On Fri, Mar 14, 2008 at 10:47 AM, Todd wrote: > > Given the history of the region, which do you think is more likely? > Either > way Iraq turns out, Bush was still bold .. and a reckless gambler. The > only > difference will be how lucky he turned out to be. >
In 1948, how many Europeans would have foreseen a united, free, and open Europe? The past does not determine the future. As for Bush, apart from his personal foibles, his bold decision-making may be the only thing we can know about the Bush presidency at this point- he is bold, perhaps to the point of recklessness. Not just in foreign policy, either. Look at Social Security reform, immigration reform. Bold attempts to address serious problems facing the country. Ultimately I don't think luck has anything to do with how the situation in the Middle East will turn out. The people of the Middle East have a choice to make- a choice between war and peace. If Iran decides tomorrow that they will disclose all of their nuclear activities and drop the pursuit of nuclear weapons, they could have normalized relations with the West by the end of the year. That offer is already on the table from the Bush Administration. Whether they take it remains to be seen. > > BTW, the biggest thing that he has accomplished to date- no attacks on > > U.S. > > soil since 9/11. > > Yeah .. because we had such a frequent problem with that before. > Two CIA employees were killed outside CIA headquarters in Langley by a Pakistani man. A jihadist was caught at the Canadian border with explosives and confessed to a plan to bomb LAX. Another shot up the El Al counter at LAX. And let's not forget the first World Trade Center bombing. So yeah, we did have a problem with it before 9/11. Furthermore, Al Qaeda has explicitly stated its intention to conduct more attacks on US soil. > It isn't partisan bickering. I would have the same dislike for any other > party member who held the office and acted the way he has. I honestly > believe he has been a bad president. Very bad. > That's a short-term judgment. What Gruss is arguing is that Bush will go down in history as one of our worst presidents, but it is impossible to predict how history will judge GW Bush, because the events he set in motion with the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan have yet to run their course. Twenty years from now we will be in a much better position to judge. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;160198600;22374440;w Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:256479 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
