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Originally Posted by tw
Amazing how facts get ignored. We were well on the way to solving our debts when those Republicans took power. They ran up debts. Even invented a war that cost us $trillions. We are still discovering and paying for the last $1trillion created by Mission Accomplished.
What did Republicans want to do? Reduce spending by $1trillion over ten years. They forget that they joyfully massacred 5000 American servicemen in a war that had no purpose. And that costs somewhere between $2 and $3 trillion. Cut $1trillion in ten years because they spent two or three trillion in Mission Accomplished?
What happened to the government surplus? It was spent on tax cuts and welfare to the rich. And other programs that eventually created a massive 2007 recession. But somehow all that get forgotten to blame Obama.
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The war with Afghanistan was required by the oath of office of the President. Bush had no choice there.
The war with Iraq was another matter, of course. There, I believe Saddam had just made himself into a huge PITA, after invading Kuwait AND Saudi Arabia, making a 10 year war with Iran, and gassing the Kurdish towns (3 of them iirc).
Saddam's secret service had also tried to assassinate Bush Jr's dad, when he went to receive an award in Kuwait or Qatar (it failed, but hardly endeared Saddam to the Bush family).
We knew that the economy in Iraq was shot to hell. Their oil production had been falling for years, with many plants barely working at all. Plus, Saddam had rebuilt his Army to a HUGE level, calling on national fervor ad's to get recruits (it worked).
There was no doubt in anyone's mind that Saddam was going to attack a nearby country. You don't keep an Army that large, hanging around, just training do you?
No. You use it. Saddam also had a large fleet of mobile missile launchers, and a fair amount of Scuds to use, as well. They became a BIG problem for us, to find and destroy, during the war.
I believe Bush was just convinced by Cheney and Rumsfeld and the CIA, that taking out Saddam now, would be a good idea. Much better than waiting for him to attack another country in the Middle East.
People like to smear Cheney, he is not afraid to be a hawk on matters, but the truth is, Cheney is one very smart dude, and he cuts right to the chase. I don't know what all our options were at that time, but Cheney did, of course. As did Bush and Rumsfeld, and the CIA.
The fight to remove Saddam didn't go well, because Al-Qaeda and the Bath party, used it to raise a huge groundswell of support for joining them, and fighting us in guerrilla fashion. No one could have predicted how successful they would be at it. (OK, one prof. from Columbia U did predict it, and did advise the Pres about it, but nobody believed him, so
!)
Our big spending problem was exacerbated by the wars - no doubt. But there are much bigger issues: Top two are Social Security, (which is slowly going broke), and Medicare (which Bush Jr. substantially increased the coverage and cost of).
The longer we wait to fix them, the worse the fixing will have to be. We know that. Everybody knows that. But we can't get enough conservatives in Washington, to get the fixing done! The Democrats won't touch it, and the RHINO's won't either, but it needs to be FIXED!
*RHINO: Republican In Name Only.