Posted on 06/24/2014 4:25:02 AM PDT by FredDardick
George Bush had much bigger plans for Iraq than simply killing Saddam Hussein, securing his WMDs and handing over control of the oil rich nation to whatever remained of the Ba’ath Party once hostilities ended. Some might consider him naive, but Bush believed that a modern Iraq, one that respected minority and woman’s rights, one ruled by the rule of law rather than the rule of the mullahs, could act as a catalyst in the Muslim world bringing Judeo-Christian values and justice to hundreds of millions who lived their lives in Islamist chains.
It was an audacious goal, one that would be wrought with peril and sacrifice not only for American soldiers, but for the Iraqi people who would ultimately die in their tens of thousands, paying the price for freedom from radical Islam, so that their children might some day live in a world dominated not by Sunni vs. Shia or Christian vs. Muslim divides, but by economic and political opportunity for all.
Bush could’ve cut and run in 2007, but that would’ve meant handing over Iraq to the jihadists. Even though every voice on the left said Iraq was doomed, with Harry Reid saying the war was lost and Obama claiming more troops would accomplish nothing, Bush, not hindered by the defeatism and cowardice of Democrats, forged ahead and ultimately won the peace.
But it was a temporary peace, a battle won in a generational war still to be fought. Bush understood that in order to show the Middle East that lasting freedom could be theirs, America had to remain in Iraq, had to remain engaged in the political process, mediating disputes between Sunnis and Shia, standing up for Christians and ...
(Excerpt) Read more at politicalkrypto.com ...
I believe he was motivated in getting even for the attempted assignation plot on his daddy.
I suppose we could have spent another 10 years sending other people’s kids to war and a few more trillion in debt spending on that notion, but in the end the result would have been the same...when we left the savages would have been at each other’s throats again.
I believe we should have kept an enclave over there and not gone out unless we were going to destroy a target (and we had a target to destroy). No more keeping the peace, roadside bomb fodder, etc. We should not just have cut and run, like Barack Hussein Obama. However, when we left, without a strong dictator, they would have been at each other’s throat.
hello, DU
how many years and how many troops have we kept in Germany, South Korea and Japan and why?
I think Bush’s doctrine would have eventually caught hold with the majority of people once they experienced the good life, esp the young.
Obama squandered it.
Secondly, and NO ONE talks about this, but we have the best trained military in the world. From time to time you need to test it out, and actually use the weapons you’ve developed. We have battle tested soldiers and weaponry. That alone was great by product of the wars there.
Sorry, but it’s true.
Yeah. Forget the other 22 whereas in the resolution to use military force
Thank you...great article.
The only thing that will transform the muslim world is the return of Jesus.
During the U.S. occupation of Iraq the rebuilding of the army began utilizing a U.S. model and equipment replacing the old force which used mostly Soviet equipment. Maintaining ties with Iraq would have influenced an army, navy and air force with U.S. weapons and equipment. This would create a dependency on the U.S. for ammunition, spare parts and technical assistance that could have been financed with oil revenues. This, along with a market for U.S. goods and services, could over time begin to repay the U.S. dollar investment in Iraq.
Iraq had a strategic significance for the U.S. because of its close proximity to Iran. A U.S. air base in Iraq would have been a constant threat to Iran and Syria.
He had it exactly backwards.
Freedom, democracy, & the rule of law thrived in this country & other Western nations precisely because of our Judeo-Christian values. As those values have diminished, tyranny has increased.
The Golden Rule, “do unto others....”, is the basis of our just society. Without it, it is every man for himself.
The muslim religion lacks a universal Golden Rule. It does encourage “fair play”, but only among fellow muslims. All other are fair game for robbery, rape, murder, & enslavement.
Iraq & Afghanistan were & are as likely to embrace democracy as a jackal is likely to become a strict vegetarian. Muslims just don't have the moral fiber to govern in a just & honorable way. Their evil religion makes it so.
I blame GWB for this waste of American lives & treasure.
Bush said islam is a religion of peace. He was either lying or incredibly naive.
There is but one goal - articles like this that speculate and drive conversation away from what is actually occurring are nothing more than time killers.
The Sunni have been gaining momentum over the last several decades and have planned throughly to rise up and claim the necessary area to reestablish the caliphate. They have established banks, sought out legal and illegal monetary enterprises which to grow their war chest, and have move slower than most as not to cuase alarm. Those individuals that attempted to run ahead and claim the prize for themselves where taken out.
ISIS - AL Qaeda - Hamas - Hezzbollah - are nothing more than the workers laying the groundwork. Even those idiots will be removed once the caliphate is established. Who ever rules that Sunni house of Islam will have an energy resource - but also will have access to legitimate funding.
Iraq or any of the other Arab nations will never accept democracy or become a source of indivudal freedom for both man or woman - it’s about control - and who will have that control - and in the end - it will not be Persian or Shia!
I think we should nuke them from orbit...it's the only way to be sure...
One of Obama’s goals is to diminish the US military. He leaked his intention in a speech when he said, “like it or not, we (US) still have the strongest military in the world”.
Delusional.
I’m tempted to ask why you didn’t post your whole article here as you have done in the past.
But since it’s been four years since you responded to any posts directed your way I don’t guess there’s much point in that.
“George Bush had much bigger plans for Iraq than simply killing Saddam Hussein, securing his WMDs and handing over control of the oil rich nation to whatever remained of the Ba’ath Party once hostilities ended.”
George Bush never told the American people he intended to spend billions of dollars and thousands of American lives for the purpose of nation building. The intervention was sold 100% on the need to remove Sadaam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction. During the Bush term in office, the President never once came before the American people to tell them the alleged weapons of mass destruction had been discovered and destroyed, or that the weapons had not been found. Instead, once in Iraq he changed the mission to nation building and tied up the US military in a decade long effort to instill democratic institutions in a 7th century culture with no democratic traditions and a religion hostile to western traditions and institutions.
The founding fathers warned future generations of Americans to stay away from “foreign adventures” and interference in the domestic affairs of other nations. Iraq, like Vietnam, is testimony to poor leadership and a mistaken belief that the US has some responsibility to kill its own citizens in order to force an elitist globalist intellectual view of democracy on other nations.
If our nation had not interfered in the Middle East after WWII, there would have been no 9/11. Instead of tending to our own backyard we supported the establishment of the state of Israel, helped overthrow the government of Iran in the 1950’s, armed the Saudi’s who repaid us with two oil embargoes, invaded Iraq twice, funded Osama bin Lauden in Afghanistan, poured arms into the region, and covertly aided untold numbers of insurgent groups.
There is a reason the Muslim world hates the United States and it has nothing to do with our economic prosperity. It has everything to do with our messing in the affairs of sovereign nations in the region for decades.
The founding fathers were wise me. It is time to heed their advice.
I understand that a President must be diplomatic in his words, but to call islam a religion of peace is just NOT borne out by history & current events.
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