Quote:
Originally Posted by T@T
George W. Bush 2007 Prediction of Current Iraq Crisis
Was never a big fan of Bush but I'm really getting tired of Obama's tip-toe approach on anything military. Show some balls for a change. 
Under a Bush type leader it's safe to say ISIS would never had a chance to form, Crimea would still be part of Ukraine and MH-17 would have landed safely. |
While I do agree that Obama could take a more hard line approach, I think your vastly overestimating Bush's ability here, or the simple fact that the leader of the US just doesn't have as much influence as you think on things like this.
First of all, Bush was the one who stated the mess in Iraq by overthrowing Saddam. No Iraq war, no ISIS, simple as that.
But Bush was as instrumental in withdrawing the troops from Iraq as Obama was. A lot of those measures for withdrawal were signed into law before Obama came into office. The timelines were already set.
As for Ukraine, the US's public will for a fight simply isn't there. Most because of, you guessed it, the clusterfata that was the Iraq war that of course, Bush started.
Not only that, but the Ukraine is far more complicated than measures in the middle east. Russia is as close to a superpower as you can get without being one. The have the largest nuclear arsenal in the world. And they have big economic ties with Europe, which is causing this stalemate.
As much as I want the west and NATO to do something in the Ukraine, I'm not sure if they can or should do anything militarily right now.
To say that Bush would have prevented this, or handled it better is simply revisionist history. In fact, there is significant evidence to show his actions either created this, or at least help facilitate it.
The Iraq war is hurting that country and the western world in ways that we are only seeing now. Not only has it created a bunch of this mess, it took out the Wests moral highground for intervention. Russia only has to point to America invading Iraq to justify their involvement in the Ukraine.
Obama may be doing a bad job, but he's just cleaning up the mess Bush created.