Well said hitmaneion!!!
However, I do agree that we cannot put the blame of 9/11 on the Bush administration; however, there were PLENTY of Republicans in that administration that were quick to blame Clinton's administration immediately after it happened! The reality is, we were caught with our "pants down". Mistakes and oversights were made by several administrations - including Bush's. This unpreparedness seems to be a common thread in our history. WWII and Pearl Harbor is another example of us getting caught when there were indications out there that pointed to an attack of some kind. It may be because of our make up as a nation (tend to be very trusting and good hearted) or possibly the "red tape" that exists in our governement that slows quick responses.
On to Iraq....why in the world did we invade Iraq? Why could we not have waited a few more months to see if WMD were found? Did we do it because Hussein was an "immenent" threat? Did we do it because we were going to force a democracy in the Middle East? Did we do it in an attempt to gain control of oil prices? (and by the way, the reason oil prices have gone up is because the whole thing was botched. We still do not control the country and oil exports from Iraq are constantly being curtailed by attacks) Did we do it to stop terrorism? Did we do it to settle a score? It is my guess that there are fragments of truth in ALL of the above - which makes it difficult to prove any one thing as the over riding factor. One thing is certain - for every "fact" someone digs up, another "fact" can be found to counter it! Hindsight seems to be more clear and the question now really is was it a wise and correct move? Unfortunately the answer to that seems to indicate - NO! We are paying a huge price in dollars (almost alone - even though we claim to have a "coalition"), the majority of soldiers killed over there are almost all ours, the people over there do not like us (even though we were led to believe they would be greeting us in the streets! Any one who knows any of the history of that region would know that would not have been the case. We also had been bombing this country for YEARS and killing innocent people as well as bad guys - and I am not saying the containment policy was all wrong either), we have stretched our military to the breaking point and cannot focus exclusively on the real terrorists, and we are a more isolated country than we have ever been (and while I don't always want to admit it, we do need other nations to help - it is the only way to defeat global terrorism).
In our rush to war, it seems we were wrong on many more things than we were right on. I still do not see what a few months of waiting on the inspectors (in Iraq - a country we have been closely monitoring for 15 years) would have cost? Regardless, we have no choice now but to stick it out and make it right - we have no other choice because to pull out now would make the area even worse than it was before. Because of all of this, Bush should be held accountable on the whole Iraq war and deep questioning of his errant policies there is justified and one is NOT unpatriotic or weak on defense if one questions this!
