Resan började i Tanzania den 1 december där Bush tillsammans med president Jakaya Kikwete talade via videolänk på en World AIDS Day-konferens i Washington DC där såväl president Obama, som fd president Bill Clinton och artister som Bono och Alicia Keys deltog. Bush skrev också samma dag följande maning i Wall Street Journal, där han beskrev vad som åstadkommits i Afrika de senaste tio åren och vikten av att fortsätta bistå kontinenten. Bush skrev bland annat:
Just a decade ago in Africa, infection rates were soaring, millions faced the certainty of a wasting death, and whole nations were on the brink of despair. All this was taking place even though effective AIDS treatments were common in the developed world. The suffering of Africa was both vast and unnecessary.
The creation of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis in 2002, and the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (Pepfar) in 2003, tested the proposition that large-scale treatment, prevention and compassionate care could be done in nations with weak health systems. Some were skeptical, particularly about the possibility of treatment. That skepticism has now proved unfounded.
In 2003, there were just 50,000 people in sub-Saharan Africa on antiretroviral therapy to suppress HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Today, more than 4.7 million people receive AIDS treatment through Pepfar and the Global Fund. At least 450,000 children have been born HIV-negative due to Pepfar's diagnosis and treatment programs that prevent mother-to-child transmission.
Och vidare:
In lean budget times, the U.S. and the developing world must prioritize. But there can be no higher priority than saving lives. And there is no better way to save lives than to support and expand effective, proven programs such as Pepfar.
Resan fortsatte sedan till Zambia där president Michael Zata förklarade sitt lands behov:
"We have in Zambia a generous budget but we can't meet all that we require in maternal health,"
Bush sa att den utvecklade världen måste bistå:
"What is needed is support from the developed world. It should be our priority to save human life in all places,"
"There are still a lot of people who suffer. We have just began what we need to do,"
Bush, som också förklarade att Zambia skulle bli det första landet i där hans institut skulle arbeta för att bekämpa bröst- och livmoderscancer (Något USA:s utrikesdepartement också avsatt 75 miljoner dollar för att göra), sa också:
"Human condition is important no matter where the person may live, it is a priority. It should be a priority of our nation, to have human life in all places.
In order to do so in a practical way and to take the existing PEPFAR President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief platforms and expand additional service to them, we should screen, test in curing cervical cancer.
We have successful companies which understand that with success comes responsibility and that its one thing to support this programme and its another to support human life,"
Resan fortsätter idag till Etiopien. Resan överskuggades dock även av en för världssamfundet mycket pinsam händelse. Innan Bushs avresa manade Amnesty International regeringarna i de afrikanska länderna att gripa Bush för brott mot mänskligheten, och förklarade följande:
Amnesty International urges the governments of Ethiopia, Tanzania and Zambia to arrest former U.S. President George W. Bush during his expected visit to the region between December 1 and 5, 2011, for crimes under international law.
Amnesty International considers that there is enough evidence in the public domain, from U.S. authorities and from George W. Bush himself, to trigger requirements for Ethiopia, Tanzania and Zambia to investigate his alleged involvement in and responsibility for torture, and to secure his presence during the investigation.
"All countries to which George W. Bush travels have an obligation to bring him to justice for his role in torture,"
Amnestys maning fördömdes av den republikanska kongressmannen Peter King, från New York, som sa:
"If Amnesty International had any intellectual honesty, it would give President Bush a medal to honor him for liberating so many oppressed Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan and for assisting millions of AIDS victims in Africa,"
Inget land som Bush besökte lyssnade heller till maningen och Zambias utrikesminister Chishimba Kambwili sa kort och gott:
- Säg åt dem att hänga sig, och var vänlig be dem att skapa ett eget land och vänta på att herr Bush besöker det så de kan gripa honom där och inte i Zambia
Historien är naturligtvis förkastlig, och visar att organisationer som Amnesty inte är kompetenta att verka för vare sig mänskliga rättigheter eller en sund internationell ordning, och saker som dessa visar tydligt varför USA måste fortsätta förespråka unilateralt globalt ledarskap i en mycket förvirrad värld som snurrat bort sig själva i ideologisk värderelativism.
Se även tidigare inlägg:
World AIDS Day 2011: Obama, Bush, Clinton i paneldebatt 20111201
Obama, Bush och Clinton på World AIDS Day 20111129
Laura Bush hedras för kampen mot malaria 20111107
George W. Bush och Hillary Clinton i kamp mot bröstcancer 20110914
Sydafrika, fotbolls-VM och PEPFAR 20100715
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