January 20th 2009 is a day I have personally looked forward to for eight long years. It provides me and the majority of Americans the hope that our country can be returned to its former standing in the world and hopefully reconcile its financial stability.
I had a political discussion over beers in early, pre-election November of 2000 with two very close friends…one a staunch Democrat and the other an equally staunch Republican. Most political discussions usually end acrimoniously but we were/are good friends and it was done with humor, thought and sensitivity to each other’s opinions. Jack and I were arguing in behalf of Al Gore while Chris was supporting George W. Bush. Bush had already been ridiculed for his “Bushisms” and my argument was that he was a dolt and had no business in such an exalted office. Chris’ response was, in agreement, “it doesn’t matter for he will surround himself by the best and the brightest”. I was a strong democrat but I could see Chris’ argument and realize that past presidents had done just that. Lincoln created a mixed cabinet of friends and foes in order to get a balance of opinion before he made his decisions.
It was a plan that fell through. Bush was elected. He chose Dick Cheyney as his running mate. He had senior advisors who included Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Deputy Secretary of Defense Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz, and Douglas Feith. Cheyney, Rumsfeld and Perle jokingly referred to themselves as “The Cabal”. They had already planned to invade Iraq having studied oil reserves in Iraq on numerous occasions. Cheyney simply refused to allow the press to gain insight into his “Energy Task Force” meetings. Plus Bush was supposedly upset with Saddam’s alleged attempt on his father’s life. This is not speculation on my part. Refer to: historycommons.org and search for Franks (as in General Tommy Franks).
Afghanistan was rightfully invaded to kill or capture Bin Laden. On the night of the invasion, a convoy of cars in which Mullah Omar was riding was targeted by a Predator Drone. However, before the trigger was pulled, permission was sought from military command in Florida. Permission was not granted and Mullah Omar escaped. Not much later, intelligence discovered his hiding place in a house. Again, a delay seeking the OK from higher ups allowed him to escape. We may never have had another chance to kill Omar. Bin Laden was trapped in the mountains of Tora Bora in December 2001. Veteran CIA agent Gary Berntsen led a command called Jawbreaker to kill or capture Bin Laden. Twelve hundred American soldiers were bivouacked at an abandoned air base 80 miles away but General Franks relied on Afghan warlords and a small contingent of special forces to get Bin Laden. Franks was warned that the warlords were notoriously untrustworthy and they proved to be just that. Bin Laden paid off the warlords and escaped.
The invasion of Iraq was next. The American public was fed a series of lies to get not only Congress but the populace behind the invasion. When Colin Powell, a person I greatly respect, showed the United Nations a vial of what he described as anthrax spores, I was sold. (Of course, anthrax is so deadly that only a fool would bring a vial of anthrax spores to a UN meeting, let alone handle it so nonchalantly. Condolezza Rice inferred that Hussein had nuclear weapons and was capable of striking America. Cheyney was haranguing the press with tales of Mohammed Atta (the leader of 9/11) as having met with Iraqi agents in Prague before the attack. We were all angry and vulnerable and like a scorned lover, willing to jump at the next chance to gain retribution.
The rest is ugly history. Four thousand dead American soldiers, more than 40,000 seriously wounded, one-third of the veterans needing post-war help for psychological trauma, a veteran administration woefully adequate to satisfy the vets’ needs, more than 100,000 Iraqi deaths (probably higher than that), and the cost of eight billion dollars/PER MONTH. We are currently arguing about bailing about the big three US automakers who requested 15 billion yet we are spending that much in two months in Iraq. Unfortunately, as soon as we leave, the minority Sunnis will begin the bombing campaign against the majority Shiites. The northern Kurds who have enjoyed some degree of autonomy after the first Gulf War are not going to take lightly being under the thumb of the Shiite majority in parliament. Plus the Kurds have control of a good deal of the oil. The Sunnis’ land is not oil rich. The story behind the surge that made it appear so successful is the fact that the former insurgents were being paid $300/month to attack Al-Qaeda in Iraq. (Al-Qaeda had no presence in Iraq before the US invaded). More recently, the monthly stipend has been reduced to $200/month and they are not happy. When we cut them free of our purse strings upon leaving, they will revert to their previous enemies…the Shiites.
As despicable as Saddam Hussein was, he was a buffer between Iran and the rest of the Mideast. Now, Iran has become the power in the Muslim Mideast with no other military power able to stand in there way, ‘cept for Israel.
Illegal domestic wiretapping, outing a covert CIA agent, torture…and defending that practice are all criminal acts that are punishable by imprisonment. Ineptitude is not criminally punishable but nevertheless add to list of Bush failures: the response to the Katrina disaster (heckuva job Brownie) , lack of federal financial regulation, politicizing the federal courts by firing Bush-appointed albeit independent-minded judges, politicizing of GSA, destruction of millions of emails, no-bid contracts favoring Halliburton and KBR (Kellog, Brown and Root), and more. Just google Bush failures to fill in the blanks.
Bush is now desperately trying to save his legacy. He claims that he has protected the US against another major terrorist attack. That may be so but Al-Qaeda has always proven a patient enemy and has spaced its attacks. I hope that he is right but I feel uneasy and unsure after his eight years of leadership. How many times will he cry wolf before he is finally right?
His popularity rating had inched up to 31% earlier this month. After his plaintive exit speech, his popularity by one poll has fallen to 22%.
He claims as one of his triumphs his fight against AIDS in Africa…(the continent, not the country, Sarah). Uganda was likely the epicenter of the AIDS pandemic beginning in the 1980s. During the Clinton administration, condoms were freely distributed and Uganda was beginning to turn the corner, actually diminishing the number of new cases of HIV infections. However, the Bush administration, under pressure from the evangelical right insisted on his ABC plan in which A stood for Abstinence, B for Be Faithful, and a very distant third…C for Condoms. I must emphasize that condoms took a very distant third place approach behind abstinence and being faithful. Not surprisingly, the incidences of new HIV infections in Uganda during the Bush years have begun increasing once again.
The faith-based initiatives here in the US have also promoted abstinence as the only approach to curb the burgeoning increase of sexually transmitted diseases. Virgin pledges have proved to be worthless. Those pledging to remain virginal until marriage actually have a higher incidence of sexually transmitted diseases than those who eschew such pledges. The possible explanation is that pledges are not equipped to deal with contraception/prophylaxis at the magic moment.
Leonard Pitts, a syndicated columnist who is published by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette addressed a concern that I had hoped to approach one day but never got around to it. Pitts wished Bush a long and healthy life so that he will have plenty of time to reflect upon his legacy. Plus, since Bush has repeatedly said that history will prove him to be a Harry Truman-like president (highly unpopular when he left office but vindicated by historians decades later), I hope he is around a long time to see how wrong he was/is.
