> Robert wrote: > If Iraq and Afghanistan succeed at building stable democracies for the long > term, > Bush will get credit for changing the Middle East, whatever difficulties they > encounter along the way.
You may be right about the Middle East, but I doubt it for a few key reasons: 1.) Unlike the Soviet Union, Iraq controlled nobody but itself and, as you pointed out, Afghanistan is mostly worthless. When the USSR fell, millions of people watched the iron curtain fall and asked for reform. In Iraq, it's not clear what the people want and if they can protect it from, say, Iran if they get it. From that perspective Iraq is more Korea or Vietnam than USSR and I think it will stay that way. No President really got or wanted the "credit" for those wars. Iraq will be the same IMO. 2.) The real problem in the Middle East has nothing to do with either Iraq or Afghanistan, but with Israel and the Palestinians. If any President has a hand in solving that it will far eclipse even the best scenario in Iraq. Further, that collaboration will be the real spark to change the Middle East and render anything else inert. 3.) Iraq has larger problem to worry about that is much like Kosovo. There's a large likelihood of a Kurd uprising that will affect not only Iraq, but Turkey and others. Democracy only exacerbates this problem. > Bush will also get credit for his foresight in trying to deal with SS. We've talked about this before, but this is like saying that the thief that stole your TV should get credit for pointing out that you have no TV. Mr. Bush has been one of the largest raiders of Social Security and, if you remember, it was Mr. Clinton that originally raised the alarm. His solution was to eliminate the debt thus freeing the capital used to service that debt. His plan worked and he handed Mr. Bush a multi-billion dollar surplus. As to the "tax cuts" they were just a spending program since they weren't accompanied with spending cuts. And not only did Mr. Bush forget to cut spending he actually increased it. So I'd take that one off your list :) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Discover CFTicket - The leading ColdFusion Help Desk and Trouble Ticket application http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=48 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:160533 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
