Bush leads us in the wrong direction

Guest Commentary by Willard G. Jones
October 8, 2006

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EDITOR'S NOTE: This commentary was received prior to the start of the Tribune's election policy Sept. 29.

George W. Bush is the master of deception with the guidance of Vice President Dick Cheney, the war hawk; Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, the incompetent, and Karl Rove, the political wordsmith. Bush has also had masterful thespian training. We all remember when he was unable to utter a complete sentence. Now with intense body, facial and podium histrionics, he delivers his deceptive, political messages as if fact and truth. Rather his pronouncements are designed to misinform, confuse, scare and intimidate the public. There have been so many times that Bush has said "he understands" and that we should "trust him," and when we did, he duped us, lied to us, changed the subject and violated federal laws. Bush's initiatives and public policies are solely designed for political impact.

His current deception is "terrorism." He claims that we are more safe from terrorists as a result of his initiatives. He brags that we have avoided attacks since Sept. 11, 2001. Of course he provides no specifics regarding prevention of terrorists' attacks and even tries to claim credit for the productive British terrorist effort. Bush has done little to safeguard our harbors, chemical and nuclear plants, borders and even our air ways. In fact, Bush policies have left us much less safe in a host of ways.

Congress approved presidential use of military force in Afghanistan to defeat the Taliban and the capture of Osama bin Laden. Instead, forces were reduced in Afghanistan and sent to Iraq. And now, four years later, the Taliban has continued to gather strength and attack the southern border almost daily killing Afghans and coalition soldiers while bin Laden has evaporated. Bush touts the "new successful democratic government" but it is in control of less than 30 percent of the country.

Bush's unjustified, ill-conceived, preemptive invasion of Iraq has increased the number and size of terrorists groups throughout the world and increased their motivation to kill our soldiers and perceived enemies. Iraq has tied the hands of our military, and thereby emboldened both Iran and North Korea to confront us, encouraged Hammas to be brazen enough to engage in military action, and convinced Iran and Syria that our threat to keep military action on the table is hollow. Our intervention in the Middle East has motivated democratic governments to elect anti-American leaders and promoted revolution in Iraq. Surely, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, holding a doctorate in international affairs, should have known that Shiites and Sunni would not make peace and that Kurds were peripheral. The Sunni consider the Shiites inferior Muslims, which assured a revolution.

To criticize Bush's debilitating policies is to be labeled unpatriotic, aiding and abetting the terrorists, nonsupportive of our troops and naive. In fact, the essence of patriotism is to call attention to this imperialistic, immoral administration which has wasted our international reputation, amassed unparalleled debt and diminished the capacity of our military, but most importantly, resulted in the death and injury of some 25,000 of our military and tens of thousands of civilian noncombatants.

Why has it taken so long for the American public to realize that on every important issue, the Bush administration heads us in the wrong direction, collectively leading our nation into ever accelerating decline and greater human and economic vulnerability in a competitive, hostile world?

A greater mess is hard to conceive, which Bush now declares his successors will have to clean up.

Willard G. Jones is a longtime resident of Greeley and former administrator of the University of Northern Colorado.