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"The foreign policy has won nothing for the Americans except hatred from the Muslim world," Al-Qatami told IOL. |
WASHINGTON - With the curtains coming down on his 8-year presidency, US Muslims are giving George W. Bush the thumb down, citing a tumultuous tenure clouded by controversial foreign policies, unpopular wars and a dismal civil rights record.
"I don't think history is going to be very kind to George W. Bush," Dr. Syed Abdul Siraj, a former scholar from Northern Illinois University Carbondale, told IslamOnline.net.
On Tuesday, January 20, Bush leaves the White House and boards Air Force One for the last time, flying him back to Texas after 8 years in power as the 43th president of the United States.
For many American Muslims, these long years were nothing but trouble for their community and the world.
"The Muslim Community in the United States has rejected the domestic and foreign policy of the Bush administration," said Laila Al-Qatami, Communication Director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC).
She added that the majority of Muslims were particularly unhappy with his foreign policy agenda.
"The foreign policy has won nothing for the Americans except hatred from the Muslim world and the destruction of the economy of the United States."
Ibrahim Ramey of the Muslim American Society [MAS] Freedom Foundation agrees.
"His presidency was an ideology of domination and hostility towards the Muslim world."
Hooria, a student of political science, believes Bush's failed foreign policies has left a trail of destruction, particularly across the Muslim world.
"In light of what has happened in Iraq, Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, Iran and Afghanistan, the legacy of the American attempt to remake the region has been only destruction and instability."
War Legacy
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| "Any claim by the Bush administration that it left the Muslim world in better shape is to add delusion to their legacy of lies," Bukhash told IOL. |
For many US Muslims, the two unpopular wars Bush leaves raging on is the worst part of his legacy.
"Bush legacy is ridden with un- ending long wars: one in Afghanistan and another in Iraq," said MAS's Ramey.
Shortly after the 9/11 attacks, Bush announced a global "war on terror" and ordered an invasion of Afghanistan.
Two years later, in March 2003, he ordered the invasion of Iraq without a UN mandate.
Atif Qarni, a former marine, says that, like many other Americans, he opposes war as solution for problems.
Yet he fought in Iraq for six months because "duty is duty."
"Being a Muslim, it was very difficult for me to support the foreign policy of the Bush administration."
Khuda Bukhash, a resident of Arlington, VA, says that now after nearly eight years in Afghanistan and six in Iraq, the Bush administration should no longer claim the two wars were unavoidable.
"Any claim by the Bush administration that it left the Muslim world in better shape than before is to add delusion and insult to their already formidable legacy of lies, illusion and destruction."
Rights Record
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| "The eight years of the Bush administration was a long chain of the human rights violations," Ramey told IOL. |
For most American Muslims, the Bush's reign was a black chapter in America's civil rights record.
"The eight years of the Bush administration was a long chain of the human rights violations in Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib jails," says Ramey, the MAS activist.
Domestically, he added, there were dramatic injustices and severe discriminations, especially for Muslims.
"Now a complete reversal of the judicial system is needed to avoid any further injustices to the Muslims living here in the United States."
An Imam in Alexandria, VA, says that the Bush tenure left Muslims with a sense of insecurity.
"Muslims need assurance of their legal rights," he said, requesting anonymity.
Muslims in the US, estimated between six to seven million, have become sensitized to the erosion of their civil rights since the 9/11 attacks.
Many Muslims have complained of facing discrimination and stereotypes because of their Islamic attires or identities.
Hooria, the political science student, cites the controversial Patriot Act as a major disappointment.
"It has been threatening the very fundamental freedom rights by giving unlimited powers to the government to break into one's home and conduct secret searches without telling people for weeks, months or indefinitely."
But Muslims hope the wind of change promised by their next president, Barack Obama, will cure Bush's ills.
"I expect drastic changes in both the foreign and domestic policies," says Qatami.
"I am optimistic about the change but it will take a long time," agrees Asim Yousafzai, a professor at Kent State University, Ohio.
"Muslims should not expect that everything would be changed overnight."
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