Don't forget he was buddies with Putin, and "saw into his soul" and knew he was a good man and great leader.
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
George W. Bush Bashes Obama on Middle East
- Thread starter kmax
- Start date
- Status
Don't forget he was buddies with Putin, and "saw into his soul" and knew he was a good man and great leader.
astroturfing
Member
theignoramus
Member
You are basically saying Obama should have ignored the wishes of the Iraqi government and kept occupation forces in the country, right?
Omegasquash
Member
shadowsdarknes
Member
Seems incredibly simplistic.
There's virtually nothing he could have done to make these countries stable without apologizing for something.
This right here. He was just basically trying to raise money for his brother and that was one thing W was good at, campaigning and raising money.
Shyakugaun
Banned
this is a living parody
entremet
Member
The first election was pretty close and he was not really well known. Gore's campaign was terrible and he was destroyed by the NRA mobilizing against him.
The second election was lost mostly due to the war. America tends to prefer incumbents during wartime.
afternoon delight
Member
Eh, maybe third last behind Rumsfeld and Cheney.
Seems to me he was just politicking since these remarks were given at a Jewish fundraiser, right? I didn't read anything about applause but I'm sure there was some.
GWB is responsible for the greatest military blunder in recent US history. I'd say that with hindsight and considering outcomes like ISIS and the complete destabilisation of the ME that in a large part was influenced by the Invasion of Iraq it's even worse than Vietnam. While 'Nam cost more American lives, on the strategic level it only led to the loss of a single US-friendly country (which wasn't that great of an ally to begin with and would have been lost without the war in any case) and some spillover effects into countries that weren't friendly anyway. It pales in comparison to the complete chaos that's overtaken the ME now, not to mention that the Great Failure in Iraq completely hamstrung the US' ability to respond to it.
And he has the gall to criticise anyone on geostrategic issues? It's as if Nixon had risen from his grave to criticize how Clinton handled the Lewinsky affair.
And he has the gall to criticise anyone on geostrategic issues? It's as if Nixon had risen from his grave to criticize how Clinton handled the Lewinsky affair.
why is this news
whoever said they hope Bush comes out for this election in order to 'jog Americans' memories'... you have given this country's collective IQ far, far too much credit. If anything, Americans would be swayed to vote for whoever Bush endorsed.
as an abject nihilist, this amuses me
whoever said they hope Bush comes out for this election in order to 'jog Americans' memories'... you have given this country's collective IQ far, far too much credit. If anything, Americans would be swayed to vote for whoever Bush endorsed.
as an abject nihilist, this amuses me
PhoenixDark
Banned
Obama's foreign policy makes little sense but come on. Come on son. Come on.
Rhomega Beta
Member
stick to what you know W
PBS presents The Joy of Painting with George W. Bush.
BertramCooper
Banned
Ooooh, super-impressive considering his successor took out Osama bin Laden.
Hahahahaha. Should have said that to Lyndon. US foreign policy rarely looks beyond the next term.
D
Deleted member 309291
Unconfirmed Member
Bush negotiated our withdrawal from Iraq. Obama tried to keep troops there, but the Iraqi government refused to allow it without American troops being subject to the Iraqi justice system.
How many more years should we have stayed in that godforsaken country training that useless army of theirs? How many more Americans are you willing to throw into the meat-grinder?
I swear there's always one guy in these threads who says stuff like this.
1) Iraq exit strategy was W's idea, not Obamas.
2) Iraq wanted us to leave. Are we supposed to stay even though they don't want us there?
3) Afghanistan historically has always been a mess as well as most of the middle east for that matter. Only a few countries (Israel, Turkey, and recently Iran) have ever been stable. Kind of hard to blame Obama for a region that generally has a history of being unstable.
RustyNails
Member
The worst aspect of Obama administration (and Obama himself) is his refusal to go back and prosecute the entire Bush administration for lying to American people about Iraq. Seriously, if there is one single apt use of "Fuck Obama" its in this case.
These motherfuckers should be behind bars.
These motherfuckers should be behind bars.
Buba Big Guns
Banned
Bush is single-handedly responsible for a lot of the cluster fuck in the ME right now. He should just shut his mouth.
The people "swayed" by Bush were never going to vote any other way. There's a reason he's been in hiding for the past 6 years. Dude wasn't even mentioned in the 2012 Republican convention and Jeb only refers to him as "my brother" and he's done even that very sparingly.
Kenshin001
Member
None of them were president when the planes hit the twin towers. Bush was. Clinton didn't pussy out on bombing Bin Laden either. 75 cruise missiles were fired at bases in Afghanistan including one where Bin Laden was at but he had left hours before.
theignoramus
Member
I guess if you ignore the enormous body counts from that war and the devastation in Laos and Cambodia, putting moral considerations to the side, what you're saying may be factually accurate. But I would say the bigger strategic blunder was after the first Gulf War, not allowing Iraqi Shia to overthrow the regime internally.
Give a new meaning to Happy little Bushes
Because most do not actually expect them to stop. A recent ABC/Wash Post poll found that among all respondents (not taking into account whether they support or are against the deal) 59% have "little to no confidence" that Iran will abide by the terms of the deal.
I'm sorry, but what? GWB was part of a political dynasty, was one of the most visible governors for years of Texas, and was probably top 5 in prominent Republicans not already on the Hill.
This man was the leader of the most powerful country on earth. What the fuck is this?
]
Theonik
Member
What do you propose to do to stop them because if you consider this to be the case the sanctions definitely didn't work.
Grover Cleveland
Member
I mean, he's of course wrong, but he's pandering to a room of rich conservatives. They don't want to hear "I think Barack's doing a swell job"
Georgey Boy is just working that hustle right now
Georgey Boy is just working that hustle right now
Theonik
Member
No wonder Putin is hella mad. Imagine having to deal with this imbecile for 8 years. It leaves scars man.
There is nothing you really can do. Your choices are 1) ramp up the punishment or 2) covertly destroy it. The United States is willing to do 2), but only to a certain extent - like Stuxnet, etc. Israel is willing to go further - to gas up the bombers and hit their facilities, take out their scientists, etc etc. and they are going to do whatever they think is necessary with or without our approval.
The best hope for an abandonment of an Iranian nuclear weapons program is for the regime to be toppled and replaced with a more moderate one (the Iranian people aren't nearly as conservative nutso as their rulers are) but there's no way in hell that's going to happen.
BertramCooper
Banned
I just can't even...
I mean, this fucking guy knows why we withdrew from Iraq, right? Surely he knows that a prime minister hand-picked by his administration forced us to withdraw, right?
entremet
Member
I'm talking about Presidential track record, which would've been impossible to have at the time.
When people ask why was he elected twice, they miss that point.
well, the same would go for Gore then, since he was never President either. And no, VP duties aren't anything like being the President.
Veritigo_X
Member
PumpkinSpice
Banned
Bush would have done well for himself and everyone else to just stay out of politics for the rest of his life. He had his shot at that job, it's time for him to just put it all behind him.
And you don't think ramping up the punishments would have the adverse affect of making Iranians more conservative and hostile?
entremet
Member
Sure.
I'm just saying that many non-Americans always bring up the point of him being elected twice as some sort judgment on America.
He was actually a decent candidate in 2000. He ran a good campaign and was very likable and he didn't have a track record of incompetency yet.
People knew him, but we didn't know what type of President he'd be. He ran as a "compassionate conservative", not on bombing Iraq. Family values, reasonable foreign policy, smart government, cut the deficit, cut taxes, etc. Seemed like a decent guy and he was more articulate then than he was later on.
A lot of people online said there was basically no difference between Gore & Bush, stay home or vote Nader, etc.
Yes, let's start a war with Iran because that would be brilliant. How about we at least attempt to honor our deal with them?
Theonik
Member
These are both options that have been explored though and were not really successful and no-one except equally insane people like Bibi are willing to go further, to attack Iran outright would be madness. The third option is to try and negotiate a deal with Iran but obviously you have the trust factor to torpedo these talks.
Arguably you also have the point that toppling Iran's regime will be far worse for the region, and to suggest it shows a lack of understanding for politics in the Middle East. A lot of those countries are stable exactly because of the arrangements they have and in most cases something like this was done there was massive unrest in the resulting power vacuum that was left which leads to worse elements like ISIS to gain a strong footing.
The other reason to negotiate with Iran is that Iran is seen as an extra block to ISIS expanding and they know that, Obama also knows that, everyone knows that.
I said those were really the only two other choices.
Oh, and I suppose you are a middle eastern scholar, then.
I didn't say that was a good idea. I said that's about the best chance for Iran to give up nuclear weapon ambitions.
BertramCooper
Banned
That always works out swell for the U.S.
Link
The Autumn Wind
He's pandering to Israel, who pretty much want the rest of the Middle East bombed into oblivion.
Gordon Shumway
Banned
Neither of those choices did or will work. How about going at it a different way instead of repeating failure after failure while enduring untold amounts of human suffering.
BertramCooper
Banned
- Status
Similar threads
- Locked