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George W. Bush's Belated Smoke Blowing
by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700
Copyright
November 10, 2014
All Rights Reserved.
After six
years of self-imposed exile, former President George W. Bush [Bush-43] returns
from the shadows, promoting a new biography on his father, former President
George H. W. Bush [Bush-41].
Speaking to CBS’s Bob Schieffer on “Face the Nation,” Bush showed little
reflective capacity on his decision to invade Iraq in 2003. “Do you have any regrets [about
sending troop into Iraq]?” Schieffer asked. “I mean, do you ever feel that maybe it was the wrong decision?” “No, I think it was the right
decision,” replied “W,” though regretting the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq
and Syria. Since launching his war
in Iraq March 20, 2003 against the advice of Bush-41’s advisors, including
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin L. Powell and former Bush-41
National Security Advisor Brent Scocroft, Bush-43 showed little insight, given
all the adverse fallout from the Iraq War.
Only a year after Sept. 11, Bush decided Iraq’s Saddam Hussein was a
“gathering” threat to U.S. national security, alleging Saddam’s stockpile of
biologic, chemical and nuclear weapons.
If fighting the war in Afghanistan were not costly enough, Bush chose to
topple Saddam Hussein, causing the once feared power vacuum that led Bush-41 to
avoid marching to Baghdad in 1991 Gulf War.
Once Bush toppled Saddam April 10, 2003, he started the dreaded power
vacuum that led to the Shiite-Sunni civil war, giving rise to numerous terrorist
groups. “My regret is that a
violent group of people has risen up again.
This is al-Qaeda plus. I put
in the book that they need to be defeated.
And I hope we do [defeat them],” putting the onus on President Barack
Obama to clean up Bush’s mess.
Republicans, like Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz) blame Obama for ending the Iraq War
prematurely.
Bush-41 spent nearly $50 billion over eight years building up the Iraq
military with the intent of defending Iraqi territory. After all billions in sophisticated
arms and training, Iraq’s military collapsed, proving ISIS a wealth of military
hardware with which to carve up and seize some 30% of Iraq and Syria. Bush sees the rise of ISIS as a
function of the U.S. leaving prematurely not his failed decision to topple
Saddam in 2003. When the U.S. economy collapsed in 2007, Nobel Prize Winning New York University Stern
School economist Joseph I. Stiglitz blamed the economic collapse, among other
things, on excessive defense spending.
Bush-41 returns from the shadows to mutter platitudes about his decision
to launch the Iraq War. His regret over ISIS points finger at Obama for ending the Iraq War Dec. 15, 2011, not
admitting Iraq’s military was infiltrated by Sunni insurgents.
Recent statements about Iraqi military infiltration by Grand Iraqi
Ayatollah Ali Sistani tells the truth about why the Iraq military could not
defend Iraq after the lengthy and costly U.S. military buildup. Swiping at Obama in his book “41,”
Bush-43 regrets “subsequence developments and decisions,” hinting at Obama’s
choice to end the Iraq War. Bush
mentions nothing about how the former Shiite backed-government of
Nouri-al-Maliki did little to bring Sunnis into his government, leaving his
regime with little national backing. “For
the sake of our security and the Iraqi people, I hope we will do what it takes
to succeed,” hoping that Obama’s follows through with the current air war
against ISIS. U.S. allies,
reluctant to join the fight against ISIS, hold the Bush administration
responsible for opening up the floodgates of terror in Iraq and destabilizing
the war-torn Middle East.
Silent since leaving office Jan. 20, 2009, neither McCain in 2008 nor
former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in 2012 wanted Bush anywhere around the
campaign. Now Bush-41 urges the GOP
to consider his 62-year-old brother Jeb to run for president in 2016. “I think he’d be a superb president and I think he’d be a very good candidate and I think
he could heal wounds,” said Bush, referring to the bitter GOP-Democrat divisions
that characterized his presidency.
Bush says he’d “be all out” campaigning for brother Jeb, qualifying it,
“if he wants me to, I’d be help him as best I can,” realizing he’s been a pariah
since leaving office. Without any admission of past mistakes by either Bush-43 or Jeb, voters can only assume
that the same mistakes would be made again.
No one in the Bush-41 administration admits that today’s problems with
ISIS in Iraq and Syria stem directly from toppling Saddam Hussein.
Promoting his new book on his father, “W” hopes to stick his toe back in
the water before the 2016 presidential sweepstakes gets in full swing in 2015. Judging by his comments to Bob
Schieffer on “Face the Nation,” he’s not willing to admit any of the obvious
mistakes that destabilized the Mideast and practically bankrupted the U.S.
economy. When House Speaker John
Boehner (R-Ohio) talks of a “repudiation of the Obama policy” after the Nov. 4
Midterm elections, he’s certainly not referring to Wall Street’s unprecedented
bull market, 9 million private sector jobs, diminished federal budget deficits
and 4% GDP growth rate. Like
Bush-43, today’s Republicans want the public to forget about the foreign and
domestic policy failures in the last GOP administration. Emerging from the
shadows, Bush-43 should remind voters that history could repeat itself in 2016.
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