Bush's Tragic Legacy

[Quantum Windbag]

A hard truth, most will refuse to accept:

America was trapped in Iraq for years, where a victory was a long time coming and was never a real one. It is currently trapped in Afghanistan, where victory no longer even seems possible. And it is trapped in an embrace with his its ally Pakistan, which it does not trust and yet cannot release.

These are costly defeats for America and the rest of the world. According to a conservative estimate of Brown University, there have been almost 140,000 civilian casualties in Afghanistan and Iraq. The massive retaliation cost more than $3 trillion (€2.2 trillion) -- dollars that would have been better used in America's schools or in the wallets of US citizens.

For a short time after the attacks, the country seemed united. Americans embraced each other. Even the cold city of New York suddenly seemed warm. But instead of cultivating public spirit, President Bush sought to find a pretext -- any pretext -- to invade Afghanistan and Iraq. This is his most tragic legacy, the fact that America can no longer even mourn its victims properly -- because Americans have long been not just victims, but also perpetrators.

But the decade of terror did in fact traumatize Americans and turn them into victims -- even those who only experienced the attacks on television.

Bush's Tragic Legacy: How 9/11 Triggered America's Decline - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - International

Why don't you try attacking Bush for what he did, not what he did not do.

If Obama would follow the timeline negotiated under Bush we would be out of Iraq by the end of the year. If you want to blame anyone for us being trapped in Iraq, blame Obama.

Afghanistan is all Obama. Bush accomplished his objectives, and left enough troops there to make sure the Taliban did not come back. I would have preferred we pull out completely after 6 months, but Bush had access to intelligence I am still not privy to. It is possible us staying there was a good idea. Not likely, but possible.

Obama, again being privy t intelligence I am not aware of, chose to escalate Afghanistan in an attempt to end the danger and to create a stable government like Bush did in Iraq. That was a bad idea, but Bush had nothing to do with it.

Why the fuck do idiots focus on the wars when they want to talk about the legacy of Bush? Why don't they talk about how he attacked our civil rights and created the largest bureaucracy in history? How he has essentially declared that everything is now part of national security? Why focus on the trivia? Is it because they do not understand what is really important?

 

[Quantum Windbag]

No WMD.

Bush failed to get Bin Laden

The federal response to Katrina sucked even worse than the city and state response

Doing a tax cut and a couple of wars at the same time was an obvious recipe for fiscal disaster

At the end of the Bush terms our nation was in much poorer shape in every way than at the beginning of his terms.

Whatever one states concerning President Obama's term thus far does not change the dismal failure of Bush's terms.

There were WMDs.

Bush ended bin Laden as a threat, and logically focused on things that were really important. that policy made him careless, and made it easier to find him.

The federal response to Katrina was as good as it gets. The federal response to the levy breaking sucked.

When are you going to start ragging on Obama for his tax cuts while we are fighting 2 wars?

There are a few ways I can think of that we, as a nation, were better off after Bush's term.

Whatever the obvious failures of Bush, it does not change the fact that Obama continued every single bad policy Bush implemented, making us even worse off than we were under Bush.

 

[Unkotare]

When I saw the title of this thread I thought it would be about:


Iraq going from a brutal dictatorship to a representative democracy

The overthrow of the government of Afghanistan that harbored and protected al qaeda and subjected the people of that country to unspeakable oppression

The Arab Spring

The Rose Revolution

The Orange Revolution

The Tulip Revolution

The Cedar Revolution

The Orange Revolution

The Blue Revolution

The Jasmine Revolution

The Purple Revolution

The Lotus Revolution

The fact that we have not had another major, large-scale terrorist attack on US soi since 9/11

And, last but by no means least, the many millions and millions of people in Africa who are alive today thanks to President Bush's initiative who otherwise almost certainly would not be




That's just what I thought the thread would be about when I read the title.

 

[Sallow]

No WMD.

Bush failed to get Bin Laden

The federal response to Katrina sucked even worse than the city and state response

Doing a tax cut and a couple of wars at the same time was an obvious recipe for fiscal disaster

At the end of the Bush terms our nation was in much poorer shape in every way than at the beginning of his terms.

Whatever one states concerning President Obama's term thus far does not change the dismal failure of Bush's terms.

Clinton had the best opportunity to 'get Bin Laden' after the 1993 attack. He didn't. That one decision - or, more accurately, that lack of a decision - had quite dire consequences.

Your overly simplistic summary may suit your political agenda - but it's not exactly accurate. I prefer accuracy over political convenience.

Repeating the same lie doesn't make it true.

Conservatives and Republicans blocked Clinton's every move. And that includes trying to get Bin Laden.

 

[Oldstyle]

No WMD.

Bush failed to get Bin Laden

The federal response to Katrina sucked even worse than the city and state response

Doing a tax cut and a couple of wars at the same time was an obvious recipe for fiscal disaster

At the end of the Bush terms our nation was in much poorer shape in every way than at the beginning of his terms.

Whatever one states concerning President Obama's term thus far does not change the dismal failure of Bush's terms.

Clinton had the best opportunity to 'get Bin Laden' after the 1993 attack. He didn't. That one decision - or, more accurately, that lack of a decision - had quite dire consequences.

Your overly simplistic summary may suit your political agenda - but it's not exactly accurate. I prefer accuracy over political convenience.

Repeating the same lie doesn't make it true.

Conservatives and Republicans blocked Clinton's every move. And that includes trying to get Bin Laden.

Just when I think you can't possibly come up with another thing to blame on the Republicans you amaze me, Sallow. This may very well be the dumbest thing you've posted on here yet...congrats.