As the sun sets on George W. Bush’s presidency, many Americans are thankful to see him go. Over the past four years, Bush has been lambasted by the country and the world. The last eight years have certainly been tumultuous for the president, there is no argument here. There have been some major blunders; treatment of prisoners and Katrina quickly come to mind. However, Bush deserves a break and some credit where credit is due.
The world changed on September 11, 2001. In the months after the attacks, our country, for the most part, was behind the administration in our “with us or against us” mentality. Let’s attack and destroy our enemies before they can attack us. Make no distinction between the terrorists and those who harbor them. Enter Iraq. The CIA thought Iraq had WMDs. So did the United Nations. British intelligence agreed. As did the Germans…the French, the Israelis, the Russians and even the Chinese! Iraq did NOT have anything to do with 9-11 but Iraq had used WMDs before and had thrown out UN weapons inspectors. And let’s not forget, Saddam was a sworn enemy of the United States. Was it really a good idea to allow Saddam Hussein to remain in power? The Bush Administration believed we should use force to expel the dictator and in true democratic fashion (because we are a democracy and not a dictatorship) proposed the following resolution to congress: “To Authorize the Use of United States Armed Forces Against Iraq”.
Hillary Clinton agreed that force was the right action. So did her husband, the former president. So did Al Gore, John Edwards, John Kerry, Joe Biden, Harry Reid, Chris Dodd and Dianne Feinstein – ALL gave the go ahead for the country to go to war. Most made speeches on the floor of congress and to the media denouncing the Iraqi dictator and calling for action.
Since the invasion, we’ve learned that the intelligence was wrong…intelligence most global agencies agreed was correct. Some have even argued that Bush purposely “lied” about the intelligence in an effort to drag us into the Middle East. Agreed, it was no “slam dunk” as the Teddy Bear Tenet suggested, but conventional wisdom at the time argued otherwise. Because of this global failure, Bush, the “gun toting Texan” who is poor at public speaking and who “stole” the 2000 election, has wrongfully become a scapegoat for the invasion; a fall guy for the world’s intelligence gaffe.
After the fall of Baghdad, the war began to go horribly. Violence flared all over Iraq. US casualties began to rise and hundreds of Iraqis were slaughtered wholesale by suicide bombers on a daily basis. Thousands of Iraqis were butchered every month. Al Qaeda in Iraq was beheading westerners on the internet and strapping suicide bombs to children with Down’s syndrome all while Suni and Shiite militias waged wicked war against each other openly in the city streets. The war was going bad. Political leaders started to point fingers and make accusations. Opposition to the war grew; “the war was a huge mistake”, “we never should have gone in”…“all was lost”. It was all Bush’s fault - mainly due to the fact that this was a pre-emptive war. So, it became Bush’s War. Senator Ted Kennedy went as far to call it “Bush’s Vietnam”. Why should Americans play referee in a vicious ethnic gang war? NBC branded the situation “Iraq: The Civil War” (they later quietly retracted this graphic from their broadcasts). Some wanted an immediate withdrawal. Senator Joe Biden even suggested dividing the country into three NEW countries. Something had to be done, but what?
Over the past four years, the Bush Administration made many mistakes; invading a country with an army too small (something John McCain quipped about in 2003), de-Bathification and declaring “Mission Accomplished” to name a few. For four years, Iraq had been under the command a variety of U.S. generals; Franks, Sanchez, Abizaid, Casey, but it wasn’t until January 2007 that George W. Bush found his U.S. Grant (his Ike, his Washington) in the intellectual General David Petraeus. Petraeus, the author of the Army’s field guide to counterinsurgency warfare, insisted the only way to quell the violence in Iraq was with a “surge” of combat troops. The plan received little support, even members of the military brass objected. Americans did not want to send MORE troops into a quagmire. The word Vietnam resurfaced and made its rounds through the media. Bush signed on anyway. Soon thereafter, 30,000 additional troops poured into Iraq and within months the surge had beat back Al Qaeda and the Shiite militias.
The Surge worked. Violence has gone down drastically. Iraqi civilian deaths went from a high of 3,400 a month in September 2006 to 250 in December 2008. US casualties have likewise decreased. If we had left Iraq in 2007, as many had proposed, Mesopotamia would have become a holocaust; an orgy of bloodlust that would have made Darfur look like a sibling rivalry. An ENDLESS cycle of killings and revenge killings would have spiraled on and on and on and on…and on. And, at the end of the day, America would have been blamed for all of it.
Today, the outlook in Iraq is much better than it’s ever been. In fact no one even talks about Iraq anymore. That in itself tells you how well it is going! Many (most?) in America might be all smiles to see Bush head back to Texas, but please look at the past four years and try to remember how far we’ve come with respect to Iraq. Truman was similarly booed upon leaving office and now is considered one of the best presidents of the 20th century. Some critics might shun, but history will be the judge. At the moment, former President George W. Bush receives plenty of credit for botching the invasion (an invasion that so many supported), but receives little credit for fixing it (which very few supported). That’s a damn shame.
The world changed on September 11, 2001. In the months after the attacks, our country, for the most part, was behind the administration in our “with us or against us” mentality. Let’s attack and destroy our enemies before they can attack us. Make no distinction between the terrorists and those who harbor them. Enter Iraq. The CIA thought Iraq had WMDs. So did the United Nations. British intelligence agreed. As did the Germans…the French, the Israelis, the Russians and even the Chinese! Iraq did NOT have anything to do with 9-11 but Iraq had used WMDs before and had thrown out UN weapons inspectors. And let’s not forget, Saddam was a sworn enemy of the United States. Was it really a good idea to allow Saddam Hussein to remain in power? The Bush Administration believed we should use force to expel the dictator and in true democratic fashion (because we are a democracy and not a dictatorship) proposed the following resolution to congress: “To Authorize the Use of United States Armed Forces Against Iraq”.
Hillary Clinton agreed that force was the right action. So did her husband, the former president. So did Al Gore, John Edwards, John Kerry, Joe Biden, Harry Reid, Chris Dodd and Dianne Feinstein – ALL gave the go ahead for the country to go to war. Most made speeches on the floor of congress and to the media denouncing the Iraqi dictator and calling for action.
Since the invasion, we’ve learned that the intelligence was wrong…intelligence most global agencies agreed was correct. Some have even argued that Bush purposely “lied” about the intelligence in an effort to drag us into the Middle East. Agreed, it was no “slam dunk” as the Teddy Bear Tenet suggested, but conventional wisdom at the time argued otherwise. Because of this global failure, Bush, the “gun toting Texan” who is poor at public speaking and who “stole” the 2000 election, has wrongfully become a scapegoat for the invasion; a fall guy for the world’s intelligence gaffe.
After the fall of Baghdad, the war began to go horribly. Violence flared all over Iraq. US casualties began to rise and hundreds of Iraqis were slaughtered wholesale by suicide bombers on a daily basis. Thousands of Iraqis were butchered every month. Al Qaeda in Iraq was beheading westerners on the internet and strapping suicide bombs to children with Down’s syndrome all while Suni and Shiite militias waged wicked war against each other openly in the city streets. The war was going bad. Political leaders started to point fingers and make accusations. Opposition to the war grew; “the war was a huge mistake”, “we never should have gone in”…“all was lost”. It was all Bush’s fault - mainly due to the fact that this was a pre-emptive war. So, it became Bush’s War. Senator Ted Kennedy went as far to call it “Bush’s Vietnam”. Why should Americans play referee in a vicious ethnic gang war? NBC branded the situation “Iraq: The Civil War” (they later quietly retracted this graphic from their broadcasts). Some wanted an immediate withdrawal. Senator Joe Biden even suggested dividing the country into three NEW countries. Something had to be done, but what?
Over the past four years, the Bush Administration made many mistakes; invading a country with an army too small (something John McCain quipped about in 2003), de-Bathification and declaring “Mission Accomplished” to name a few. For four years, Iraq had been under the command a variety of U.S. generals; Franks, Sanchez, Abizaid, Casey, but it wasn’t until January 2007 that George W. Bush found his U.S. Grant (his Ike, his Washington) in the intellectual General David Petraeus. Petraeus, the author of the Army’s field guide to counterinsurgency warfare, insisted the only way to quell the violence in Iraq was with a “surge” of combat troops. The plan received little support, even members of the military brass objected. Americans did not want to send MORE troops into a quagmire. The word Vietnam resurfaced and made its rounds through the media. Bush signed on anyway. Soon thereafter, 30,000 additional troops poured into Iraq and within months the surge had beat back Al Qaeda and the Shiite militias.
The Surge worked. Violence has gone down drastically. Iraqi civilian deaths went from a high of 3,400 a month in September 2006 to 250 in December 2008. US casualties have likewise decreased. If we had left Iraq in 2007, as many had proposed, Mesopotamia would have become a holocaust; an orgy of bloodlust that would have made Darfur look like a sibling rivalry. An ENDLESS cycle of killings and revenge killings would have spiraled on and on and on and on…and on. And, at the end of the day, America would have been blamed for all of it.
Today, the outlook in Iraq is much better than it’s ever been. In fact no one even talks about Iraq anymore. That in itself tells you how well it is going! Many (most?) in America might be all smiles to see Bush head back to Texas, but please look at the past four years and try to remember how far we’ve come with respect to Iraq. Truman was similarly booed upon leaving office and now is considered one of the best presidents of the 20th century. Some critics might shun, but history will be the judge. At the moment, former President George W. Bush receives plenty of credit for botching the invasion (an invasion that so many supported), but receives little credit for fixing it (which very few supported). That’s a damn shame.
The Viceroy
Senior Fellow, THE WASHINGTON JUNTO
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