Why did the USA withdraw from Iraq, thereby enabling the rise of ISIS?
A2AI am pretty sure that “leaving Iraq” was one of Obama’s election campaign promises…Iraq was far away, soldiers were dying, TV brought to the salons terrible pictures, and, of course, the war costs money. The Left thought that leaving Iraq is the best.On the much lesser scale -- in 2000 Israeli (also Left) PM Ehud Barak, following his election campaign promise, withdrew IDF from Lebanon. It stopped the war between Israeli soldiers & Hizballa. Soldiers did not die anymore. Hizballa fired on civilians now. Later, soldiers were killed & kidnapped and Israel entered Lebanon again. But in 2000 Ehud Barak fulfilled his election promise.Obama stepped on the same trowel, only Iraq is still far away. Or not. Because the victory over Americans in Iraq inspired Tzarnaev brothers.So why the USA withdrew from Iraq? Because Democrats thought that it was a good idea. For some reason they did not expect for terror to follow the soldiers home.
Who was the most incompetent U.S. president between Carter, Reagan, Bush 41, Bush 43, Obama, and Trump?
This is one of those more complicated than it sounds questions. Any answer shorter than a fat book is going to be diluted by generalization—but here’s my take:—— Incompetent ——It’s early in the Trump presidency, but unless he changes radically, he’s well on the way to being the most awful, disastrous president in U.S. history. Physically, he is 70 years old, but he constantly acts like an angry toddler—making him both the oldest and youngest president.Bush 43 got thousands of young Americans killed or maimed in a senseless second-front war, and was the first U.S. president to authorize torture and hire mercenaries. Also, he actively helped steer us into a recession. Not good.Reagan cut taxes and increased spending, which tripled the national debt. Amazingly, some on the right still promote those same loony economic theories. Then there’s the Iran-Contra scandal, in which his administration sold weapons to Iran to raise money to fund a Nicaragua terrorist group. When he left office, Republicans launched a surprisingly successful campaign to make him a political saint—overstating his achievements and ignoring his failures. This determination to puff up Reagan may be in part because, at that time, they were still trying to live down Nixon.—— So-so —Carter had his heart in the right place, and the Bushes and Trump make him look a bit better—but his term at best was unexceptional. On a high note, he may have been the first president to really understand that we need a national energy policy.Bush 41 is kind of the Republican Carter. He got grief for raising taxes after he said he wouldn’t—but Reagan’s economic mess forced him to do it, and it was actually one of the braver and more sensible things he did.—— Most competent ——Clinton balanced the budget—the first president to do so since Johnson. He put more police on the streets and cut government spending. He probably had the best grasp of economics of any modern president. No president is perfect—he helped repeal Glass-Steagall, which created a regulatory vacuum that contributed to the Bush Recession.Obama pushed all the right economic buttons to get America out of the Recession. We’re still coasting on job growth caused directly by his policies. Like all presidents, he could have done more, but he left the country better than he found it, and has left us wistful for the days when we had a grownup in the White House..[Light edit—typo, and minor enhancements]
What were some of the failures of the George H. W. Bush presidency?
Well, I don’t think the first Bush had nearly as many failures as either his son or the current president. I think most people think of him as mediocre rather than especially bad.The economy performed badly during his term. There was a recession. You can debate how much control he had over this, but it was a big part of the reason he was not re-electedDuring his term, his performance in creating a coalition and driving Iraq out of Kuwait was seen as probably his top achievement. Some criticized the fact that he did not go into Baghdad and take out Hussein, however.He failed to stop the growth of budget deficits that grew so much under Reagan.His response to the Tiananmen Massacre was remarkably weak and timid.Other than preventing Saddam Hussein from absorbing Kuwait, it’s even harder to think of big successes.
Exactly how bad was the Carter administration?
Not nearly as bad as the Reagan/Bush era - and you've seem what Bush II has done..... OBAMA 08
Can it be said that George W. Bush didn't lie about WMD's in Iraq because Bob Woodward says Bush was himself skeptical about the claim?
Astonishing question. But just to set the record straight (again). I was the UK's WMD and Iraq specialist for the UK mission to the UN from 1998-2002. I was steeped in the intelligence on WMD. I read a thick folder of intelligence reports every day. I was the diplomat primarily responsible for setting up the UN weapons inspection body, UNMOVIC. I took part in every UK-US bilateral meeting on Iraq during this period, and was part of the small team of officials who reviewed so called JIC (Joint Intelligence Committee) summaries of all available intelligence about Iraq's WMD before they were submitted to the UK cabinet. I have now testified to the two official inquiries in the UK into the war, the so-called Butler and Chilcot Inquiries. I resigned from the British diplomatic service after giving evidence (then secret) to the Butler Inquiry. If you want the details, please read my testimonies. You can find them on my website here:Iraq: the story of my testimony But if you don't want the detail let me state it in a sentence. The UK and US believed that Iraq may have had some residual stocks of WMD (in particular BW or CW, but not nuclear) but at no point from 1998-2002, during the years I worked on the issue, did we believe that there was anything like sufficient to constitute a threat to Iraq's neighbors, let alone to the UK or US. The claim, repeated ad nauseam to this day, that Bush and Blair were "misled" by intelligence that there was a threat is not true.
What is the legacy of George W. Bush? What will he be remembered for?
As President:Desert Storm. Putting together an international coalition to repel the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, and then seeing the military action complete its goal quickly and efficiently. He decided against a larger effort to depose Saddam Hussein and occupy Iraq.Quietly working behind the scenes to keep calm and order as the Cold War ended and the Soviet Union fell apart.Agreeing to backtrack on his campaign promise of “No new taxes” in forging a bipartisan deal on the federal budget. He was punished by his party but it helped the economy in the long term.Clarence Thomas on the Supreme Court, arguably one of the worst in recent times. Two other selections were odd but they ended up mattering very little. David Souter on the Supreme Court turned out to be surprisingly liberal but then retired early. And I just don’t understand picking Dan Quayle for VP, not at all. Fortunately he disappeared after leaving office.Before politics:Though he was a child of privilege—the son of a US Senator and an Ivy League student—he accomplished much because of his determination and his willingness to serve. He enlisted in the US Navy in World War II and was a fighter pilot. He was shot down and rescued at sea. After the war he moved to West Texas to establish himself as an oilman. Midland is very different from the New England coast.