To the editor:
In my dissertation “Foreign Policy and Military Strategy,” I identify three major characteristics of comprehensive moral foreign policy, used to examine every foreign policy since JFK up to and including Joe Biden.
Let us apply them to the actions of George W. Bush and examine how Americans ignore the evils of a broken party system.
Honesty of intention is the first precept, and is a standard by which the actions of every president can be evaluated in personal, historic, economic and social terms. Any policy from any president that does not exhibit this quality is not a foreign policy, but merely ideas that direct action toward ignorant ideologies.
Post-Sept. 11, we had the broken party system on steroids, and George W. Bush with unrestrained power. All of the presidents have had hidden agendas, but none operated to directly manipulate the American press in such a fashion that the American public was sold into wars that he and his cronies wanted to initiate.
Surely there was no honesty of intention here, and his actions with that bullhorn on that day belie the facts.
The victims were not even cold. His actions were more about his ability to wage war than the families who were suffering. It was a national disgrace, and Americans need to get a clue.
For the second precept — identification of the enemy — congruent and comprehensive policies cover all kinds of topics, both domestic and foreign. Certainly, foreign policy is also about trade, immigration, and aid to foreign nations as much as it is about military strategy.
However, for the purpose of the history of our many wars and their relationship with the policies, we have this standard. We have had wars on “drugs,” “communism” and also “terrorism.” Bush used the sacred power entrusted in him and contorted it to his own purposes by declaring another “-ism” as an enemy that was a nonsense analysis in terms of his actions toward peace.
The forever war — that Joe Biden cut and ran from — was initiated by a president who stole a presidential election, manipulated the American press, and left office just months after the second-worst financial crisis in American history. He tapped into the anger of the religious right, and extended a destructive militarism as far as he could reach.
George Bush was no hero president, and does not deserve any national acclaim.
Judgment regarding national self-determination is the precept that is misunderstood, ignored or corrupted by most presidents to be evaluated. Bush is the perfect example of this violation. He stated he was not in the business of “nation building,” so I guess he thought we could just eliminate a nasty dictator, take over the oil fields, and all would be right with the world.
His world.
His “mission accomplished” charade was yet another manipulation of the press as fake as any movie production from Ronald Reagan.
Even if our military does not belong via ignorant policies, the occupation must be reconciled to a mission cast in terms of national self-determination. Once we are committed, “cut and run” is never an option for the freedom of a national people and lasting peace in the world.
Leaving weapons and armaments in the hands of the enemy is a sacrilege.
George Walker Bush, and three presidents afterward — each with the worst policy failures in U.S. history.
Mark Ahearn
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September 26, 2021 at 11:05AM
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