What George W. Bush Won’t Do –The Right Thing

On September 11, 2001 the United States was attacked by a terrorist organization known as al Qaeda that was and probably still is headed by a sociopath by the name of Osama Bin Laden.  Bin Laden was at the time of the attacks residing in Afghanistan where he was supported by the Taliban government that was in control of that country.  Note for later reference: The United Arab Emirates was one of the few nations of the world to recognize the Taliban government.

In response to the attacks by this terrorist organization the United States retaliated by attacking and invading Afghanistan and subsequently over throwing the Taliban government and assisting in installing a new democratically elected government.   These actions were done in concert and coordination with American allies and the United Nations.  This was and is an ongoing and reasonably successful operation but it must be noted that during this action Osama Bin Laden was not and never has been captured and that the Taliban insurgents continue to be a threat to the Afghan government.

Subsequent to the successful invasion of Afghanistan the Bush administration attempted to build a case against the Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein by, not just suggesting but, stating outright that Iraq was a party to the attacks against the United States on September 11, 2001.  The administration then simultaneously declared that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction and was an imminent threat to the United States.  Some knew then and all know now that as evidenced by numerous public documents and intelligence reports there was never any evidence showing any connection between the Osama Bin Laden led al Qaeda terrorist organization and Saddam Hussein.  Additionally it has sense been shown that Saddam Hussein neither had nor was he even close to acquiring and possessing weapons of mass destruction.  And the sad reality is that intelligence sources tried in vain to make the Bush administration see and understand that there was “no convincing evidence” that Saddam possess weapons of mass destruction.  In fact it has sense been shown that the Bush administration, in all probability, not only did not possess convincing evidence but, actually ignored intelligence sources and intentionally misled and most likely simply lied to the nation and the world on these two points.

Let me clearly state that I believe it is certain, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Saddam Hussein was a singularly sinister, cruel, and inhuman dictator who ruled Iraq with an iron, sadistic fist.  It is just as certain that he, like many other dictators today, needed to be removed from power; having said that, it is my opinion that the Bush administration made gross diplomatic, strategic, and military errors in judgment and actions by invading Iraq.  It was a diplomatic error in that it has signaled the Muslim world that the United States will take unilateral action and invade a country without regard for international law and precedent.  It was a strategic error in that it is having a destabilizing effect on the region and possibly world and it was a military error because it was ill planned, ill executed, and has overstretched the American military to the breaking point.  I also believe that the administration compounded these errors by not creating a true alliance and instead created an essentially paper alliance that was overwhelmingly American with a token participation from the few other nations that made up the alliance.

The results of the Bush administrations misguided actions will be felt by this nation and the rest of the world for generations to come.  By virtually unilaterally conducting a preemptive invasion of a sovereign nation without the full support of the United Nations and the rest of the world and without concrete evidence of a significant threat to the United States or any other nation it is my belief that the Bush administration has rushed down the path to destabilizing the Middle East and most probably the majority of the Muslim world.  This track toward destabilization is evidenced by the near civil war currently raging within and threatening to spill out of Iraq.  It is also evidenced regionally by the recent election of Hamas in Palestine and the election of the ultraconservative radical president in Iran and their now even more extreme militant posture toward the United States and the rest of the Western nations.  This trend toward destabilization is also manifesting itself in the apparent hyper sensitivity of the Muslim world in general to the smallest negative gesture from any Western nation.  These are just a few of the most obvious signs of what I believe could be the total destabilization of the Muslim World.

So this is where I believe we stand today.  We stand with 130,000 +/- American soldiers in a country on the verge of all out civil war.  We stand virtually alone without the confident backing of our customary allies because we have chosen to discard them like so much excess baggage.  We stand in the middle of an ever increasingly hostile Muslim world with no discernable foreign policy.  We stand in an ever increasingly hostile world with our economic and physical resources stretched to the breaking point.  We stand in an ever increasingly hostile world with our ports and borders unsecured against further terrorist strikes.  We stand in an ever increasingly hostile world when our dependency on foreign oil imports is greater than ever before.  We stand in an ever increasingly hostile world and our government has demonstrated that they are so incompetent so as to be incapable of defending us not only from terrorist attacks but also natural disasters.  We stand in an ever increasingly hostile world when our word as a nation is virtually worthless because we have so consistently broken it as our government has shown contempt for most of the world.   And not last nor least we stand in an ever increasingly hostile world without leadership.

I write this not as a statement of defeat but as a statement of simple fact and reality.  We have been brought to this point by a level of presidential incompetence never before seen in this nation’s history.  I write this because I believe the citizens of this nation must take action and take it soon to bring oversight back to our nation’s capital.  It is my belief that George W. Bush does not have the courage, desire, drive, or moral strength of character to do what this nation so desperately needs and that is for someone to step up and lead the nation out of a quagmire of war, dissolute incompetence, cronyism and plain corporate greed.  George W. Bush cannot lead this nation because he does not possess these traits and because he is controlled by the extreme radical religious right, the neocons, and the radical conservative corporate interests from which his Vulcan vice president and senior advisors come.   Lastly I write this too clearly state that I believe that with honest real leadership the terrorists can be brought to justice and peace can be brought to the entire Middle East.

Those Are The Sergeant Majors Thoughts On That.