Letter: Does the world see us as it sees our leader?

Friday, Sept. 21, 2007 | 7:07 a.m.

Let's bring in a time-worn phrase: "Those who don't learn from the past are doomed to repeat it."

President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney never served in Vietnam, so they never learned that lesson. It appears they haven't learned from 4 1/2 years in Iraq, either.

They keep repeating the mistake of keeping our troops there to die or face lives maimed emotionally, mentally or physically. Which brings us to this : Since there can be no military solution in Iraq, what's left? A political solution? Among the Shiites, Kurds and Sunnis? If we stay there 100 years, the minute we leave, they will go at it. That's the political solution. No amount of diplomacy will change that. Ask Israel .

Now, picture this: Bush in Australia recently called the meeting OPEC not APEC, called Australian troops Austrian, then bumbled his way off stage. With that in mind, what must we ask ourselves? If we, as Americans, elected Bush to be our president, then how must the people of the world see us?

Mexico's former President Vicente Fox said Bush was the cockiest person he had ever met. Stubborn or thickheaded comes to mind, too. Are Bush's cockiness, arrogance and good-ol'-boy swagger self-imposed covers for his stupidity and incompetence?

So, to answer the question; how must the people of the world see us? Forrest Gump once said, "Stupid is, as stupid does." Have we become a nation of Forrest Gumps? Under Bush, it's something to ponder.

Horace L. Becknell, Henderson