>> A stable Iraq with the Sunnis being treated like second class citizens with no future and no rights.
But stable, nevertheless. By the time 2007 rolled around everyone knew full well that we were going to need a long-term presence. Everyone except Obama.
We should not have waltzed out of there the way Obama did -- politically motivated, I might add. This joke of dropping "two 500 lb bombs" is absurd and will do nothing but encourage these idiots.
Presidents do inherit certain situations and Obama did. It was on him to deal with it responsibly, and he ultimately will, and should, get the blame for screwing it up. If Bush had not been able to stabilize Iraq before he left office he would have correctly been blamed for screwing it up. But he did -- at substantial cost to the US -- clean up his own mess. That his successor blew it, well, I don't see how you blame Bush for that.
>> You can't turn countries upside down with the ruling class suddenly changing places with the underclass and expect everything to be hunky dory.
Well, that wasn't what the Freedom Agenda was about.
Bush understood that you will never have a peaceful Middle East until the people there are living under oppressive regimes. He further understood that a peaceful Middle East is in America's interests. He was pretty specific about it -- he would support fledgling democratic governments. And yes, that's how Hamas ended up in the driver's seat in Palestine. No one said it was going to be easy.
But part of it was to encourage dissidents and reformers in Iran, Syria, NK, and other places. But how could he know, even if a Democrat were elected, that it would be an idiot? Imagine if Bill Clinton had been president during the Iranian uprisings or at the start of the mess in Syria. I don't know HOW it would be different, but it would be different.
I know you dislike George Bush. I believe he was one of our great presidents who happened to occupy the WH during exceptionally difficult times, and he did a pretty damned good job under the circumstances. Put Barack Obama in the WH in 2000 and think about that for a little while. Do you honestly think he could have handled that job as well as Bush? I don't think anyone believes that. |
