George Bush began his Presid-ency by wond-ering and contem-plating just what his legacy would be and how history would judge him. He declared himself a war President early in his first term and has lived up to his declaration. There was no war but he made one. This was a first and will fit into the category which history places it. He failed to apprehend bin-Laden which he vowed to do after 9-11. He toppled Hussein and had him executed. Hussein had not been responsible or had anything to do with the events of 9-11 and was a bitter enemy of bin-Laden. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. This cliché didn’t hold true with Bush since he went to war with Iraq without understanding all the facts. He was a war President. Al Qaida was in Afghanistan and Pakistan and would follow Bush to Iraq, leaving the Taliban to regroup. Without the presence of Hussein, the borders were left open to all known terrorist groups in the bordering countries and Iraq would become the breeding grounds for terrorism. This situation has continued since the invasion but has improved since 30,000 new troops were sent in one year ago. The improvement came with a cost. There were more lives lost last year than any previous year since the war began although the death rate has dropped in the last few months. Bush is a war President.

The Presidential candidates have taken the attention away from the Iraqi mess and Bush has not had to defend his actions in the war zone lately. He has had time to start thinking more about his legacy. With one year left, he has started talking about being a peacemaker. Why did it take him so long? His old policy was, ” If you are not with us, you are against us”, or “Bring’em on”. Huckabee, a Republican Presidential candidate, called Bush’s action a bunker mentality. Some of us Democrats call his mentality other things but I will not infuriate some of my fellow writers by expressing my opinion about his mentality.

Bush has been meeting with leaders of some of the Mid-East countries trying to bring peace to that region. What a turnaround in his behavior! Up to this point he had relied on the superiority of the military to humiliate the supposedly inferior nations. He has met with the leader of Saudi Arabia and has negotiated a sale of high-tech war weaponry worth more than $20 billion. This is the nation which produced 16 out of the 20 hijackers that carried out the events of 9-11.

Negotiations were out of the question earlier in his administration. He learned the lesson too late that it is better to negotiate first and shoot later. His policy was to shoot first and ask questions later. If the truth had been sought out early, the Iraqi war would never have materialized. Bush now realizes that his former mentality will not look too good to former historians who will be his legacy judges.

Last week a US war ship was threatened by supposedly Iranian speedboats. If the boats had come much closer, the US sailors would have had no other choice but to have blown them out of the water. If they had been Iranians, we would have been in another war even though it may have been only hecklers. How easy it would be to start a war in these waters in the Mid-East if a renegade group attacked, carrying Iranian flags. Iran denies that they had any part in the speed boat harassment of the US warship. The issue has not been solved and Bush is still looking for reasons or excuses for attacking Iran. Can Bush’s quest for an honorable legacy by trying to bring peace to a warring region keep him from declaring another war? I hope that his latter ambitions will prevail and peace will replace war. Will Bush’s legacy be that he was a warmonger or a peacemaker? You make the call. Reach me at jamesfugate606@yahoo.com