I read in The Leader that Surrey has invited George W. Bush to appear here Oct. 20 at the Surrey Regional Economic Summit, along with former U.S. president Bill Clinton.
This leaves me flabbergasted. George W. Bush and his administration are responsible for grave violations of international law and human rights, having launched the illegal war in Iraq that has resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths, as well as the use of “enhanced interrogation techniques” – news speak for torture – at illegal centres like Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay.
Putting those crimes aside, these two men are largely responsible for having personally overseen the catastrophic deregulation of the American financial system that plunged the world into crisis in 2009 – a crisis from which we have not yet recovered. Recent economic news indicates that we may be in for round two.
In The Leader’s report, Mayor Dianne Watts is quoted as saying, “If we only spoke to people that we liked, and that we agreed with, we would never learn anything.”
Mayor Watts, please tell me what these two could possibly have to offer by way of sound economic or other advice to the people of Surrey or our business leaders.
Sid Shniad
Surrey