George W. Bush: Bad for Our Military
I Once Thought Bush Would Be Great for Our Military; Now I've Changed My Mind
When Bush became president, I remember reading an article in the Navy Times. The article included an interview with Donald Rumsfeld , Bush's new Secretary of Defense. Rumsfeld made it clear that it was his intention to improve the quality of life for member of the military by reducing the length of deployments and changing the fundamental strategy of our military. Obviously, this was welcomed in the Navy community, as we were tired of spending 6-8 months at sea on deployments that seemed to serve no purpose at all.
Nearly seven years later, and there has been no fundamental change at all. In fact, the condition is worse. Sailors now routinely endure 10 month long deployments, often stopping in ports only once or twice the entire time. The divorce rate among sailors - which has always been high due to the amount of time they spend away from home - has increased significantly. It is ironic that George W. Bush, who has always touted his family values, has instituted a set of circumstances that has torn apart hundreds or thousands of military families.
When we went to war in Afghanistan, we did so to destroy the Taliban , who was harboring Osama bin-Laden and his al - Qaeda agents. It was the right thing to do, and we were able to squash the Taliban forces and push bin-Laden into hiding in the mountains between Afghanistan and Pakistan. George W. Bush was right on this one.
But then he made a monumental blunder. He let greed and emotion get the better of him, and he set his sights on going to war in Iraq. When he couldn't conjure up enough real evidence to justify that war, he allowed his people to make it up, and he used it to lie to the American people. He got his war, and he knocked Saddam Hussein from power. What happened next, he did not expect, because he did not bother considering the possibility of anything going wrong. The insurgents in Iraq used the opportunity provided by having a leader-less nation, and they engaged in guerrilla warfare with American soldiers; a battle that continues to this day, and has caused the deaths of over 3000 young Yankees.
What is worse, Bush pulled thousands of troops from Afghanistan to fight his chosen war in Iraq. Now, the Taliban is rebuilding itself, and is showing signs of power in that country.
Bush's policies have spread the military too thin already, and yet he can't wait to go to war in Iran, it seems. Even with the battle raging on in and around Baghdad, he is virtually bursting at the seams to get his hands on Tehran. Let's hope we can hold him back until he is replaced in the White House in a year.
I admit I applauded when Bush took office, because I felt he would improve the lives of military families. He has done exactly the opposite. He has strained our young men and women to the point of breaking, and he continues to press on in his misguided agenda.
Published by Craig R. Withers
I am a father, a writer, an Electronics Technician, and a Navy veteran. View profile
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8 Comments
Post a CommentWishing Godspeed to Presdient George
W. Bush's nephew as he prepares for
his US Navy service.
And, you are so proud to be american and your contry and you think you can do everything. What if there was a fire in WTC on that floor. Or Let say it was not terror attack. IT was just crash. You could not do anything. It takes 1 minute to go upfloor. there is fire on 60th floor. You will be there 1 hour after.? Or you think the system you have at the top automatic water system we see on movies. You are so proud to show which does not work.. All the people in the world have seen you. you all could not do anything. and you went to afghanistan. It is complicated. I do not want to discuss. You went to iraq. for freedom? you sya you got there for giving freedom and your soldiers traet people like shit....and do so amyn crab things. where are the nuclear weapens. where are they. The man said. I forgot his name in UN. I have listened. He said there is no nuclear weapons according to our searching. And then your president who even does not know how to speak says. they have nuclear weapens.
He was not right on anything man. Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein worked for CIA in past years. And, Trust me, there are too many things totally closed we dont know. I think, There is a game and strategy they started before. It maybe did not work in they way they thought. But. There is something. Do you think Saddam Hussein is stupid to tell on TV that they are ready for war and he thinks he will win. No Absolutely not. He would never do that. He knew america would take iraw in a few days. And he is saying that he will win? He is not that stupid we see on TV.
As a combat-wounded Army veteran, I agree with the author entirely. On the first go-around I voted for Bush. But the man has destroyed the military (along with the rest of the country), replaced the best generals the Army had with politicking "yes-men" that tell him what he wants to hear, and gotten a number of my friends killed in the process. We could have crushed the forces that hit us on September 11th and had the whole world behind us in the process by focusing on our true enemy in Afghanistan. (Even the Iraqis that I talked to said that they completely understood why America was fighting in Afghanistan, but they had no clue what I was doing in Iraq!) Instead of wisely pursuing our enemies and letting sleeping dogs lie, the blood of my comrades was squandered in a foolish war with no real military objective or even a clearly defined enemy in Iraq while Bin Ladin escaped to continue his campaign of terror against the countrymen that I signed up to protect. Bush might sincerel
Sadly, Bush is like a rich kid playing with his toy soldiers. He has personally held a gun up to the head of 4,587 + American soldiers and pulled the trigger. Afghanistan, Iraq, and get ready for Iran coming soon. World War III will likely be the entire world against the U.S., God save our souls.
This reads like it was written by someone in Junior High School. Assuming you know the motivations and internal thought processes of someone else is folly and not serious criticism.
Good read. I liked this story, too:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/680275/y2k_was_real_how_the_year_2000_really.html
Good analysis.