George W. Bush’s Legacy

The president’s foreign policy will be remembered kindly

By Peyton R. Miller

In his 2000 presidential campaign, George W. Bush stressed the need for the government to help the poor help themselves as part of an outlook he termed “compassionate conservatism.” Though candidate Bush largely played up the domestic aspects of this agenda, far less conspicuous, both in 2000 and today, have been the administration’s compassionate efforts overseas. Though international elites have unanimously scorned Bush’s so-called rash unilateralism, millions of people worldwide have benefited from his efforts to improve the human condition.

While the media has been fascinated by Middle Eastern diplomacy, U.S. relations with South America have seen significant improvement during the Bush administration. As Otto Reich, former special envoy for the Western hemisphere, explains in a 2007 National Review article, the American government in the past eight years has taken critical action to avert financial collapse and political turmoil in several South American countries. Early in Bush’s first term, the United States provided financial aid for Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay, all of which were experiencing economic recession. By late 2002, all three had entered a period of sustained recovery, and the nations’ leaders each publicly thanked the U.S. government and President Bush.

In 2001 Colombia was overwhelmed by radical paramilitaries fighting the government and each other while the nation’s economy suffered. Educated Colombians fled the country in droves and investment plummeted. In response, the Bush administration increased military and financial assistance and strengthened intelligence sharing with the Colombian government, which helped President Alvaro Uribe gain control of the national municipalities and force thousands of guerillas to surrender or retreat into the jungle. Though the unemployment rate remains at 11.2 percent, real GDP growth now stands at a whopping 8.2 percent, job creation is on the rise, and skilled Colombians are returning to rebuild their country. Despite the failure of the recently proposed free trade agreement with Colombia thanks to congressional Democrats, U.S. relations with this moderate neighbor of Hugo Chavez’ Venezuela have significantly strengthened.

Bush’s resounding unpopularity with foreign leaders did not discourage him from promoting poverty relief during his final year in office. At the 2008 G-8 summit, Mr. Bush proposed that member countries issue periodic reports detailing their progress in fighting poverty. These reports, when updated for subsequent meetings, will assure that member countries are fulfilling their commitments and achieving their stated goals.

Perhaps the greatest global atrocity against human rights in the modern era is human trafficking, the enslavement of people for the purpose of involuntary servitude largely in the agricultural and commercial sex industries. The State Department estimates that between 600,000 and 800,000 victims are annually trafficked across international borders, which excludes the untold millions enslaved within countries. Between 14,500 and 17,500 trafficking victims are shipped into the so-called “land of the free” each year, mainly to serve as sex slaves. President Bush has strengthened legislation pioneered by the Clinton administration to prosecute domestic traffickers and their customers and to provide victims with legal protection and rehabilitation. The administration has launched a multi-million-dollar initiative to end trafficking overseas and has created the human trafficking “blacklist,” which identifies countries whose governments have failed to take meaningful measures to combat slavery. The Bush administration’s sincerity in this effort is evidenced by the fact that several American allies, among them Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, and Qatar, have been blacklisted, whereas efforts to eradicate trafficking have been recognized in countries such as Zimbabwe that have ordinarily drawn criticism from Washington. By making trafficking a key diplomatic issue, Bush has taken a dramatic step against the most abhorrent human rights tragedy of our time.

President Bush’s greatest altruistic achievement is the program known as the President’s Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the largest commitment ever by a single nation towards an international health initiative. In May 2003 Bush approved a federal commitment of $15 billion over five years to combat global HIV/AIDS, with a special focus in 15 severely afflicted countries located predominantly in sub-Saharan Africa. Funding for PEPFAR has totaled $18.8 billion, exceeding the commitment for the first five-year period. As of March 2008, PEPFAR estimates that it has prevented 194,000 infant infections by providing pregnant women with antiretroviral therapy. According to AVERT, an international AIDS prevention charity, PEPFAR support for antiretroviral treatment for those infected has increased from 24,900 people in nine countries in the early stages of the program to over 1.6 million in all 15 focus countries in addition to 87,000 elsewhere as of September 2007. The same organization reports that the initiative has facilitated 33 million HIV counseling and testing sessions, has helped 2.7 million orphans and vulnerable children, and has served a total of approximately 6.6 million people as of March 2008. In light of the fact that an additional $15 billion was committed over the summer—a measure that was cosponsored by none other than Barack Obama—it can be said without fear of contradiction that PEPFAR has been an enormous success.

Let’s not kid ourselves: Bush’s international legacy for the foreseeable future will at best be seen as a mixed record. But despite endless criticism from abroad, there are many to whom Bush’s agenda has made a critical difference. Thousands of AIDS victims have received treatment, and many more will never experience the disease thanks to preventive care. South American economies revived, and Colombians are less threatened by domestic terrorism. Victims of labor and sex trafficking have hope that they will one day be free. Impoverished people everywhere can rest assured that the world’s most powerful economic countries will fulfill their humanitarian commitments or face international ridicule. Is it so preposterous to suggest that those affected by these policies might have a positive view of the United States, and of its president? The ultimate determinant of a nation’s decency is what it does for those who can offer nothing in return. By this standard, it will be difficult for history to condemn Bush’s America.