Miserable failure

It was said some time ago, and it's still true. The presidency of George W. Bush has been a miserable failure.

Consider. The United States entered World War 2 in December 1941. By August 1945, just over three and a half years later, the European Axis powers and Japan had surrendered. In September 2001, a terrorist organization launched an attack on American targets. In September 2004, just over three years later, the USA seems no closer to defeating the terrorist group who perpetrated the attack.

In World War Two, America was fighting on two fronts simultaneously, and was almost totally unprepared for war when the attack on Pearl Harbor took place. In September 2001, America had been for a number of years the most prolific producer and consumer of killing machines in the world. Furthermore, there was one clearly defined target. But, like the British and Russians before them, the Americans got bogged down in Afghanistan, and failed to achieve their objectives.

George W. Bush and his henchmen shrugged, and decided to mount a disinformation game in preparation for their attack their real target -- Iraq -- headed by Donald Rumsfeld's old buddy, Saddam Hussein. Naively believing that "the enemy of my enemy is always my friend", they expected the US troops to be greeted by a shower of rose petals. Approximately tens of thousands of lives later (these people are so arrogant, they can't even be bothered to try to keep count of how many people have lost their lives as the result of American aggression), it's obvious that this was not ever going to be the case. US service deaths are relatively few, thanks to technical improvements in personal protection, but severe woundings and maimings are high, for the same reason. Eighteen months after a successful blitzkrieg operation, the US (or the puppet government) has yet to control a major Iraqi city effectively.

But wait, you say. In 1941, the USA had allies. Sure -- but Big George didn't need allies, he thought. USA! USA! We can kick your ass! Apart from the UK, no country has contributed to a significant degree to help the Bush Empire-building exercise. Sure, there are a few hundred Dutch Marines, etc. and some Japanese military engineers staying in their camp and providing a few buckets of clean water each day for the neighboring village. But most of the rest of the world is, quite rightly, telling George to sweep up his own cheneying mess. And mess it is -- the corruption and underhand dealing that has gone into the occupation of Iraq, with billions of dollars simply missing as a result of the incompetence of the illegal CPA, headed by those selected for political loyalty, not their abilities, is staggering.

So much for the "war presidency" of George W. Bush, a "war presidency" like that of so many other monomaniac dictators and would-be dictators, who attempt to secure a place for themselves in the affections of their countrymen by waging a colonial war (parallels with Mussolini spring to mind). Despite Bush's flip-flopping from the "war president" to the "peace president" and back again, the fact remains that he is a miserable failure, no matter what criterion you judge him by. The most expensively-equipped army the world has ever seen has been stopped (once again) by patriotism backed up with AK-47s. The occupation of Iraq has been marked by criminal excesses of the worst kind, reminiscent of the brutal regime that was the pretext for the invasion. And George W. Bush blithely continues to assert (having visited the place once, for two hours, in a heavily-guarded military compound, accompanied by a plastic turkey, nearly a year ago) that everything is just fine. Funny how the troops over there don't agree.

"Miserable failure" doesn't really go far enough. "Miserable criminal failure" covers the bases more fully. When Bush loses in November, I do hope that a truly patriotic USA will hand him and the rest of the failures over to the World Court for judgment.