Former US President George W. Bush is in New Delhi as a private citizen to participate in the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit. He spoke to Pramit Palchaudhuri of Hindustan Times about his present life, why he sought to change the Indo-US relationship, and the global role he sees India fulfilling:
Q. How do you keep yourself busy these day?
I’m giving a lot of speeches, some thirty are lined up. I’m also working on a book. Making speeches is an interesting way to make a living, gives me a chance to share some of the experiences I had as president. The book will be about the decisions I made as president and as you know I had some pretty consequential decisions to make. I just want people to get an idea of what it was like. It’s really going to be a book for history. It’s not going to be a slash and burn type book. It will be a book about the environment in which I had to make some tough calls. And then it will let the reader to make up his own mind as to what he would have done. There is an autobiographical component to it. But it’s really about my days as president. We are having a good time. The book should be out, hopefully, next year.
Click here to read the full interview.
Bush told Anil Padmanabhan of Mint: “I think the way out is for the United States to help the Pakistan government in dealing with these extremists.”
During your first visit to India you set the stage for the bilateral relationship between India and the US. Now you return as a private citizen. What are your thoughts?
First of all, the bilateral relationship forged with previous prime ministers is important for America and I believe it is good for the region and good for the world. India is an important country and it is one with which America shares values.
Secondly, its importance is becoming more relevant as the world recovers from the economic downturn. I think historians will look back and say that isn’t it interesting that one of the reasons behind the recovery is India and other emerging countries like her. That would not have been said 20 or 30 years ago. So, India is a country of vital importance. It is important for peace and prosperity. More here.
Similar Posts:
- The Internationalilst
- FT interview with Manmohan Singh
- Obama should visit India — soon
- India’s new foreign secretary
- In improving ties with India, Bush can claim a foreign policy success
Recent history in Pakistan is similar to events in Iran during the rule of the Shah. Both leaderships were strongly backed by the US, and were involved in widespread repression or attacks on their own people. Both regimes followed policies that were deeply unpopular domestically. In Iran, this led the revolution of 1979 which created an Islamic Republic. Could something similar happen in Pakistan?
http://watching-history.blogspot.com/2009/10/future-of-pakistan.html
….. bush is not a dolt, one might disagree with him and i do on many issues but he invested in a strategy he believed in, i like his sense of humor. also he seemed sensible in his interviews during his visit to india !! had a tuff a tuff job i guess