>>>With the benefit of hindsight, I think Bush was correct in choosing to take the war to the enemy but wrong in believing that Saddam was more dangerous than Osama. I believe psychologists will conclude that Bush Jr. had a personal type problem with daddy's decision not to press on to Baghdad in 1991, but that history will judge daddy's choice was wise.
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>>>I think Bush Jr's most tragic weakness was his dogmatic type of thinking.
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>>>I know it's a popular belief that Bush wanted to "finish what his daddy started". Maybe there's some truth to that - but there's a far more important issue - after 9/11, we attacked the wrong country that began with the letters "IRA..." My biggest criticism on Bush is that while we're fighting over there instead of here, he didn't do ENOUGH.
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>>>Saddam and Osama were both dangerous, just on different scales. Hussein's fate was certainly just.
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>>Afghanistan has also deteriorated while we have been distracted (and spread thin) in Iraq. At one point the Taliban were on the run and in danger of becoming a spent force. Now they probably control as much of the country as they ever did. I read in the paper the other day that the enlightened young men of the Taliban have been throwing acid in the faces of girls who have the temerity to attend school. (And all-girls schools at that).
>
>An article on Al Jazeera is interesting. It clearly blames Bush and Karsai:
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>http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/thebushlegacy/2008/12/200812218331286715.html
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>According to some older women, education and medical care were better (and much safer) during the Soviet years. Education is available now to all, but it is certainly not safe to try to take advantage of it.
>
>The article is actually very well done IMHO. There are places in the article where the emphasis not necessarily directly on Bush or Karsai but international oversight and forces, but the heading of the article of course focuses on Bush and the effects of the actions in Afghanistan under his tenure.

Afghanistan is a complete disaster. It would be wrong IMO to blame Bush completely but his botched tenure was no help to them at all.

I have avoided Mike C's cheerleading thread for the good he did. It stirred up the same old culture wars that have riven us for 40 years. I will just say I think he was incompetent, probably the most incompetent man ever to hold the office, and led our country to the edge of a cliff if not beyond. He has left his successor a heck of a road to hoe.

Some simple, basic questions for anyone to consider in the privacy of their own homes ---

Is the U.S. economy better off than it was 8 years ago?

Do you feel more secure about having a job than you did 8 years ago?

Is the U.S. safer from terrorist attacks than it was 8 years ago?

Are we better regarded by citizens of other countries than we were 8 years ago?

Do you feel confident about the future?

Do you still believe in the American dream?

Are the Constitution and Bill of Rights something more than toilet paper?

Should we engage in torture? Should we incarcerate suspects in foreign locations without charges, access to lawyers, or trial?

Is your house worth more than what you paid for it?

Can you call up your banker and get a home equity loan?

Are you wary of traveling to a foreign country as an American?

I do not blame George Bush for all of these things. Some of them have been building for decades. But he was exactly the wrong man for the job. I will be shocked if history judges him as anything other than an amiable incompetent.