Actually, I differed quite a lot with Bush Sr. on policy, but I think he was a master at International Relations. Whatever else you can say about the guy, he had a brain in his head and you did get the sense that an adult was in charge at the White House.
Like I said above, Iran is clearly not being entirely honest about anything. God knows there are enough countries in its backyard (read: Europe) who are taking the situation very, very seriously. Had we kept our hands off of Iraq, I suspect Iran wouldn't be quite so blatant about creating its own nuclear capabilities. Furthermore, the U.S. would've had some authority in backing the EU's attempts to get Iran to back down and back off. As it is, we pretty much squandered that authority in Iran.
The thing is, if Bush Sr. were in charge, we would've never fucked up in Tora Bora and we would've had more cooperation from the Islamic governments, or at least a tacit agreement to keep their mouths shut because a lot of them aren't any happier about al Queada. Furthermore, there'd be no way we'd be in Iraq, either. Bush Sr. back then understood why the U.S. couldn't get bogged down in Iraq and agreed (reportedly unhappily) with the containment scheme his administration set up and the Clinton administration continued.
Like I said, I had issues with Bush Sr.'s domestic policy, and was suspicious about our involvement in Operation Desert Storm, but the man also had a very clear grasp of reality and was smart enough to play the international odds in favor of U.S. interests. Ultimately, you can't expect more than that from a U.S. president.
As for GeeDubbya? I think we can pretty much agree that he doesn't have his father's brains nor did he even ask for his father's advice. I think we can pretty much say that Bush Sr. does not have any influence in the current White House. Things wouldn't be this bad if he did.
no subject
Like I said above, Iran is clearly not being entirely honest about anything. God knows there are enough countries in its backyard (read: Europe) who are taking the situation very, very seriously. Had we kept our hands off of Iraq, I suspect Iran wouldn't be quite so blatant about creating its own nuclear capabilities. Furthermore, the U.S. would've had some authority in backing the EU's attempts to get Iran to back down and back off. As it is, we pretty much squandered that authority in Iran.
The thing is, if Bush Sr. were in charge, we would've never fucked up in Tora Bora and we would've had more cooperation from the Islamic governments, or at least a tacit agreement to keep their mouths shut because a lot of them aren't any happier about al Queada. Furthermore, there'd be no way we'd be in Iraq, either. Bush Sr. back then understood why the U.S. couldn't get bogged down in Iraq and agreed (reportedly unhappily) with the containment scheme his administration set up and the Clinton administration continued.
Like I said, I had issues with Bush Sr.'s domestic policy, and was suspicious about our involvement in Operation Desert Storm, but the man also had a very clear grasp of reality and was smart enough to play the international odds in favor of U.S. interests. Ultimately, you can't expect more than that from a U.S. president.
As for GeeDubbya? I think we can pretty much agree that he doesn't have his father's brains nor did he even ask for his father's advice. I think we can pretty much say that Bush Sr. does not have any influence in the current White House. Things wouldn't be this bad if he did.