On Israel & Iraq, Bush Stood Tall
Eight years ago, about the time George W. Bush was sworn in, I recall telling a friend in my old synagogue that while I thought Bush would be a good president, I was concerned how he would be on Israel. His father, after all, had been quite a disappointment, appointing officials to the State Department who harbored a deep animus against the Jewish State.
But, as Bill Kristol points out in his latest New York Times column, the former president did not harbor such animus, indeed, proved to be a good friend of this democracy in the Middle East.
Bush stood with Israel when he had no political incentive to do so and received no political benefit from doing so. He was criticized by much of the world. He did it because he thought it the right thing to do.
It wasn’t just Israel where Bush showed courage, even when it gained him no political benefit. Kristol calls winning the war in Iraq “Bush’s most impressive achievement:”
. . . in particular, his refusal to accept defeat when so many counseled him to do so in late 2006. His ordering the surge of troops to Iraq in January 2007 was an act of personal courage and of presidential leadership. The results have benefited both Iraq and the United States. And the outcome in Iraq is a remarkable gift to the incoming president, who now only has to sustain success, rather than trying to deal with the consequences in the region and around the world of a humiliating withdrawal and a devastating defeat.
President Obama would do well to recall his predecessor’s courage in these endeavors. Sometimes leaders have to buck popular opinion and eschew political gain to do the right thing.
(H/t Instapundit)
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Yup, Bush’s small-cock diplomacy in Iraq sure is “standing tall.” W tried to refashion his father’s legacy by “finishing” the Gulf War, that’s all. Thousands died for a meaningless exercise in muscle-flexing and posterity. Poorly planned, poorly executed, ‘mission accomplished’ was (and still is) undefined, and now we have a glib know-nothing assuring a withdrawal as if the whole thing hadn’t happened.
I understand wishing Bush well upon his exit. He’s basically a good guy, has the interests of the nation at heart, and it’s simply the decent thing to do. And what a relief.
Comment by Ignatius — January 21, 2009 @ 11:17 am - January 21, 2009
Ignoramus.
Bush removed an avowed enemy of the Untied States who invaded foreign nations 5 times, tried to shoot down our lawful patrols, has used weapons of mass destruction, whom every authority in the world believed still had WMD, who still claimed to have WMD, who violated every agreement he made with the civilized world that were the very conditions that allowed him to remain in power, and when the entire US military was amassed off his borders and shores, STILL refused to cooperate with the worlds demands.
A rogue, expansionist, and committed enemy of the US, whom the Dulfur report concluded was ready and eager to reconstitute his WMD program the second that sanctions (which he was undermining by bribing half the world with oil that was supposed to be used to feed and care for his citizens) were lifted.
And Bush replaced that outlaw regime, only when he refused to cooperate, with a democracy and friend to the US and western world. And in doing so freed 25 million from tyranny and real torture.
Thats not small-cock anything, thats an accomplishment of tremendous proportion that makes the world safer. Your criticism on the other hand is very small cock.
Comment by American Elephant — January 21, 2009 @ 8:23 pm - January 21, 2009
Iggy, I can’t believe your comments on Iraq are so unbelievably ignorant.
But, what I came to say. Guess who didn’t stand tall on Iraq? Andrew Sullivan:
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/blogs/index.php/wehner/51542
Comment by ILoveCapitalism — January 22, 2009 @ 4:05 am - January 22, 2009
Courtesy of Peter Wehner… More Andrew Sullivan when he was a strong advocate of the Iraq war and an equally strong critic of Bush-haters:
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/printarticle.cfm/sullivan-s-travels-12347
Must be read to remember what he used to be like, and how far he’s fallen. And I can’t wait to see him turn on Obama. Oh, he’ll find a provocation eventually.
Comment by ILoveCapitalism — January 22, 2009 @ 4:18 am - January 22, 2009
Miss Milky Glutes lost any claim she had to intellectual honesty or consistency years ago. I don’t think she will turn on Obama. Here is a supposedly intelligent supposed man, who has reduced every one who for any reason opposes changing marriage to fanatical “Christianists” bent on theocracy and world domination, and who, with a straight face, says that pretending red marker ink is menstrual blood is torture. He has looked over Obamas plans to raise spending by over a billion dollars and make a majority of the population dependent on or beholden to Democrats and calls him a conservative. He has sold any integrity or dignity he once possessed for a validating pat on the head and an official “good fag” from government.
Comment by American Elephant — January 22, 2009 @ 6:56 am - January 22, 2009
Oops, Filtered. I think i used a politically incorrect word or two.
Comment by American Elephant — January 22, 2009 @ 6:57 am - January 22, 2009
…who violated every agreement he made with the civilized world that were the very conditions that allowed him to remain in power, and when the entire US military was amassed off his borders and shores, STILL refused to cooperate with the worlds demands…Your criticism on the other hand is very small cock.
Iggy, I can’t believe your comments on Iraq are so unbelievably ignorant.
As predictable as automatons, aren’t they? Factually inaccurate, too.
Comment by Ignatius — January 22, 2009 @ 2:44 pm - January 22, 2009
…said the automaton to the mirror.
Comment by ILoveCapitalism — January 22, 2009 @ 3:17 pm - January 22, 2009
I assume you are talking about yourself because unlike you, I can back up every word with authoritative sources.
Comment by American Elephant — January 22, 2009 @ 7:35 pm - January 22, 2009
Sounds like Ignoramus has cock-envy to me. It usually happens when liberal guys are trying to prove a point.
Just an observation.
Regards,
Peter H.
Comment by Peter Hughes — January 23, 2009 @ 11:47 am - January 23, 2009