Letter to the editor:

Bush’s real legacy is a safer nation

Everett Campbell, Las Vegas

Fri, Jun 27, 2008 (2:02 a.m.)

The recent letters criticizing Robert Klaus’ June 18 letter praising President Bush missed this very important point: There has not been a terrorist attack in the United States since 9/11.

Pursuing a vigorous homeland defense, and keeping the terrorists bottled up in Iraq and Afghanistan, policies that Mr. Klaus praised, are President Bush’s true legacy.

The mission of our brave soldiers to bring a form of democracy to these countries should not be diminished by these Bush bashers.

Discussion: 10 comments so far…

By JohnF

6/27/08 at 9:55 a.m.

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This letter misses a couple of important points, one of which is that if you're going to give President Bush credit for keeping us attack-free since 9-11 you also have to give him "credit" for having allowed 9-11 to happen in the first place. He was, after all, provided with a report entitled "Bin Laden determined to attack within U.S."

Second, the President doesn't take an oath to keep us safe, the President takes an oath to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. This President has violated that oath on a number of different occasions.

Third, since when was it the mission of our soldiers to bring democracy to either Afghanistan or Iraq? Our military men and women should be given military objectives, not political objectives. The military objective in Afghanistan was to destroy the Taliban, the sponsors and protectors of al Qaeda (a mission that I and all other Americans wholeheartedly support).

The ostensible mission in Iraq was to rid the world of Iraq's WMDs. When that excuse was shown to be a lie we were told we wanted to bring democracy to Iraq. I defy anyone to examine Presdient Bush's public statements in the runup to the war and show me where bringing democracy to Iraq was the primary, or even a secondary, motivation for the invasion.

Unfortunately, the invasion of Iraq has also kept us from accomplishing our primary mission in Afghanistan. Has anybody noticed that the Taliban just attacked a major Afghan prison and freed hundreds of their own soldiers? Has anyone noticed that opium poppy production is once again the major industry in Afghanistan? Or that the power of the Taliban is once again on the rise?

President Bush's true legacy is one of incompetence and deceit.
By pmdaniel_2000

6/27/08 at 10:25 a.m.

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Obviously you are a Bush Basher. I find it amazing that after only being in office for 8 mos the attack on 9/11 was completely and totally his fault. But Mr. Clinton who was in office for 8 YEARS before that had not even an ounce of responsibility. Bush has not been perfect but he has done a Great job of keeping the nation safe. Everything that is going on in the World has been in play long before Bush became President and sorry to desappoint you would have happened to Gore... Why do you think the Middle Eastern Countries want a Democrat to become president???? Doesnt that concern you when people that will kill their wives and babies to kill just one of us want a democrat president because they know that they will pull out of Iraq and Afghanistan and they will have freedon to take over that area completely and then only a matter of time before something far worse than 9/11 will happen. But I suppose that will be Bush's fault as well.....
By Teaser

6/27/08 at 10:48 a.m.

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Hey, Bush wants credit for being the great "Decision Maker," so why should he not take blame? At the very very least, why were those jets that crashed into the twin towers not shot down before this could happen? Why were there no fighter jets at least put into the air, especially after the first assault? Wasn't the "Commander in Chief" responsible to try to stop that?
By jfnance32

6/27/08 at 12:23 p.m.

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" you also have to give him "credit" for having allowed 9-11 to happen in the first place. He was, after all, provided with a report entitled "Bin Laden determined to attack within U.S."

Clinton got a three memo's directly from Bin Laden announcing his desire to destory America and he allowed the 9/11's terrorist to sneak into the country to take flight lessons!

"The military objective in Afghanistan was to destroy the Taliban, the sponsors and protectors of al Qaeda (a mission that I and all other Americans wholeheartedly support)."

If there were no Iraq then the same BS that we hear about Iraq would be directed at Afghanistan.

You guys always need something to complain about.
By JohnF

6/27/08 at 12:31 p.m.

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pmdaniel_2000,

You are absolutely right; I am a Bush basher because Bush absolutely deserves to be bashed.

You can't accept credit without also taking responsibility. The attacks of September 11th happened on Bush's watch. Not on Clinton's, not on Reagan's, not on Woodrow Wilson's.

"But I suppose that will be Bush's fault as well....."

Nobody is blaming President Bush for the attacks of September 11th. The blame for those attacks lies with al Qaeda, of course. The fact that we're not carrying the fight to al Qaeda, that we took our eye off the ball by invading Iraq, is one of the reasons Bush deserves to be bashed. Further, had Bush been paying attention he might have been able to do more to prevent the attacks in the first place. Prior to 9-11-01, however, terrorism prevention had very little of the attention of the Bush administration. Giving Bush kudos for there not having been any terrorist attacks since 9-11 is like praising Mrs. O'Leary for the fact that Chicago hasn't burned once since her cow kicked over the lantern.

What is it about the current situation in Iraq that was "in play long before Bush became President"? Do you really think Al Gore would have reacted to an attack on the United States - by Saudi Arabians trained in Afghanistan and supported by the Afghan government - by invading Iraq? Or any other country not responsible for the attacks of 9-11?

By the way, it's not just the nations of the Middle East that would like to see Obama become President; it's the nations of Europe, Africa, and South America, too.
By JohnF

6/27/08 at 1:16 p.m.

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jfnance,

You can't have it both ways. How is it you can assign blame to Clinton for allowing some of the events that led up to 9-11 but absolve Bush of any? If one is culpable then both are. Certainly Clinton knew that bin Laden was a threat. So did Bush. But the fact remains the attacks happened on Bush's watch. What would you have said about Clinton if the attacks had taken place a year earlier? You certainly wouldn't be as generous to Clinton as you're being to George W. Bush.

The invasion of Afghanistan has my full support as well as the support of every Democrat I know. It would have been a much more successful mission had our troops not been bogged down in Iraq. As Barack Obam has said, I'm not against all wars, I'm agains stupid wars.

Also, I didn't realize bin Laden has been issuing memoranda saying cc: Bill Clinton.
By thebs

6/27/08 at 2:30 p.m.

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I love this argument: I'm a "basher" because I want to hold my President accountable for his decisions.

And since Nance seems to think we don't criticize Afghanistan, let me point to two reports, released today, by the Pentagon that outline our progress (or lackthereof) in Afghanistan.

According to reports, the Taliban have "coalesced to a resilient insurgency" and the Pentagon expects the Taliban to "maintain or even increase the scope and pace of its terrorist attacks."

Taliban insurgents in eastern Afghanistan have increased their frequency of attacks by 40% over last year.

And JohnF is correct: had Bush not side-tracked us into Iraq, Afghanistan could have been a foregone conclusion right now, and perhaps we could have been hunting down the al Qaeda members who are hiding out in rural Pakistan.
By jfnance32

6/27/08 at 4:13 p.m.

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I am saying that they both, Clinton and Bush, should be blamed.

Here are the memos from Bin Laden sent to Clinton before 9/11 that said he was going to destroy America.

Memo 1: 1993 First World Trade Center (WTC) bombing.

“Many of the individuals involved in the 1993 WTC bombing were connected in some way to Osama Bin Laden and al-Qaeda. This was their first attack."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/2800...

Memo 2: 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya

http://archives.cnn.com/2001/LAW/02/14/e...

“….linked Wadih el Hage, one of four defendants standing trial for the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya, to Osama bin Laden,….”

Memo 3: 2000 attack on US warship USS Cole

“But bin Laden saw that as yet another weak spot, an Achilles heel. They had suicide bombers on little rafts loaded with explosives.”

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/...

Here are some other tidbits:

The USA warns other countries in 1998 that Bin Laden will target civilian aircraft.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/09/nation...

Also in 1998, CIA Director Tenet declares war on Al Qaeda. The Clinton orders a battalion of water pistol soldiers into action.
By thebs

6/27/08 at 7:18 p.m.

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Wow, that's a whole lot of evidence. Too bad Bush and his advisors IGNORED ALL OF IT in the months leading up to the attack.

So if you're blaming Bush and Clinton for 9/11, then you can't agree with this letter to the editor. Bush's legacy is that he was weak on preventing terrorism, was paralyzed with fear during the attack, and overcompensated afterward by sending us into a war with no connection to the actual attack, depleting the readiness of our troops and sending the U.S. into a fiscal tailspin.

The recommendations of the 9/11 Commission remain unfulfilled, which means we're still nearly as vulnerable as we were pre-9/11. We've closed only a handful of the attack vectors.

Not to mention the Anthrax terrorist attack that occurred shortly after 9/11.

Meanwhile, your evil anthrax doctor? The Justice Department has agreed to pay him $5.8 million for violations he alleged.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=...
By jfnance32

6/27/08 at 9:42 p.m.

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Too bad Clinton and his advisors IGNORED ALL OF IT for years.

"We've closed only a handful of the attack vectors."

OMG.........you admitted that some attack vectors have been closed. The world must be coming to end. theBS has said something positive about Bush.