As You can probably guess by now I am not a big fan of Bush but last night I stayed up late watching a program on National Geographic recounting the events on September 11. It was a painful reminder that we are now post 9/11 and we are not to forget the lessons the 2,973 souls on that day died to teach us.
Immediately after 9/11 president Bush acted as any leader should have.. I may not like the route he took but being fair to him.. his decisive take no prisoners attitude was Ideally what the The American public.. and I dare say.. the world needed at the time.
After the the attack in Afghanistan he made a declaration about the axis points of Evil... Effectively eliminating diplomacy as an option with many of the US's enemies. Personally I do not appreciate the way Bush is waging this war on Terror (which I now think is essential) and I believe Clinton would have found a way to best balance the use of force with Diplomacy.
What Bush has wrongfully created, is an "Us against the world" outlook. This can never work.. yes a hard line approach is needed but like the Tanqueray add says "Everything in moderation".
After watching the 9/11 events again I felt an anger and a need to lash out against those who carried out this act.. but we need to also be careful not to create more extremist in the process.
As Gen. Rupert Smith pointed out on the daily show last night, "THE ART OF WAR IN THE MODERN WORLD” cannot be based off the use of force only but it requires one to fight on all fronts, such as Diplomacy, PR, Force...... etc., simultaneously.
This is something I doubt Bush realizes.... Oh and do not think I believe he is acting as he does soley for the benefit of the American People. I still think he is also acting in his own self interest as well. For as far as the 2 can work together..... A question that comes to mind, however, is; if it comes to a choice between the 2 what will he do?
Final Report? Well I now believe Bush has generally the right Idea with regards to his war on Terror However I do believe his plans of action are not able to achieve the objective we all need to see.
In closing however I challenge us to never forget 9/11 and to be honest with ourselves... the Americans have done as much and maybe even worse atrocities in its time... they are no saints. We should apply such lessons to all that we do... the actions that we do today may haunt us tomorrow... beware of the monsters we create. And though it may be hard, try to see the big picture there is a time and place for everthing and every action and reaction must be done in moderation.
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