In his book, Decision Points, George W. Bush writes that, "History can debate the decisions I made, the policies I chose, and the tools I left behind. But there can be no debate about one fact: After the nightmare of September 11, America went seven and a half years without another successful terrorist attack on our soil. If I had to summarize my most meaningful accomplishment as president in one sentence, that would be it."
If I were to choose one word to describe Bush, it would be "bravado." I think it was brazen of him to release his book when the whole nation has not even recovered from the recession that half of America still blames on his presidency. Besides, to pat himself on the back does no good except to himself.
To bring home my point, I really believe that when he decided to go to war, Bush fell into a trap set up by the perpetrators of the 9-11 attacks, the most horrific crime against Americans on US soil in history. His decision left behind a nation so divided that election results swing from one end to the other, not to mention an economy that has yet to see the light of day after two years.
If there were something worthwhile for him to write about for the American people right now, it would be a humble analysis of the wrong choices he made. Valuable lessons are welcome anytime.
On the other hand, it might just be the right timing for his book. After all, the pendulum has just swung to the right.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Cannonshop
Will there be pictures? You know us right-wing-conspirators need pictures...and short words.
2 - Baronius
The most interesting thing I've heard so far is that Mitch McConnell wanted Bush to pull out troops before the 2006 election. I'm no fan of Harry Reid, but I don't trust McConnell at all.
3 - Glenn Contrarian
Cordi -
What's really sad is that so few on the Right know how completely Bush unknowingly followed Osama bin Laden's stated plan - that he would draw us into an unwinnable war and thus destroy our economy. From a purely historical viewpoint, bin Laden's attack ranks with the great strategic masterstrokes of history...all thanks to the testosterone-fueled Right and the "I wanna be a war president and do what my daddy didn't do" idiot who led our nation down this path.
But don't tell the Righties that any of this was their fault, oh no, 'cause no true patriot would ever accuse them of flushing thousands of servicemembers' lives, tens of thousands of innocent Iraqi lives, and trillions of our taxpayer dollars right down the tube JUST AS OSAMA BIN LADEN PLANNED.
And they really think they should be running the country?
4 - Irene Athena
Obama had more years than Bush to figure this all out, Glenn. So what's HIS excuse for staying in Afhanistan?
What's REALLY sad is how few on the LEFT can answer that question for me.
5 - Irene Athena
...and that's even when I DO spell Afghanistan correctly.
6 - zingzing
irene, bush put our collective boot on a land mine. we walk away now, it blows up. taliban takes over. the damage is already done. going in is the easy part. getting back out is far more complex. but you know that. makes one wonder why you needed to ask.
7 - Irene Athena
Afghanistan was a land mine long before we put our boot in it, zingzing. But then you were the one who had to ask Baronius what FSU meant.
8 - Irene Athena
Thank God I have clothes and hot water. Can't keep feeding these quarters to this Procrast-o-meter. Take care zing.
9 - Ruvy
Boy, what a pack of losers! An incompetent thief for a president who writes two auto-biographies after having done nothing, and a monkey who pats himself on the back for spending the country into bankruptcy, bragging that there were no major terror attacks AFTER 9/11....
I really feel sorry for you Americans! On the precipice of being flushed into irrelevance - and none of you can see that! Not even the idiot who USED to be president!
10 - zingzing
irene: "Afghanistan was a land mine long before we put our boot in it, zingzing."
but we're the ones who stuck our boot on it, eh? like it or not, that's the reality we have to deal with now. you asked why we're still there, why we don't just pull out all our troops, and that's the answer. sorry if you don't like it.
"But then you were the one who had to ask Baronius what FSU meant."
so what? there's tons of institutions named fsu. baronius gave no indication of which one he was talking about, so i asked. that's fair, isn't it?
11 - zingzing
ruvy--DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM. you're welcome.
12 - Irene Athena
Zing, confusing Florida State University with the Former Soviet Union is absolutely nothing to be ashamed of. Shame on me for being such an acronym Nazi. :P
Well, the FSU (the one that's closer to the North Pole) had a rag-tag band of enemies way back in 1970. That's why China, and the CIA, and Saudi Arabia and others, if you can believe the reports, supplied training and other support to the Muslim mujahiddin who were rebelling against Soviet rule in Afghanistan in the 70's. Back in the 70's is where you want to look, Zing, for non-Afghanistan entities (not all of them American) putting their boots in Afghanistan, and leaving a stronger radical Islamic militant force behind them.
Nothing the US has done in Afghanistan since then has made radical Islam any more powerful, and unfortunately, any less powerful either. And that isn't likely to change. Brick wall. Bloody hand.
13 - Irene Athena
Ruvy's been gone so long that I can't remember what he...some tribe in Afghanistan...dang, what was their name...
14 - Irene Athena
Pash Toong? Well Ruvy, I hope this latest prophecy of yours is true. If being flushed into irrelevance means the U.S. starts minding its own store, then I'm all for it, even if our store had to get pretty well trashed to distract us from all the other stores we were minding.
15 - zingzing
"Zing, confusing Florida State University with the Former Soviet Union is absolutely nothing to be ashamed of. Shame on me for being such an acronym Nazi. :P"
florida state will definitely pop up first in your search engine for that phrase, but i certainly didn't think he was talking about it. still, there are shitloads of groups that use the acronym. political organizations, financial institutions, street gangs, other universities, etc, etc, etc. no reason to be a little poop. (and if that's seriously the best you've got on me, do a little more searching. i'm sure you can find plenty of ammo. all it takes is a little work.)
"Nothing the US has done in Afghanistan since then has made radical Islam any more powerful."
really? i don't think that's true. i know full well of soviet attempts quash the rebellion in afghanistan of the late 70s. i know that it set the stage for the taliban and radical islam in that country. but to suggest that those actions left behind a stronger militancy in afghanistan (and the larger middle east), while our current actions won't... well, that's the kind of thinking that told us we could succeed where the soviets failed.
16 - Irene Athena
I wasn't talking about the impact the Soviets had on Afghanistan. I was talking about the impact the CIA, China and Saudi Arabia had on Afghanistan in the 70's, when they were helping to build up the mujahideen.
People who thought, or think, that the US can succeed in defeating, militarily, radical Islam in Afghanistan, where the Soviets failed, were wrong when Bush was president, and they're still wrong now that Obama is president.
17 - Irene Athena
Also, I'm not sure I'd that Soviets set the stage for radical Islam in Afghanistan. Radical Islam isn't a reaction AGAINST anything (although it recruits from oppressed populations.) Radical Islam is one of the myriad movements for world-domination, rolling over anything that gets in its way. In Afghanistan, the Soviet push for world domination ran afoul of the radical Islam push for world domination--it didn't give birth to it.
18 - zingzing
and i wasn't not talking about the impact of the cia, china and saudi arabia, but i suppose i could have been more clear on that. i was talking about the entire thing... it's all related. the soviets created the power vacuum that their enemies were more than prepared to fill.
but i most certainly was talking about what you say in the second paragraph. unfortunately, we're kinda stuck, aren't we? the political quagmire that was prophesied. we can't stay without only making things worse, and we can't leave without only making things worse. if i were in charge, i'd slowly back off, hoping nobody noticed.
19 - zingzing
"In Afghanistan, the Soviet push for world domination ran afoul of the radical Islam push for world domination--it didn't give birth to it."
well, it allowed them to gain more power. and the tentative, the enemy of my enemy is my friend kind of recognition in the west. we were more than happy to help them out when they were fighting the russians.
"Radical Islam isn't a reaction AGAINST anything"
well, that's how it likes to present itself, especially to its recruits.
20 - Irene Athena
*shrugs* But you aren't arguing with me anymore.
That must mean I won.
21 - El Bicho
"Obama had more years than Bush to figure this all out, Glenn."
Really? They let junior Senators from Illinois know as much as the Commander-in-Chief. Seems hard to believe.
What's even sadder is that it took a quick Google search to find out why we are still there so I am not sure why you expect the LEFT to do it for you.
22 - Irene Athena
Except for the part about making things worse if we leave. That depends on how long after the departure you're measuring negative impact. Things got worse in Vietnam after the U.S. left....but it would have taken longer for things to get better again, for them and us, if we hadn't.
23 - zingzing
"But you aren't arguing with me anymore. That must mean I won."
nah, it means we weren't as much at odds as you thought we were.
"Things got worse in Vietnam after the U.S. left...."
one example does not a trend make. and it's mere speculation to say that things wouldn't have gotten better quicker if we hadn't have left. although i'm not saying it wouldn't have.
if we were to leave afghanistan in its current state, with the taliban virtually running certain sections, it could easily descend into civil war, or the taliban could completely take over. of course, that would have us back to where we were before, but that didn't end up too nice for us back then either. the taliban are evil, but we should have picked our targets with a lot more precision. hunting down terrorists with an army is difficult, and it causes more destruction and ill-will than it's worth. (if our real goal is to hunt down terrorists, which is a bit doubtful.) but that's the mess we've made, and we need to figure a way out. unfortunately, just leaving isn't an option that people are willing to consider at this moment. even if it's possible that that just might be the best possible thing we could do, political realities make that impossible. mostly because politics and reality aren't often on speaking terms.
24 - zingzing
"one example does not a trend make. and it's mere speculation to say that things wouldn't have gotten better quicker if we hadn't have left. although i'm not saying it wouldn't have."
hrm. i wonder if that's comprehensible. i think you can figure it out.
25 - Irene Athena
Whadja come up with El Bicho? This?