International students critique Bush

George W. Bush is often heralded as being the “leader of
the free world,” but international students at UCLA are quick
to point out this world extends beyond the United States ““
and have much to say about their opinions of him and whether these
beliefs have changed since their arrival.

“Bush just wants war and will do everything possible to
get war,” said Emily Wilks, a third-year political science
student from Britain.

Wilks was quick to jump on news broadcasts with headlines such
as “Showdown with Iraq.” In her opinion, the conflict
“is not just “˜them’ against the
“˜U.S.,’ as the whole world is dragged into and affected
by this.”

Wilks also complained that news coverage of British Prime
Minister Tony Blair’s complete vocal support for President
Bush has neglected to address the British people’s opinions
and has meant that Americans know little about the British
public’s serious reservations about going to war with
Iraq.

Third-year economics student Jasper Platz from Germany, where
there is a prevailing reluctance to support an American war, says
Bush is generally inexperienced in foreign policy.

“It is really disturbing that before taking office, the
vice-president-to-be Dick Cheney had more heart attacks (four) than
George W. Bush had trips abroad.”

Though the actual number of Bush’s trips abroad before his
election is contested, Bush’s relative lack of travel then is
now “reflected in the quality of his foreign affairs
decisions,” and his former involvement with the oil industry
influences his current policies, Platz said.

“If he actually ran the government, I would be really
concerned,” said Platz, adding that, in his opinion, Bush is
not the most influential person in his own administration.

Yet, because stereotypes are so easy to attach to Bush, Platz
said, one should “measure the administration not by
stereotypes made by the press but by the actions of the government
itself.”

He said there is a lack of criticism within the United States,
and observed a general apathy towards the questioning of any of
Bush’s policies. Any debate by his American friends on Bush
seems restricted to ridicule, Platz said.

Another student ““ from Australia ““ said Bush has
lived up to the gung-ho stereotype associated with him, but added
that sentiment at home towards the president may have changed after
he addressed the Australian victims of the Bali bombing.

“I think Bush is, in fact, run by his top advisors. His
education on most affairs seems to come from them,” said
Penny Chalke, a third-year political science student.

Chalke, one of the only international students interviewed whose
opinion of Bush has changed slightly since arriving in the United
States, claimed Bush seemed “more self-assured
now.”

Yet Chalke also claims that, “He seems to act more on
impulse, with the hawkish peer-pressure of his advisors urging him
on.”

She illustrated this point by calling Bush’s urge to topple
Hussein “personal,” as Hussein tried to kill Bush Sr.
in an attempted bomb attack in Kuwait in 1991.

“At home (Australia), we hear so many Bushisms … he is
so often critiqued on Australian chat shows and labeled a moron.
Yet, I left Australia (to come to UCLA) at a time when three out of
four Australians were against war, and the Bali bombing has
possibly changed this,” Chalke said.

The Oct. 2002 Bali bombing of two tourist nightclubs left nearly
200 people dead, the majority of whom were Australians. Chalke
commended Bush’s empathy with those affected.

Daniel Maldonado, a Latin American studies student from Brazil,
highlighted the president’s backing out of the Kyoto Protocol
on international climate change in 2001 as showing America’s
“double standards.”

“The U.S. is the world’s number one polluter,”
he said. He listed this as one reason behind the lack of support
for President Bush in Brazil.

As the leader of the free world in a time of international
uncertainty, President Bush is subject to having his every move
scrutinized by both the domestic and international communities
““ both of which are shrewd enough to know that his policies
affect us all.