At the height of his unpopularity I would tell amazed people, "wouldnt it be funny if George jr. is one day remembered by history as one of our great Presidents"? I say "amazed" because these people would look at me funny as if I were off my rocker. But in truth these same people not only have an ignorance of history but cant look past a newspaper headline to see the real reality of what were doing in that theatre of operations.
To get a clear picture of the strategy behind Georges plan pull up a map of the region and observe the countries where America, and our allies, either have troops, bases, bases they could possibly use, or friendly alliances. The former states of the Southern Soviet union, Pakistan, the Gulf States, Turkey, Israel, Iraq, Guam, East Africa....Is it starting to make sense now? We have basically refined the time proven policy of encirclement and containment we used against the commies and applied it to the hostile terrorist supporting countries and regions of S/E Asia and the ME.
Even more so we have a stranglehold of much of the regions water and we control both ends of the Persian Gulf.
There are problems to be sure. We face an enemy more ruthless then we are and whom are in their own backyard. The Pakistani Govt. doesnt want to take decisive action in its tribal lands so we are stuck in a stalemate in Afghanistan. And may continue to be. On the other hand "they" face an enemy whose military power is probably beyond their comprehension.
Certainly there have been problems in Iraq. When we invaded it our Govt. did pump up the entire WMD thing to get public support. But in their defense even in the beginning they also said the main reason for attack Saddam was his continued violations of the peace agreement and UN sanctions. Of which he did dozens of times, even conspiring to assassinate a former US President on a trip to Kuwait. He obstructed and lied to UN inspectors to many times to count eventually forcing them out with his noncompliance.
But Im getting off track. I said one day Bush might be remembered as a genius. And do remember many wartime Presidents were unpopular at the time, tho they are remembered by history as great Presidents. Lincoln and George Washington come to mind right off.
And should a successful Democracy spring up in Iraq, and should this Democratic wave spread outward in the region, giving millions human rights, legal rights, and the right to choose leadership. Should all this happen then in the time of our children, or children's children, George Bush jr will be remembered as a great President. And in a few months he will leave office knowing another terror attack in his country didn't happen after 9/11 due to his leadership.
Its starnge how people believe what they want to believe even tho the truth is right in front of their noses. Most people badmouth Bush without even knowing why they are doing it, "other then the fact everyone else in their crowd is doing it".
