Many people say that former President Bush is struggling to salvage his legacy having left officewith one of the lowest approval ratings in history, two unpopular wars, high unemploymentrates, and an economic crisis.An honest opinion that my democrat friends will probably find loathsome- I believe theimmediate future will look upon Bush unfavorably, but in the long-term, history will probablyfind Bush had the most complicated presidency in the history of our country whose actions willbenefit Middle East and West relations, and develop a common understandings between ourpeople.Beginning with the attacks on 11 September 2001- This changed our country forever. Only oneother time has the continental United States been attacked, and that was by Poncho Villa andsome of his horsemen. This may sound insignificant today, but at the time it was taken veryseriously. General Pershing led the Mexican Expedition, with Lieutenant George Patton whowould later become General Patton as known from WWII. Young Patton was upset by the lack of progress in the combat actions,
and went into Mexico, killed three of Villa‟s men, st
rappedthem to the hood of his vehicle, took them back to the U.S. camp and dumped the bodies in front
General Pershing‟s tent
to let Pershing know the fight wasn
‟
t in hit tent, but out there. Dramaticfor the time,
but this doesn‟t compare to 11 September. If the White House knew that unknown
people were planning attacks,
but didn‟t know the dates or locations they could have
implemented all of the airport security we have today, the wiretaps, the no-fly-lists, and everyother intrusive measures to stop terrorists before the first terrorist attack was ever made.However t
his would infringed on Americans‟ civil liberties
, and caused major delays in airportsfor reasons Americans could not, and would not understand. If these measures wereimplemented, Bush would probably have stopped the attacks, Americans would never haveknown of the danger, and most likely Bush would have been impeached for trespassing on ourcivil liberties. Having been attacked, Americans were given a wake-up call, and tightenedsecurity which has prevented further attacks, and the American people have accepted many of these measures necessary. I will always argue that the enhanced security could have stopped theattacks, but without the attacks having been made in the first place the enhanced security wouldnever have been accepted. So what actions set the United States up for an attack on 11September? Let me give my answer with a little circumlocution that will help answer a furtherquestion.From the days when Clinton was Governor of Arkansas he claimed that Iraq had Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD), and continued to make this claim throughout his presidency. In Bill
Clinton‟s pre
sidency, he bombed Iraq almost every week, the battle plans to invade Iraq weredrawn, and forces were being moved into the region. There were a multitude of events that wereconsidered triggers for executing an invasion into Iraq. When Bush took office, the militaryforces where already there and others knew what their missions were. After the attacks on 11September we identified who the culprits were. Afghanistan was targeted, and we were able tostrike immediately because we already had the forces in the region.
Before Clinton stepped off the pitcher‟s mound
, but he put a ball in motion regarding Iraq. While
that Iraqi ball was in motion Bush stepped onto the pitcher‟s mound. I am not blaming Iraq on
Clinton. Clinton was still responding to actions that be
gan during Bush senior‟s presidency. And
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