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10 India Post
November 12, 2010
www.indiapost.com
George W Bush admits to making errors in Iraq war NEW YORK: Former US President George W Bush has admitted that he committed many errors involving the Iraq war and said he "felt like the captain of a sinking ship" towards the end of his presidency when dealing with recession, according to his new book. In his book, 'Decision Points', to be released next week, Bush writes of the errors involving the Iraq campaign and the failure to find the weapons of mass destruction (WMD), despite a number of US intelligence reports pointing to their existence there. He admits feeling a "sickening feeling" when he learned there were no mass destruction weapons in Iraq and said "cutting troop levels too quickly was the most important failure of execution in the war," according to excerpts from his book,
released by 'The New York Times'. The former President has also disclosed he considered replacing his Vice President Dick
Former US President George W Bush
Cheney who offered to step down in 2003 so that he could pick someone else as his 2004 campaign running mate. Bush considered the offer, writing that while Cheney "helped
with important parts of our base, he had become a lightning rod for criticism from the media and the left". He said accepting the resignation offer would help "demonstrate that I was in charge", but he decided to stick with Cheney. "He was seen as dark and heartless -- the Darth Vader of the administration," Bush was quoted as saying in his book. He adds: "The more I thought about it, the more strongly I felt Dick should stay. I hadn't picked him to be a political asset; I had chosen him to help me do the job. That was exactly what he'd done. I asked Dick to stay..." In his book, Bush has also disclosed that he "felt like the captain of a sinking ship" towards the end of his presidency, when dealing with the recession.-PTI
Manmohan Singh's admirers include Bush, Obama WASHINGTON: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh may have got on famously well with his predecessor, but he appears to have hit it off with US President Barack Obama too. "People of India deeply love you", Singh had told then US president George W Bush at a time when he was becoming deeply unpopular in his own country. Bush in turn had called Singh a wise leader whom he really liked.
Indo-US ties may have cooled somewhat since Obama took over the presidency nearly two years back but the current President also turns out to be an admirer of Singh. "From our very first conversation in London, I have found that the Prime Minister and I share many of the same values, the same goals and the same vision for the well-being of our people," Obama told PTI. Stating that he and his wife
Michelle were both excited to go to India, Obama remarked, "one of the great joys of my visit to India is the opportunity to see the Prime Minister again." Obama said, "Michelle and I were so pleased to host the Prime Minister and his wonderful wife (Gursharan Kaur) for our first State dinner (a year back)." Singh and Obama have met several times since their first interaction about 20 months ago in London-PTI
Gandhi, Tata in Forbes' most powerful people list BOSTON: Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Tata Sons Chairman Ratan Tata are among the five Indians named among the most powerful people in the world by Forbes in its this year's list of 68 people "who matter". India's business tycoons Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani and steel giant ArcelorMittal Chairman Lakshmi Mittal also make this year's list. China's President Hu Jintao has topped the 2010 Forbes list of the 'World's Most Powerful People'. For the top spot, Jintao pipped US President Barack Obama, who comes in at second place. Of the 6.8 billion people on the planet, Forbes' list comprises "the 68 who matter. The heads of state, major religious figures, entrepreneurs and outlaws on the second annual list were chosen "because, in various ways, they bend the world to their will. Gandhi debuts on the 9th spot in this year's list of the world's most powerful people. Incidentally, she was not featured in Forbes' recent list of the world's most powerful women. Recently elected to record fourth term as head of India's ruling Congress Party, 63-year old Gandhi has cemented her "status as true heiress to the NehruGandhi political dynasty." Forbes said despite her Italian birth, foreign religion (Roman Catholic) and political reluctance, "Gandhi wields unequaled influ-
Obama Admin didn't get off to good start with India: Blackwill WASHINGTON: Obama Administration did not get off to a very good start with India, a former US Ambassador to India has said but asserted that during the forthcoming presidential visit there will be enough aggregated forward movement that can put this perception behind. "I think it's widely shared around the national security community in both countries that the Obama administration did not get off to a very good start with India," Robert Blackwill, former US Ambassador to India, told reporters in a briefing on President Obama's India visit. He said when President
Obama took office he faced global recession and two wars took his time up and he got distracted. And the Kashmir issue, which President during his campaign talked about a US diplomatic emissary to Kashmir, of course, "is anathema to India". "Dick (Richard) Holbrooke's efforts to include India in his portfolio in that regard, and then USChina communique in Beijing which seemed to say that China had a role in South Asia and may be even in Kashmir, and then the IT services dispute and so forth," Blackwill said. "So I think, yes, it got off to a
rather rocky start. And again, to be fair on the Indian side, you have a complicated coalition government - and a lot of other things on the Indians' mind, too. I think that's why this visit is so important. "And hopefully, in all the dimensions that I mentioned, there will be enough aggregated forward movement that we can put that perception behind us and the two governments can say to one another and to everybody else: Well, we might have gotten off to a kind of slow start here, but now watch our momentum. So that's what I think," Blackwill said. -PTI
Ratan Tata
ence over 1.2 billion Indians. Having "handpicked brainy Sikh economist Manmohan Singh" as Prime Minister, Forbes said Gandhi remains the real power behind the nuclear-tipped throne. She is now grooming her 40year-old son Rahul for prime minister's role. Singh, "universally praised as
India's best prime minister since Nehru," is ranked 18th on the list. He has moved up in the list from last year's 36th position. Forbes said the soft-spoken Oxford-trained economist is "ideally trained to lead the world's fourth-largest economy in terms
Sonia Gandhi
of purchasing power into the next decade." (MORE) PTI YAS Credited with transforming India's quasi-socialist economy into world's second-fastest growing, 78-year old Singh is now enjoying the fruits of free -market policies he implemented as India's finance minister in early 1990s. With the World Bank forecasting India's GDP to surge 7.6 per cent in 2010 and another eight per cent in 2011 - not far behind its 9 per cent forecast for China Forbes said this is clearly the case of "slow and steady will win the race." Ambani, who has a net worth of USD 29 billion, comes in on the 34th spot. His ranking too improved from last year, when he was ranked 44th. The 53-year old "business maharaja" is Asia's richest person, who certainly likes to live like a king, Forbes said. His one billion dollar 27-floor high-rise in Mumbai is the world's most expensive private residence. His petrochemicals conglomerate Reliance Industries is India's most valuable private sector company with a market cap of USD 80 billion. It accounts for nearly five per cent of India's GDP and 15 per cent of exports. The Reliance refinery at Jamnagar in western India can process 1.24 million barrels daily making it world's single largest refining complex in one location. "Firm is setting up a joint venture in Marcellus Shale, one of the most promising gas deposit regions in the US," Forbes said. -PTI