America’s friends and hardened her enemies, he had pledged to help the world face down its worst problems, vanquish the many scourges facing the underdeveloped world, and lead the way to a peaceful Earth?

The outpouring of grattitude would have been incredible. The leadership example would have been world-historic, and could have ushered in a new era of cooperation and peace. Instead, under Bush, America is a mace-dragging, oil-hungry murderer of civilians on a scale that dwarfs the 9/11 terrorists. The only thing Bush has vanquished is the good will generated from empathy over 9/11. And as we see today, the terrorists continue to plot destruction and death for our families and our children.

A failure. Bush is a world-historical failure.

300 Billion dollars over four years. The opportunities were limitless, and they are now lost.