Iraq War Costs Coming Due

Two or three years ago I blogged Iraq War and why the US should withdraw. While the invasion of Afghanistan was justified Iraq was not. To put forward their argument to the UN the Bush/Chaney administration sent Colin Powell, the person in the administration with the greatest credibility. Within weeks of the invasion it became clear that the Bush/Chaney administration intentionally misled America. To cover their folly and distract the nation from the crumbling rationale, in dramatic fashion Bush announced “mission accomplished”. Powell’s credibility and character were mere tools to be spent by people who lacked Powell’s depth of character and principles.

Over the subsequent months and years new rationale was put forward post invasion as pre-invasion rationale. Bush led a great nation into a war that is problematic on several levels. Besides being unjustified, the strategy and follow-up plans were highly questionable, and the war was not paid.

For any country to prosecute a war successfully, the entire nation must be involved in the sacrifice. War making must be a national activity, not only a military activity, that requires the nation to sacrifice not only its blood, but also its treasures. It is a folly not to demand the latter from the outset. It is the latter that helps hold the civil armchair political generals in check. What happened? Rather than paying for the war by demanding the sacrifice of the general public through increased taxes and the closing corporate loopholes, Bush/Chaney amplified the folly by cutting taxes and allowing American daily life to be lived as if there was no costs and thereby leaving the nation with a growing time bomb debt.

Costs do come due, costs that Bush/Chaney pushed the problem off to the next administration. Further compounding the problem their deregulatory actions enhanced the depth of the crisis by contributing to the housing bubble and the mortgage meltdown. Still further, contrary to his pontificating of being a “Uniter” and his campaign trail claims to work in a bi-partisans consensus building manner, the imperial Bush/Chaney administration worked in a highly dogmatic partisan manner which created today’s political environment that makes it problematic for the White House and Congress to achieve any bipartisan solution not only on the budget but most matters.

As more and more is revealed about the Bush/Chaney administration the more disgusted with their administration…and for acquiescing to his imperialism and imperial presidency, the Republican Congress, and the Republicans party. Some scholars are speculating that the Bush/Chaney administration may well go down as one of the worse two or three administrations in the last century, and be amongst the worst seven in American history. I am coming the conclusion that the administration not only bumbled its opportunities for greatness, to build a better nation and world, it also sowed the seeds for the problems that would will take the United States, and to a degree the world, a generation or two to overcome.

The Nine

The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court by Jeffrey Toobin provides wonderful insights into the Court over which Chief Justice William Rehnquist presided from September 1986 to September 2003.


Toobin, a lawyer and CNN commentator on the Court, provides wonderful insights into the personalities of the Associate Justices, their passions and biases. A plethora of key cases from those years are outlined, including issues related to abortion, equality, gay rights, federalism, and religious expression in the public square. One of the more fascinating sections was Toobin’s examination of Bush v. Gore which the author notes brought forth from the Rehnquist Court all its primary shortcomings and in the end damaged public respect for the Court. The section dealing with the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and the detaining and treatment of prisoners provided for me fresh insights into the Bush Administration’s imperialistic attitude and desire to increase the power of the Presidency, for which the Bush administration was judged harshly by the Court.

The book provides significant extracts from both majority and dissenting rulings. Though numerous, the extracts are judicious and paired with commentary that allows the average reader to understand the essence of what is being said in the statements.

The book also reveals the political and religious right’s efforts to gain control of the Court. Harriet Miers, though a strong conservative and a very loyal Bush advisor withdrew her nomination because the religious right did not think she was conservative enough. Toobin notes that ultimately Bush’s selections of John Roberts and Samuel Alito have moved the Court strongly to the right after being a centrist court for decades. Toobin outlines that his selections were made to satisfy and sooth the concerns of four men, Jay Sekulow the primary lawyer pushing for prayer at public events and in schools, Ed Meese who was in the Regan administration and an advocate of increasing the power of the President, Manny Miranda and James Dobson the dominant voice of religious right, and all strong critics of an independent and strong judiciary. The book concludes with a handful of rulings from the Roberts Court and how the Court under Roberts has a conservative agenda.

This book is well worth reading.

George W Bush's Initial Place Amongst His Peers

A late 2008 C-SPAN survey of American Political and American History academics has ranked President George W. Bush as the 36th best President out of the 43 Presidents. He is ahead of just notable disasters as Millard Fillmore (37), Warren Harding (38), William Harrison (39), Franklin Pierce (40), Andrew Johnson (41) and James Buchanan (42). He is just behind John Tyler (35) and Hubert Hoover (34).

The broad consensus is that George W was a very poor President who created more problems for the nation than he solved. Out ten to twenty years he may rise above Tyler, Hoover and Hayes, but I cannot see him moving above 30th in my lifetime.

For historians the top six are: Lincoln, Washington, Franklin Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt, Truman and Kennedy. I hold Washington ahead of Lincoln and Jefferson ahead of Theodore Roosevelt....Kennedy is not in the top six.