Letter: List of Bush’s abuses is depressingly long

Sunday, Sept. 3, 2006 | 7:17 a.m.

On what planet is letter writer Fred Waldman ("Bush deserves credit for success he's had," Aug. 31) living? The only credit Bush deserves is to go down in history as perhaps the worst president of all time.

First of all, the Taliban is still killing coalition troops in Afghanistan where, by the way, the troops that are in Iraq should have been sent in the first place - to find bin Laden.

Second, there was no sound reason to invade and occupy Iraq. Bush fabricated reasons to the cost to this day of almost 2,700 U.S. servicemen's and women's lives as well as billions of dollars - a debt that will be passed on to Waldman's progeny.

And who is it that gave Bush a mandate to "instill democracy" around the world - at the point of a gun? Democracy is not a catchy concept in the Middle East; as a matter of fact the idea of democracy runs contrary to fundamentalist Muslim beliefs. Are we to reshape the entire world to suit our purposes?

Bush and his advisers misled the American people into a ruinous war from which there appears to be no end in sight; he held Israel's coat while Lebanon's infrastructure was demolished; he misled the American people into believing that Saddam Hussein and 9/11 were connected, and he has devastated the U.S. economy - inheriting a surplus and turning it into a monumental debt.

Mr. Waldman, like too many others, is the victim of political smoke and mirrors which the Bush team executes so well.

John H. Esperian, Las Vegas