The grim news coming out of Iraq and Afghanistan makes it hard to figure out what President Bush sees as reality. As the situation spirals out of control in Iraq, it's far more likely that the country will disintegrate into civil war than that it'll become a legitimate democracy. The insurgency is only part of the problem.
The intense internal ethnic and religious struggles for power are more-troublesome, long-term issues that weren't taken into account before rushing off to war. What was the hurry? United Nations inspectors in Iraq were finding Iraqi cooperation and no WMD or WMD programs.
President Bush's "miscalculation" (his word) has cost more than 1,000 U.S. military fatalities, more than 10,000 wounded U.S. soldiers, and an estimated 15,000 Iraqi civilian deaths.
Most concerning for our security is that his actions have increased hatred of our country around the world. After the 9/11 attacks, Bush had a once-in-a-lifetime chance to lead a unified nation and world forward with vision.
Instead, respect for our nation abroad is at an all-time low, and our nation is divided.
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These are troublesome thoughts to carry into the voting booth Nov. 2
Barbara; Kermisch
Rochester;
