Of the four living former US presidents -- Jimmy Carter, the elder and the younger Bush, and Bill Clinton -- Clinton and George W Bush are now multi-millionaires. And the money they have earned after leaving the White House, and continue to earn, comes from lecturing about their times as president, writing books on their White House years, or participating in fund-raising events for politicians and lobbyists.
The wives of President Clinton and President George W Bush are also in their own right, minting millions from doing what their husbands are doing. Hillary Clinton, of course, is in a class by herself, for she is not just a former first lady; she is also a former senator, a former secretary of state, and now a presidential candidate, one most likely to make it to the White House herself.
The love for money among the top political leadership in the United States was exposed once more by former president George W Bush, with his wife Laura Bush in accompaniment.
In news that made national headlines, it was revealed that the former president had charged a fee of $100,000 from the “Helping a Hero” charity that works to raise funds for the welfare of veterans who have been grievously wounded in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
It was further revealed that Laura Bush had charged $50,000 to be present at an event of the Texas-based charity “Hope for Heroes” that, too, works to help US veterans. In the case of the president, the fund-raisers had also spent $20,000 to charter an aircraft for his travel to Houston for the event.
The news that the president had charged such a big amount for the fund-raising of veterans of the Afghan and Iraq wars caused an uproar nationwide, and in particular, among the veterans, a group extremely well-respected in the country.
In the wake of such an uproar, the sponsors of the president’s event defended themselves and the president by stating that the normal charge to get Bush to take part in an event such as the one he attended in Houston was $250,000. The sponsors further added that it was out of the president’s compassion for the veterans that he had reduced his fee by $150,000, that it was an act of magnanimity on his part.
The sponsors further justified the fee they paid the president by stating that they got value for the money they paid the president by the amount they raised from the event. They credited the president for it and further stated that the money raised would go to the welfare of the veterans.
That was a very shoddy way to defend President Bush on an extremely sensitive matter where issues of morality and conscience are deeply embedded. The veterans themselves underlined the issues of morality and conscience and they did so in a manner that was one of anger and contempt.
A former Marine, who lost both his hands in Fallujah, Afghanistan, said of Bush pocketing $100,000 to speak to raise funds for veterans: “For him to be paid to raise money for veterans that were wounded in combat under his orders, I don’t think that’s right.” Many veterans who spoke in the media agreed that it was immoral and unethical for Bush to charge money for veterans who now are in need of help because they were put in harm’s way by his direct orders.
The issue of Bush and his wife charging such huge sums for welfare of those who were harmed because of his directives becomes even more untenable as now more and more Americans are openly speaking out against Bush’s decision to take the US to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
In case of Iraq, it is now an accepted fact that Bush and his neo-con advisers took the US to war there on fraudulent and manufactured intelligence. In a recent TV interview, the current Chief of Army Staff General Odierno said the problem the US was facing with ISIS was the outcome of Bush’s decision in 2003 to resolve a political problem militarily.
And on the Afghan war, Hillary Clinton, in a TV interview last year, blamed the US for creating the Taliban and al-Qaeda to serve its own interests in the late 70s and 80s to fight the Soviet interference and invasion, and then invaded Afghanistan in 2001 to fight the same forces that it put there in the first place.
In recent times, the decision of Bush to take the US to wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are being seen by average Americans as major wrong decisions taken based on deliberately flawed intelligence. And the errors become almost unforgivable given the fact that the decisions of Bush and his neo-con advisers have cost mind-boggling losses, in human and financial terms.
For the US, the sums wasted in the two wars amount to trillions of dollars, which had pushed the US to its worst economic depression since the Second World War, out of which it is just coming out. The US also lost over 6,000 men and women in uniform in the two wars.
As for the “collateral damage,” between Afghanistan and Iraq, nearly half a million innocent Iraqi and Afghan men, women, and children have been killed by the decision of “President War” to invade Afghanistan and Iraq.
It would appear that in the world’s oldest democracy -- the leaders they choose, who make it their right to judge the rest of the world insensitively on issues of ethics and morality themselves -- lack the primary ingredient to make such a judgment, namely, a clear conscience. Most former US presidents have faced public criticism for their enormous speaking fees.
Clinton, who has so far raised over $100m from speaking engagements, faces criticism every time on whether it is ethical and moral for him to raise money from being a former president. And Hillary Clinton is also being grilled for the millions she makes in the footsteps of her husband, that many now argue weaken her and the Democratic party’s claim that they represent America’s middle class.
Nevertheless, after George W Bush came under fire, Clinton’s office claimed that he never charged a fee for speaking to raise money for veterans. The same statement was given out on behalf of the senior Bush.
It seems that George W Bush has a lot more to answer for himself, and more importantly, on the issue of conscience. So does the US for spreading so much misery in the rest of the world, in particular in the Muslim countries.