Post Reply 
 
Thread Rating:
  • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
The destructive policies of President Bush: HDS Greenway (Boston Globe)
10-09-2008, 12:51 PM
Post: #1
The destructive policies of President Bush: HDS Greenway (Boston Globe)
The destructive policies of President Bush

[Image: 539w.jpg]

IT IS HARD to believe how far this republic has fallen since President George W. Bush took office. Eight years ago, the United States had a budget surplus, peace and prosperity reigned, and America was universally respected. True, Bill Clinton had besmirched the office of the presidency by his self-indulgence. In his memoir, he would put down his dalliance with a White House intern to the worst of all possible motives. He did it because he could. But that pales in comparison to what Bush has done to the country.

I believe that the decision to invade Afghanistan was the right one. But instead of finishing what he started, Bush botched the job and hared off into Iraq, which was not a threat, never committing the necessary resources and attention to Afghanistan. Iraq is, and always was, a diversion to the struggle against Islamic extremism. Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia didn't exist before Bush invaded. And Iran has been immensely empowered.

Remember Donald Rumsfeld talking about hitting Iraq after 9/11, not because there was any connection between Iraq and 9/11 but because there were more things to bomb in Iraq than in Afghanistan? And no discussion, no dissent, no word of caution would be allowed to influence Bush's decision.

When all the various reasons for a preemptive war against Iraq are examined - the nonexistent weapons of mass destruction, spreading democracy, helping Israel, etc., etc. - it all boiled down to the worst of all possible reasons: Bush invaded Iraq because he could.

Bush promised a solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict before he left office, but his efforts have been half-hearted, sporadic, and pathetic - almost designed to fail.

The hubris and arrogance of Bush's first term still poisons the wells of good will this country once enjoyed. The undermining of the Constitution, the secret torture chambers have besmirched this administration more than any tawdry intern scandal ever could. Today we are bogged down in two wars and an unprecedented deficit, with a financial crisis of a magnitude not seen since the days of Herbert Hoover. The president has so little respect it's as if he has already left the stage.

The economy founders, and it may yet bring the world down with it. The same ideologically driven, hopelessly incompetent administration that brought you Iraq and "mission accomplished" was responsible for the sweetheart deal that the Security and Exchange Commission allowed the investment brokers to increase their debt in proportion to their capital, and then failed to police them.

That deal, according to The New York Times, "fitted squarely" into the broader Bush culture of deregulation that savaged everything from the "Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Environmental Protection Agency, to worker safety and transportation agencies."

There was a time when deregulation made sense, but, as in so much else in the life of this administration, Bush took it to extremes.

"I will seize the opportunity to achieve big goals," Bush told Bob Woodward back in 2001. But now, in his fourth book on the Bush presidency, "The War Within," Woodward concludes that in the last eight years Bush has "displayed impatience, bravado, and unsettling personal certainty about his decisions. The result has too often been impulsiveness and carelessness, and, perhaps most troubling, a delayed reaction to realities and advice that run counter to his gut. . . . By his own ambitious goals of 2001, Bush has fallen short."

Whereas he once said he would unite the country, he has been deliberately and destructively divisive. Strangely detached, he has let his vice president run rings around him, and outsourced decisions that should have been his. As Woodward says, in the final days of his hapless presidency Bush "had not rooted out terror wherever it existed. He had not achieved world peace. He had not attained victory in his two wars."

And now this: a great financial meltdown coming down on his watch in the twilight hours of what history will judge as among the worst administrations in our history. When you think of Bush and his team, it's hard to believe so much harm could be done to so many by so few.

H.D.S. Greenway's column appears regularly in the Globe.
© Copyright 2008 Globe Newspaper Company.



http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editor...dent_bush/
Find all posts by this user
Quote this message in a reply
10-09-2008, 12:53 PM
Post: #2
RE: The destructive policies of President Bush: HDS Greenway (Boston Globe)
[Image: 1100497376-1.jpg]
[Image: 1100497376-2.gif]

http://www.express.com.pk/20081009
Find all posts by this user
Quote this message in a reply
Post Reply 


Possibly Related Threads...
Thread: Author Replies: Views: Last Post
  Lahore Smart City: Restriction on Merging of Properties | New Policies & Criteria Exp LRE-Azan 0 63 11-12-2024 11:44 AM
Last Post: LRE-Azan
  LCCI President Emphasizes Construction Sector Development During DHA Bahawalpur Admin LRE-Azan 0 585 11-18-2023 04:05 PM
Last Post: LRE-Azan
  President wants expressway to Zulfikarabad built Salman 0 4,735 11-02-2012 04:34 PM
Last Post: Salman
  President seeks speedy completion of M-9 project Salman 0 4,014 04-25-2012 12:36 PM
Last Post: Salman
  Shoaib, Sania meet Pakistan President Zardari Lahore_Real_Estate 0 3,805 09-30-2011 05:40 PM
Last Post: Lahore_Real_Estate
  6th Sep reminds how to overcome challenge: President Lahore_Real_Estate 0 3,850 09-06-2011 01:33 PM
Last Post: Lahore_Real_Estate
  President signs regulation for Wana Cadet College in SWA Lahore_Real_Estate 0 3,909 08-17-2011 01:16 PM
Last Post: Lahore_Real_Estate
  ICCI President urges development of recycling industry Lahore_Real_Estate 0 3,873 08-08-2011 02:31 PM
Last Post: Lahore_Real_Estate
  LIAR bush LRE 1 4,664 01-10-2011 12:07 AM
Last Post: LRE
  Jansher appointed advisor to President PSF Lahore_Real_Estate 0 3,446 12-23-2010 01:50 PM
Last Post: Lahore_Real_Estate
  President Zardari to woo senators over RGST Lahore_Real_Estate 0 3,509 11-22-2010 04:13 PM
Last Post: Lahore_Real_Estate
  Bush faults Pakistan on extremism Lahore_Real_Estate 0 2,877 11-10-2010 02:24 PM
Last Post: Lahore_Real_Estate
  US planned to send special forces into Pakistan: Bush Lahore_Real_Estate 0 3,903 11-10-2010 02:24 PM
Last Post: Lahore_Real_Estate
  President invites private sector investment in mega projects Lahore_Real_Estate 0 3,127 11-06-2010 12:31 PM
Last Post: Lahore_Real_Estate
  No WMD in Iraq: Bush Ashamed! LRE 0 3,460 11-04-2010 10:43 AM
Last Post: LRE
  Asma Jahangir becomes first female SCBA president Lahore_Real_Estate 0 3,654 10-28-2010 03:13 PM
Last Post: Lahore_Real_Estate
  Babar Awan, President SC Bar, Rs5 Million Cheque & Media! LRE 0 3,798 10-21-2010 08:29 PM
Last Post: LRE
  President, PM take notice of SAMAA report on handicapped family Lahore_Real_Estate 0 3,891 10-11-2010 12:14 PM
Last Post: Lahore_Real_Estate
  Samina Khalid Ghurki takes over as PPP Lahore president Lahore_Real_Estate 0 5,145 09-09-2010 10:41 AM
Last Post: Lahore_Real_Estate
  Chairman PCB reported President, PM over match fixing scandle Lahore_Real_Estate 0 3,613 08-30-2010 12:37 PM
Last Post: Lahore_Real_Estate

Forum Jump:


User(s) browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)