Posted on 01/12/2009 8:02:14 AM PST by lewisglad
As he leaves office, President Bush is passing on to his successor two wars and a growing economic debacle. What a way to go!
Because of Bush's policies, the U.S. also is complicit in the Israeli attack on the Palestinians on the Gaza Strip by providing a "made-in-America" high-tech arsenal for the assault and blocking a ceasefire for nearly two weeks, a move intended to help the Israelis consolidate their hold.
Not to worry, Bush says he isn't concerned about how history will view his militant eight years in the White House, telling ABC News that he "won't be around to read it."
Well, they say that journalism is the first draft of history. So I am going to predict that those future historians will not deal kindly with the Bush presidency.
It's true -- as Bush and company point at their proudest achievement-- there have been no new terrorist attacks on the U.S. since Sept. 11, 2001.
But they fail to acknowledge administration mistakes before and after that fateful day, starting with the fact that White House and security officials ignored significant early warnings of an imminent strike against the U.S.
The second half of the double 9/11 mistake was the trampling of our constitutional system and American values by the administration's infamous torture policies, illegal interrogation practices, including water boarding (simulated drowning), secret prisons abroad and U.S. run jails at Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere. Post- 9/11 Bush strategy also nurtured a climate of fear that enabled the self-styled "decider" to lead the country into a senseless war against Iraq, a calamity still underway as he leaves office almost six years after the invasion.
Add the administration's pathetic response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and you have basis to dub Bush's eight White House years as the "Bush error."
He was to be the great "unifier" but instead he became a great polarizer.
While he remained stubbornly steadfast to his core social convictions, he did a 180-degree turn when it came to the role of government in the economy when he bailed out the collapsed giants of Wall Street.
He told CNN: "I've abandoned free market principles to save the free market systems." So much for all the anti-government rant of Republican conservatives.
After the 9/11 attacks, Vice President Dick Cheney and then-national security advisor Condoleezza Rice drummed up the fiction that Iraq was linked to the al Qaida attacks and sold that fable to a naive Congress and jittery American people. During the first crisis meeting after the 9/11 attack, neo-con advisor Paul Wolfowitz, said: "Let's bomb Iraq."
There were no Iraqis involved in the attack and no evidence that Saddam Hussein had any role in planning or executing it.
Other falsehoods that these officials peddled included the tale that Iraq's Saddam Hussein had an arsenal of weapons of mass destruction. Cheney told his Sunday television audiences, "We know where they are."
Official inspectors found none. The non-existent weapons were used to justify the U.S. invasion of Iraq in March 2003.
Bush is not about to admit that his costly inhumane attack on Iraq was a mistake. How could he tell grieving families of more than 4,000 American service members that their loved ones had died because of his error?
In addition to the flawed decision to attack Iraq, Bush and Co. used the aftermath of 9/11 to take wholesale swipes at our civil liberties, including warrantless wiretapping.
So those future historians will have a clear view of the 43rd president as they look back on the early years of the 21st century.
A list of Bush's accomplishments also should include his efforts to pay more money and political support into helping victims of AIDS and malaria in Africa. And he is proud of his controversial program "No Child Left Behind" to upgrade public school students by imposing national standards on an education system that had none.
Those future historians should also take note that Bush was hailed for his "likeability" when he came into office and was dubbed the guy you would like to share a beer with.
However, a CNN poll last year suggested that Bush had become the most unpopular president in modern American history. That CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey indicated that 71 percent of the American public disapproved of how Bush was handling his job as president.
Bush must have a sense of relief in giving up the presidential burdens.
He is confident that those future historians will vindicate him and his presidency.
But no one is expecting him to wind up on Mount Rushmore
IBTUP
(In Before The Ugly Pictures!)
Re: he U.S. also is complicit in the Israeli attack on the Palestinians on the Gaza Strip by providing a “made-in-America” high-tech arsenal
Great news!
After all, Bush pioneered the notion of supplying Israel with U.S. weapons. I didn't bother reading any farther than this.
There...I completed her thought. :)
There are a small number of people on earth that I will celebrate their eventual demise, and this ugly toad is one of them.
poor poor Helen needs to retire..who is she going to hate on, now that President Bush is leaving.
what a sad existence
poor poor Helen needs to retire..who is she going to hate on, now that President Bush is leaving.
what a sad existence
Helen stands in support of those who behead innocent people, bomb school busses, torture at will, and against America’s love of freedom.
The woman is deranged in her hatred of Israel and her utter hatred of President Bush for daring to send her hero Saddam Hussein on to hell.
As long as Saddam was paying the families of suicide bombers then Helen was all for the despot.
How many times did the “militant” Clinton deploy the armed forces to resolve conflicts? Hmmmm...
History will be much kinder to W than it will be to you, Helen. Ignorant, Arrogant, and Bitter do not play well over time.
He is confident that those future historians will vindicate him and his presidency
As far as fighting back against ‘facist islam’ and cutting taxes, he will be vindicated........illegal immigration and explosive growth of the government under his watch , well that’s another story
She’s already dead, just too dumb to drop over...
WTH? We are blocking a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas?? It really is time they take the keyboard away and replace it with knitting needles. She has become an embarrassment to whoever agrees to put her writings in the paper.
But ugly is to the bone.
She is living proof. She is as ugly inside as out.
And that is saying A LOT.
Helen: STFU!
There, I feel better.
“survey indicated that 71 percent of the American public disapproved of how Bush was handling his job as president.”
Yeah, and 100% of the American public agree that you are one of the ugliest hags to ever walk the planet!
According to some, American history began in January 2001, and President Bush is the one that started everything bad in America. This libtard talks about 'mistakes made' before and after 9/11, but ignores an eight year mistake from 1993-2001 by Clinton and his team that did not change policy as seven other terrorist attacks were executed on American interests, nor the policies of Gorelick and the brainiacs in the justice department during his term that PREVENTED inter-departmental communication. This was most likely done to prevent investigations of the Clintons --- despite the tumultuous affect on our ability to protect the nation.
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