A Very Stubborn President

Bush: Stubborn or Leader?

Commentary for Wednesday 03/14/2007 George Bush

Controversial Goerge: My Aunt told me that if a 'Thunder Lizard' ever bit me, it wouldn't let go until it thundered. She was talking about the small spotted salamanders that I found in the yard peroiodically. When it comes to President Bush, he reminds me of what my Aunt told me. In a way, he has the 'thunder lizard' streak in him. Once an idea becomes embedded, right or wrong, he can't let go until the idea rots enough to become stinky, then he musters up the where-with-all to distance himself from it.

Iraq No Exception: President Bush's naivete in thinking that he would be able to invade, rebuild, and make nice in a large country with 25 million divided people, with only 140,000 troops, is beyond imagination. It happened because of his inability to shake the thought that we would blaze into Iraq and be received as liberating heroes. Even after overwhelming evidence to the contrary, Bush refused to take the steps to improve the situation. The Iraqi pile continued to ferment and stink until at last (and with a pitiful mid-term election), he sees the need to be more aggressive.

Army Depleted: When he became President, he was bound to have found out that President Clinton had depleted the military. Donald Rumsfeld made a most telling statement when in a press conference stated that, "You go to war with the army you have." That may be a true statement, but immediatly after 9/11 a pro-active President would have taken that opportunity to expand our military enough to be able to go to war on terror. There are many consequences to not having an adequate standing army. For instance, because we are short on troops, the companies that we rely on to rebuild the Iraqi infrastructure, have to hire private security forces. Security is the number one problem from three years ago until now! Are you listening George?

The Clerics: It is also hard to blame clerics like Muqtada al-Sadr for being disgusted with the Americans for not providing protection for the Shiite Muslims. Those Shiites turned to al-Sadr for protection and he responded with a private army to control the violence against his people. After we finally sent in troops to Sadr City, (The Surge) we found that the people there welcomed us. All they wanted was security. Don't misunderstand that I am trying to paint a rosy picture for Muqtada al-Sadr, or you will miss the point that it was our lack of securing these neighborhoods that gave rise to such as al-Sadr. We couldn't secure those neighbohoods, we didn't have enough troops.

It is Clear: President Bush is not a proactive President. He does not take any action until the problem has managed to grow into an almost unmanageable mess. This is a fault beyond redemption. Being a good and decent man does not excuse his timidness for taking decisive action. At Daylite Sun we feel that George Bush is his own worst enemy. He is indecisive, and apparently, just like a 'Thunder Lizard' can't let go of bad ideas until it is too late. It's thundering George!

Robert welcomes your comment to this or any other of my commentaries.

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