Why BBB thinks Bush is the wrong president at the wrong time

I been thinking about the Bush presidency and the time in which it occurred for a long time. I think Bush is the wrong president in the wrong time. I will try to explain my thinking. But keep in mind that I'm not a scholar and lack the professional experience to deem myself an expert in these matters. But my 74 years of experience have led me to believe in my instinctive and self-educated observations of people and events. So be patient with my attempt to analyse the current world situation.

George W. Bush had no foreign policy experience or knowledge when he decided to run for the presidency. He met Condi Rice, a recognized cold war expert in Soviet affairs and history. Dr. Rice mentored and educated George Bush to give him at least a veneer of foreign policy expertise---just barely. Her task was difficult because Bush is not a reader and is notorious for his lack of curiosity about world events and other things.

Bush surrounded himself with cold warriors in key posts in his government. These cold warriors are steeped in the geopolitics of that era. They appear to have little knowledge of the history and culture of the Islamic nations around the world, except as it impinged on the cold war struggle primarily to defeat the Soviet Union, to protect US access to oil, and the support and protection of Isreal.

The Bush cold-warriors are still fighting the wars and geopolitics of the last century. They are not educated and motivated to fight the wars of the new century against terrorism. That ignorance has led the Bush administration to make a terrible mistake with its attack of Iraq.

I can think of many reasons why the Iraq war is unjustified and unwise. But none is more important than it played directly into Osama bin Laden's trap for the United States.

Richard Clarke's book, Against All Enemies, on page 136 states exactly what I mean. When bin Laden declared war on the United States before Bush took office, he was very clear in stating his goals. "The ingredients al Qaeda dreamed of for propagating its movement were a Christian government attacking a weaker Muslim region, allowing the new terrorist group to rally jihadists from many countries to come to the aid of the religious brethren. After the success of the jihad, the Muslim region would become a radical Islamic state, a breeding ground for more terrorists, a part of the eventual network of Islamic states that would make up the great new Caliphate, or Muslim empire."

Unfortunately, the Bush cold warriors lacked the imagination to realize al Qaeda was able accomplish its devastating attacks around the world because it was not a State. That was bin Laden's winning hand. The arrogance of the cold warriors, convinced that their mighty military and weapons of mass destruction could defeat any foe. They appear to have dismissed Viet Nam as a political failure, not a military one, so one should not be surprised that they would make the same mistake again.

They also lack the understanding of the Islamic world, its life-dominating religion and its nationalistic history. Al Qaeda represents the attempt by militant Islamists to restore the Arab empire to encompass as much of the world as possible. Mosque leaders pronounce the goal of converting non-muslims to the faith all over the world, for example, in countries such as England.

Bush and his cold warriors have failed to recognized that this conflict is, or is leading to a clash of world religions. Terrorism is only one tactic used to further this goal. By attacking Iraq, Bush and the cold warriors have forced the United States and its allies into the first battle of that war.

President Clinton was not a cold warrior and he recognized the changed world and the danger from al Qaeda. Unfortunately, his term of office elapsed before he could effectively counter the growth of al Qaeda.

Then George W. Bush was elected and the cold warriors were in power. It was the wrong president at the wrong time. In general, the Bush administration distrusted anything invented by the Clinton administration and anything of a multilateral nature. The newly elected Bush's focus in early 2001 was on confronting China, withdrawing from various multilateral obligations, and spending much more money on an antimissile defense system. Typical cold warrior thinking. They were not looking into al Qaeda's network because of their arrogance and their lack of imagination to understand the threat.

And, its only begun.

BBB