美国国家公共电台 NPR George W. Bush Calls Foreign Aid A Moral And Security Imperative

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

President Trump's budget proposal is all about hard power, increasing U.S. military might while slashing¹ aid to other countries, the thinking being there are enough problems to deal with at home. But these historic cuts in foreign aid stand in contrast to the dramatic increases under the last Republican president, George W. Bush. He dedicated² billions to combating HIV/AIDS in Africa with a program called PEPFAR, which so far has avoided Trump's chopping block. Bush used a recent trip to Africa to highlight that program's work, and he shared a memory with us.

GEORGE W. BUSH: I think the most meaningful moment for me was going to a maternity³ ward⁴ in Namibia and seeing a roomful of ladies, most of whom, if not all, had the AIDS virus, and every one of their babies was born without AIDS.

GREENE: The president and I were speaking in Dallas earlier this week. He was fresh off that trip, and I asked him what he would say to someone who is unemployed⁵ in the U.S., someone who might need aid but is watching all this money flow to foreign places.

BUSH: Look, we can't solve every problem, and I would tell the person who is out of work, hopefully there's enough aid there to help you transition. But, you know, the idea of turning our back on a pandemic that would have wiped out an entire generation of people, I don't think is in the spirit of the United States.

GREENE: He also argues that foreign aid helps with national security.

BUSH: When you have an entire generation of people being wiped out and the free world turns its back, it provides a convenient opportunity for people to spread extremism and America didn't care about you. We do, and therefore, I believe in this case that it is - it's in our national security interest, as well as in our moral interest.

GREENE: Andrew Natsios, who ran USAID...

BUSH: Yeah.

GREENE: ...For you, said on our air recently that some of the proposed cuts to foreign aid are an attack on Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush because you were among the leading increasers of foreign aid of all presidents. Is this an attack on your legacy⁶?

BUSH: Oh, I don't think it's an attack at all. I mean, I don't, you know, first of all, I'm not real comfortable with legacy. That kind of assumes that I'm doing this in order to protect my own reputation, and that's the last reason one would take on a humanitarian⁷ mission. But I do know that we set priorities in my administration. And one such priorities was human life on the continent of Africa. And it surprised people. You know, of all places, why? And the answer is is that had nothing been done about this pandemic and a whole generation died, which would have created enormous instability on the continent of Africa and America had done nothing, I would have, you know, I'd been ashamed.

GREENE: You use the term moral, and I think about moral leadership. How do you use moral leadership when you were, say, negotiating with other foreign leaders? I mean, how does that come up? How does it help you?

BUSH: Well, I think that there are certain principles which should guide decision-making for a president. One such principle was that we're all God's children, and every life is precious. To me, that's a moral statement. And so when it comes to, you know, China, for example, I - my diplomacy⁸ with them was very quiet, Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao, but every meeting, you know, I would talk to them about religious liberty.

GREENE: But in a meeting, like, with Hu Jintao or Vladimir Putin, is there a way you can explain to people that doing the right thing for the world gives you some sort of better place in those conversations?

BUSH: Not really. Some of them - I mean, some of these dudes are pretty cynical⁹ (laughter).

GREENE: Well, then does soft power not work?

BUSH: I think soft power definitely can work. But, you know, it depends on who you're dealing¹⁰ with. Some people are so intent upon power and keeping power that it's very difficult to conduct soft power.

GREENE: Because I think about some of the things we're debating today - travel bans, a border wall - and what message that is sending the rest of the world and whether you think that undermines moral leadership or whether maybe Americans don't believe that moral leadership is something that's effective, and they might say, you know, do those things to protect me.

BUSH: Well, you know, it's - I have been relatively¹¹ quiet during my post-presidency, but I have given several speeches on the dangers of isolationism and protectionism. And our country goes through these kind of, I guess, mood swings is the right way to say it. And it seems to me that in both parties there was an isolationist and protectionist sentiment. On the other hand, the reality is that the job sometimes undermined those sentiments. And so I guess I would caution patience and see how policy evolves from this point forward with the current administration.

GREENE: I spoke¹² to the former president at the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas. Elsewhere in the show, he'll talk about immigration and also about his new book of oil paintings.

1 slashing   

adj.尖锐的；苛刻的；鲜明的；乱砍的v.挥砍( slash的现在分词 )；鞭打；割破；削减

参考例句：

• Slashing is the first process in which liquid treatment is involved. 浆纱是液处理的第一过程。 来自辞典例句
• He stopped slashing his horse. 他住了手，不去鞭打他的马了。 来自辞典例句

2 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

3 maternity   

n.母性，母道，妇产科病房；adj.孕妇的，母性的

参考例句：

• Women workers are entitled to maternity leave with full pay.女工产假期间工资照发。
• Trainee nurses have to work for some weeks in maternity.受训的护士必须在产科病房工作数周。

4 ward   

n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开

参考例句：

• The hospital has a medical ward and a surgical ward.这家医院有内科病房和外科病房。
• During the evening picnic,I'll carry a torch to ward off the bugs.傍晚野餐时，我要点根火把，抵挡蚊虫。

5 unemployed   

adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的

参考例句：

• There are now over four million unemployed workers in this country.这个国家现有四百万失业人员。
• The unemployed hunger for jobs.失业者渴望得到工作。

6 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

7 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

8 diplomacy   

n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕

参考例句：

• The talks have now gone into a stage of quiet diplomacy.会谈现在已经进入了“温和外交”阶段。
• This was done through the skill in diplomacy. 这是通过外交手腕才做到的。

9 cynical   

adj.(对人性或动机)怀疑的，不信世道向善的

参考例句：

• The enormous difficulty makes him cynical about the feasibility of the idea.由于困难很大，他对这个主意是否可行持怀疑态度。
• He was cynical that any good could come of democracy.他不相信民主会带来什么好处。

10 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

11 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

12 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。