As you probably realize from previous columns, I don’t like President Bush very much. There is no doubt in my mind that he is the worst Chief Executive in my lifetime.

So you may be surprised to learn that I feel sorry for the man sometimes. He must realize by now, if he has any intelligence at all, that he has messed up royally by invading Iraq. And the policies of his administration in dealing with the ensuing occupation have been just plain wrong-headed. There have been any number of disastrous decisions.

I know he brought all this on himself, but I can’t help but feel sorry for a man who has almost certainly assured himself a place in history as a particularly poor President (to put it mildly). It is my understanding that Presidents are very concerned about their legacies. This is because they won’t ever have another real job in their life, and they are going to have to rest on whatever laurels they have accumulated during their time in the White House. (One exception to this might be former President Carter, who has, in my opinion, greatly increased his legacy since he left office, through his work with Habitat for Humanity and his diplomatic work.)

And the worst is not over for Mr. Bush. I can’t see there being any positive outcome to his ill-conceived adventure in Iraq. The best that can be expected for that poor country is that it will become an Iranian-like Shiite fundamentalist state. The worst outcome would be the ignition of a region-wide conflict that would have numerous terrible consequences for the US and the rest of the world.

So, yes, I feel sorry for President Bush. History will not be kind to him. But I can’t feel too much sympathy when I think of how he has gone about increasing the power of his office to the detriment of the freedom and rights of others. And I don’t just mean his treatment of foreign nationals at Guantanamo Bay and in Iraq.

Mr. Bush has done more to abrogate the rights of US citizens than any President since Roosevelt interred the Japanese-Americans during WW II. Through warrantless wiretapping and the misnamed Patriot Act, he has caused the personal freedom of US citizens to be closer to those of the former Soviet Union than at any time in the history of the country.

So, I do feel sorry for the man sometimes, but I’ll be glad when he leaves the White House.