[Vision2020] The Naked Emperor "Decider" Retires to his Texas Ranch

[nickgier at roadrunner.com]

Greetings:

Next week I will be writing a column on Obama based on his book "The Audacity of Hope," but here just 10 minutes before Obama's inauguration, I want to have my last say on our current president.

The full version with pictures of Emperor W can be found at www.home.roadrunner.com/~nickgier/BushGone.htm.

Nick Gier

THE NAKED EMPEROR “DECIDER” RETIRES TO HIS RANCH
By Nick Gier

One of the hardest parts of my job is to connect Iraq to the war on terror.

--George W. Bush, September 6, 2006

Bush is not a memorable villain so much as an affable second banana.
He’s the reckless Yalie Tom Buchanan, not Gatsby. He is smaller than life.

--Frank Rich, The New York Times (1/4/09)

There is still this certain measure of disbelief that things 
could have turned out as poorly as they did.

--David Kuo, Deputy Director of Faith Based Initiatives

 [The terrorists] misunderestimated the compassion of our country.  I think they misunderestimated the will and the determination of the commander in chief, too.

--George W. Bush, September 26, 2001

Some of the most exciting classes in the George W. Bush School of Leadership will be Pursing the Lips and Power Smirking; Democracy for Nations Unprepared for It; Looking into the Souls of World Leaders; and Shoulder Rubs for Female Heads of State.

Donald Rumsfeld is scheduled for three courses: “Stuff Happens” Democracy; Stress Positions for Defense Secretaries; and an archaeology class that will focus on the fraudulent over count of Mesopotamian vases.  The ex-president will teach the capstone course: How to be Tough and Decisive without Doing Any Homework.

But let’s get serious. Bush held the fewest news conferences of any president, but when he did field questions, he rarely ever answered them properly.  His recent response to a question about Iraq was downright juvenile. When asked about the fact that there were no Al Qaeda fighters in Iraq before the invasion, Bush said impudently “So, what of it?”  “Impudent” was my mother’s favorite word when I acted up as a kid.

Although Iraqis are definitely happy that Saddam Hussein is gone, they have a very negative view of Bush and what he has done to their nation.  The Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at Bush has become a national hero. A poll commissioned by the BBC in February 2008 showed that 40 percent of Iraqis want U.S. troops out immediately, and, even more disturbing, 42 percent said that attacks on coalition forces were permissible.

Bush’s naïve ideas about democracy and pushing for elections when people were not ready for them have had disastrous results. Both Israeli and Palestinian leaders wanted to postpone the 2006 elections in which Hamas was the big winner, but Bush insisted that they go ahead.  Later Bush had to eat his words about the how “healthy” it was to oust the Palestinian “old guard,” which is now cooperating with Israel in the West Bank.

The Bush administration pushed for early elections in Iraq even though experts said that the Iraqi Shi’ite majority would take revenge on the Sunnis and make friends with Iran. (For example, the Iraqi government supports Iran’s nuclear program.)  During the surge in Baghdad, Iraqi security forces were successful in forcing one million Sunnis from their homes.

In an interview with Bob Woodward, Gen. George Casey, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq from 2004-2007, said that Bush “lacked a basic grasp of what the Iraq war was about.” Bush made the same mistake as Johnson in Vietnam.  Both of them were focused on body count and not the subtleties and patience needed to fight an insurgency supported by the people.

In The War Within, his fourth and final book on the Bush presidency, Woodward states that “Bush was intolerant of confrontations and in-depth debate. The President was engaged in the war rhetorically but maintained an odd detachment from its management. He never got a full handle on it, and over these years of war, too often he failed to lead.”

Woodward paints a picture of a president who was removed and uninterested in the details of presidential decision-making.  Regard to important meetings about Iraq war strategy, Bush admitted to  Woodward that “I was not in those meetings. I had other things to do.”  

Woodward’s conclusion is that Stephen Hadley, Bush’s national security advisor, made some of the most important decisions of the war. Hadley confessed to Woodward that Bush “will talk with great authority and assertiveness. ‘This is what we’re going to do.’ And he won’t mean it.  Because he will not have gone through the considered process.” From what we know about his student days, it shouldn’t be surprising that Bush attempted to run the country without doing his homework.

Once, when Bush was confronted with a questions about torture, he asked: “What does it mean ‘outrages upon human dignity’? That is a statement wide open to interpretation.” Susan Crawford, head of Bush’s own detainee tribunal, has determined that the “enhanced” interrogation techniques Rumsfeld approved were indeed such outrages. As evidence gathered by torture is not admissible, this means that trials against 16 of the most dangerous detainees may not go forward. 

Bush thought he could answer his critics of his handling of Katrina by citing the rescue of 30,000 off rooftops by the Coast Guard, but he ignored the fact that several hundred thousand were left to fend for themselves for weeks.  The one lady who was personally assured by Bush that she would get help was far too generous in forgiving him when the aid did not come.

When Woodward read something that Tony Blair said about having suffered grave doubts during his time as British prime minister, he asked Bush if he also had doubts about some of his decisions. When Bush answered, “I haven’t suffered doubt,” Woodward was so shocked that he had to ask him again. “Is that right? Not at all.” Bush answered in the affirmative.  

In a 2004 column for the Wall Street Journal, Peggy Noonan, conservative pundit and former Reagan speechwriter, praised Bush as “the triumph of the seemingly average American man.  He is not an intellectual.  Intellectuals start all the trouble in the world.”  

Noonan obviously “misunderestimated” the trouble that this clueless, average man has brought to the U.S. and to the world.