ÿþ<html> <head> <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1"> <title>OnlineColumnist®.com: Putin Punishes Georgia</title> <meta name="generator" content="Adobe GoLive 4"> <style type="text/css"> .style2 { font-size: large; font-weight: bold; font-family: Arial; } .style3 { height: 69px; } .MsoNormal {} .style5 { width: 179px; } .style6 { font-size: x-large; font-weight: bold; } </style> </head> <body bgcolor="white" vlink="black"> <center> <table cool width="624" height="2719" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" gridx="16" showgridx gridy="16" showgridy> <tr height="79"> <td height="118" rowspan="2" valign="top" align="left" xpos="0" class="style5"><a href="aboutdiscobolos.html"><img height="110" width="62" src="images/discobolos.logo.transp.gif" border="0"></a></td> <td width="7" height="118" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="482" height="79" colspan="2" valign="top" align="left" xpos="140"><img height="75" width="450" src="images/banner.GIF"></td> <td width="1" height="118" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="1" height="79"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="79"></td> </tr> <tr height="39"> <td width="182" height="39"></td> <td width="300" height="39" valign="top" align="left" xpos="322"><a href="aboutdiscobolos.html"><img height="14" width="267" src="images/divisionofNEW.GIF" border="0"></a></td> <td width="1" height="39"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="39"></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="624" colspan="6" valign="top" align="left" xpos="0" class="style3"> <table border="0" width="100%" bgcolor="black" cellspacing="0"> <tr> <td> <table border="0" width="100%" bgcolor="#99ffcc" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="4"> <tr> <td align="center"> <div align="left"> <a href="index.html"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> HOME</strong></font></a><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> &#8226; <a href="articlesindex.html">ARTICLES</a> &#8226; <a href="books.html">BOOKS</a> &#8226; <a href="teflon.html"> THE </a><a href="teflon.html">TEFLON</a><a href="teflon.html"> REPORT</a> &#8226; <a href="mailto:letters@onlinecolumnist.com"> REACTIONS</a> &#8226; <a href="aboutdiscobolos.html">ABOUT DISCOBOLOS</a></strong></font></div> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> <tr height="2"> <td height="2" class="style5">&nbsp;</td> <td width="489" height="2576" colspan="3" rowspan="2" align="left" xpos="133" content valign="top" csheight="2573"> <p class="style2">Bush&#39;s Accomplishment</p> <p><b><font face="Arial,Geneva,Helvetica">by John M. Curtis</font></b><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"><b><a href="books.html"><br> </a></b></font><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"><b> (310) 204-8700</b></font></p> <p><font size="2" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"><i>Copyright December 14, 2008<br>All Rights Reserved. </i></font>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> &nbsp;&nbsp;<span class="style6">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; M</span>aking his last secret trip to Iraq, President George W. Bush, whose approval ratings hit the lowest in modern history at 25%, declared he s pleased with the progress in Iraq.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> This war is not over, Bush told as select group of troops inside Baghdad s fortified Green Zone.  It is decisively on its way to being won, despite the suicide truck bombing killing 46 outside the fortress.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> Bush likes to tout his great accomplishment taking down Saddam Hussein April 9, 2003, one month before he declared,  mission accomplished, flying onto an aircraft carrier off the coast of San Diego.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Meanwhile, over 4,200 U.S. soldiers and tens-of-thousands of Iraqis have lost their lives in a power vacuum filled by foreign terrorists and a deadly insurgency in which Sunnis and Shiites unleashed age-old hatreds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Bush sees himself as the great liberator, while Iraqis have contempt for U.S. policies.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Before embarking on his last Iraq tour, Bush told ABC News Dec. 2 his  biggest regrets involved poor preparation for Sept. 11 and bad prewar intelligence about Saddam s arsenal of weapons of mass destruction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Bush, and his Secretary of State Condoleeezza Rice are trying to rewrite history, creating a favorable legacy for a failed policy, pushing the country into a stubborn recession.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Nobel-winning Columbia University economist Joseph Stiglitz correctly identified the Iraq War as a major contributor of today s recession.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> Bush refused during his presidency to acknowledge how the $12 billion a month price-tag downed the U.S. economy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney gave a green light to the oil industry to gouge businesses and consumers. Years of inflated oil and gas prices also damaged the U.S. economy, pushing the country into recession.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Bush talked Dec. 4 about how he received faulty intelligence on Iraq.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>When he was told in 2002 by chief U.N. weapons inspector Dr. Hans Blix that there was no WMD in Iraq, Bush insisted the U.S. could not sell its sovereignty to the United Nations..<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Bush also wouldn t listen to the best intelligence from the CIA, FBI, MI6, Mossad and German intelligence, preferring to cherry pick intelligence from a band of propagandists at the Pentagon headed by chief smoke blower Douglas J. Feith.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Bush wants to pretend here received bad intelligence but the record clearly shows he ignored reputable advice and relied almost exclusively on the Pentagon s Office of Special Plans.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>None of Bush s national security team, including Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, who presented Feb 5, 2003 the White House case for war to the U.N. Security Council, got its intelligence from the CIA.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Bush told U.S. troops he was  heading for retirement, declaring the U.S. was  safer and more secure than before the war.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Yet terrorist data say otherwise, with al-Qaida, not Saddam Hussein, more operationally sound than they were at the time of Sept. 11.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Bush leaves 150,000 troops in Iraq, diverting attention from Afghanistan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Since Cruise missile hit Baghdad March 20, 2003, over 4,200 U.S. deaths, more than 30,000 injuries and nearly $1 trillion have been spent on a war of questionable national security significance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Bush s crowning achievement turned into his worst nightmare, sending both the economy and GOP into a tailspin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>White House officials have only contempt for anyone suggesting the war and high oil prices pushed the economy to the breaking point.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Bush has spent most of his presidency justifying the worst foreign policy blunder in recent U.S. history.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Bush s foreign policy team blasted President-elect Barack Obama for daring to urge timetables for exiting Iraq.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Much of Sen. John McCain s (R-Ariz.) criticisms centered on Barack s date-certain for getting out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Bush and McCain accused Barack of  surrender, despite the Nov. 17 security deal calling for U.S. troops to get out by 2011, only six months after Obama s proposed deadline.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Bush talks of his retirement while U.S. forces suffer, unable to complete the mission.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>From the get-go, U.S. troops were given a suicide mission, inserted into a bloody<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>insurgency and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>civil war.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Bush can t admit that Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds want no part of a federal power-sharing government.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Bush talks about  democracy but doesn t like or accept the outcome of elections in the Gaza Strip and Tehran, where they chose Islamic governments hostile to the United States.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span> </p> <span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;;mso-fareast-font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US; mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Sacrificing over 4,200 U.S. troops, costing nearly $1 trillion and breaking the U.S. economy, Bush seems resolved heading into retirement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>While his retirement is secure moving into a tony Dallas neighborhood, his fellow citizens watch their retirements evaporate in the worst economy since the great depression.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>He handed off a losing baton to President-elect Barack Obama, who inherits disasters in foreign and domestic policy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>His great accomplishment is disposing a ruthless dictator, whose brutal regime kept savage-like tribes from murdering each other.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>He gave Iraqis free elections but robbed them of security and amenities once known under the former U.S. ally that went to the gallows Dec. 30. 2006.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Bush accomplished a lot enriching himself and his friends at the expense of the American people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>While Bush touts his accomplishments, history says otherwise.</span><p class="MsoNormal"> &nbsp;<bAbout the Author</u><b>John M. Curtis</b> writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news.&nbsp; He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of <i><a href="books.html">Dodging The Bullet</a> </i>and <i><a href="books.html"> Operation Charisma</a></i>.</p> </td> <td width="1" height="2576" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="1" height="2"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="2"></td> </tr> <tr height="2574"> <td height="2574" valign="top" align="left" xpos="0" class="style5"><img height="172" width="111" src="images/johninframe3.jpg"></td> <td width="1" height="2574"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="2574"></td> </tr> <tr height="1" cntrlrow> <td height="1" class="style5"><spacer type="block" width="133" height="1"></td> <td width="7" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="7" height="1"></td> <td width="182" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="182" height="1"></td> <td width="300" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="300" height="1"></td> <td width="1" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="1"></td> <td width="1" height="1"></td> </tr> </table> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2" width="597"> <tr> <td><font size="1" face="Arial,Geneva,Helvetica"> <hr noshade size="1"> </font><a href="index.html"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> Home</strong></font></a><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> || <a href="articlesindex.html">Articles</a> || <a href="books.html">Books</a> || <a href="teflon.html">The Teflon Report</a> || <a href="mailto:letters@onlinecolumnist.com"> Reactions</a> || <a href="aboutdiscobolos.html">About Discobolos</a></strong></font> <div align="left"> <p><font size="1" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">This site designed, developed and hosted by the experts at</font><font size="2" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"> <a href="http://www.cmeonline.net" target="_blank"><img height="30" width="138" src="images/cmelogoANIM.gif" border="0" align="absmiddle"></a></font></p> </div> <p><font size="2" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">©1999-2005 <a href="aboutdiscobolos.html"> Discobolos Consulting Services, Inc.</a><br> (310) 204-8300<br> All Rights Reserved. </font></td> </tr> </table> </center> </body> </html>