[Vision2020] President Bush Expects Others to Clean Up His Mess

[Tom Hansen]

>From today's (March 27, 2006) Lewiston Tribune with a special thanks to Tom
Henderson -

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President Bush expects others to clean up his mess

Tom Henderson

President Bush finally has a strategy for ending the war in Iraq: Let
someone else do it.

Didn't Barbara Bush teach that boy anything? When you make a mess, you're
supposed to clean it up -- not expect other people to do it for you. The
mess is too big? Well, you should have thought about that before you made
it.

Bush finally admitted last Tuesday he's over his head. He wants to make Iraq
a model of democracy, able to stand on its own without the need for American
troops.

He just doesn't know how to get there from here. How long will American
troops need to keep Iraqis from killing each other? "That will be determined
by future presidents and future governments of Iraq," says the president.

Translation: "I give up. I don't know what I'm doing. I pathetically
misunderstood the situation in Iraq and have no idea how to get the hell out
of there. Someone else will have to figure it out."

This isn't really Bush's fault.

The situation in Iraq was predictable from the outset. There was no credible
link between Saddam Hussein and the terrorists of 9/11. Evidence suggesting
weapons of mass destruction was dubious. The administration clearly didn't
have an exit strategy.

And the bitterly divided Iraqi people had no experience with democratic
government.

Yet congressional lap dogs obediently wagged their tails and licked their
master's hand -- ignoring all the signs of near-certain disaster. Our
soldiers marched off to war as millions of Americans waved flags and talked
of defending freedoms that were never really in jeopardy.

Now even Bush admits -- grudgingly -- that the situation is beyond his
competence. Well, no kidding. We would have known that three years ago if we
opened our eyes and looked past our post-9/11 fears.

All we can do now is hope cooler heads prevail in 2008.

Most of us can wait for a smarter president. The people in Iraq -- both
American soldiers and the Iraqis themselves -- don't have that luxury.

Many of them will be dead by the next presidential election.

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Take care, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho


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"In America, anybody can become president.  
That's one of the risks you take . . ."

- Adlai Stevenson

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