Does Bush Deserve Credit for Ending the Iraq War?

[Frodo]

Question sparked after reading this article.

I have to say I agree with Republicans like Stephen Hadley.  As much as I profoundly disagreed with Bush's decision to invade Iraq, I nonetheless recognize that he did more than anyone to eventually end it, though it took a surge (which I supported) to get us to that point at which we could safely leave the country.   

[後援会]

Question sparked after reading this article.

I have to say I agree with Republicans like Stephen Hadley.  As much as I profoundly disagreed with Bush's decision to invade Iraq, I nonetheless recognize that he did more than anyone to eventually end it, though it took a surge (which I supported) to get us to that point at which we could safely leave the country.   

I agree with everything in this post.

[The Mikado]

Frodo, if a drunken friend of yours urinated all over your rug, then when he sobered up took it to the dry cleaners for you, would you say he deserved credit or blame?

[SPC]

No, the Sunni tribesmen who eventually got more pissed off at the Jihadists than the Crusaders deserve most of the credit. Bush deserves the blame for allowing Al-Qaeda in Iraq to exist in the first place.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

If you took a crap at the floor in first place, you don't get credit for cleaning it up later.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

Yeeeahhh... that would be sort of like if the guy who spread the AIDS virus found the cure for the disease and we all gave him a Nobel Peace Prize for it.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Yes. And Obama deserves blame for the recession.

[後援会]

Frodo, if a drunken friend of yours urinated all over your rug, then when he sobered up took it to the dry cleaners for you, would you say he deserved credit or blame?

Blame for peeing on the rug, but credit for taking it the dry cleaners. Because I am NOT giving credit to my unrelated friend

[TNF]

Of course not. He created the entire mess for no reason.

[Supersonic]

Yes, and in time history will judge President Bush well.

[Emperor Dubya]

Of course not. He created the entire mess for no reason.

Mmmmm. Of course the massive human rights violations, and Saddam's interest in procuring WMD'S had nothing to do with it. Or the country's covert support for Al Qaeda.

[Frozen Sky Ever Why]

Of course not. He created the entire mess for no reason.

Mmmmm. Of course the massive human rights violations, and Saddam's interest in procuring WMD'S had nothing to do with it. Or the country's covert support for Al Qaeda.

I wasn't aware the last one was a proven fact. The first two I think accounts for alot of countries, but oh right, Iraq was supposed to be an "example" for the rest of the Middle East. That worked out well, didn't it?

[Emperor Dubya]

Of course not. He created the entire mess for no reason.

Mmmmm. Of course the massive human rights violations, and Saddam's interest in procuring WMD'S had nothing to do with it. Or the country's covert support for Al Qaeda.

Yes well hopefully he had a lot more on his hit-list, starting with Syria and Iran.

I wasn't aware the last one was a proven fact. The first two I think accounts for alot of countries, but oh right, Iraq was supposed to be an "example" for the rest of the Middle East. That worked out well, didn't it?

[Frozen Sky Ever Why]

Of course not. He created the entire mess for no reason.

Mmmmm. Of course the massive human rights violations, and Saddam's interest in procuring WMD'S had nothing to do with it. Or the country's covert support for Al Qaeda.

Yes well hopefully he had a lot more on his hit-list, starting with Syria and Iran.

I wasn't aware the last one was a proven fact. The first two I think accounts for alot of countries, but oh right, Iraq was supposed to be an "example" for the rest of the Middle East. That worked out well, didn't it?

Please use the quote function properly, don't make it appear as though I share your warmongering sentiments.

[John Dibble]

No, the military strategists who came up with the surge and other successful things do.

[Emperor Dubya]

Of course not. He created the entire mess for no reason.

Mmmmm. Of course the massive human rights violations, and Saddam's interest in procuring WMD'S had nothing to do with it. Or the country's covert support for Al Qaeda.

Yes well hopefully he had a lot more on his hit-list, starting with Syria and Iran.

I wasn't aware the last one was a proven fact. The first two I think accounts for alot of countries, but oh right, Iraq was supposed to be an "example" for the rest of the Middle East. That worked out well, didn't it?

Please use the quote function properly, don't make it appear as though I share your warmongering sentiments.

Oops. Are you the kind of person who wouldn't have supported war against Nazi Germany, as it constituted warmongering. Because believe me, I know left-libertarians who do.

[Frozen Sky Ever Why]

Of course not. He created the entire mess for no reason.

Mmmmm. Of course the massive human rights violations, and Saddam's interest in procuring WMD'S had nothing to do with it. Or the country's covert support for Al Qaeda.

Yes well hopefully he had a lot more on his hit-list, starting with Syria and Iran.

I wasn't aware the last one was a proven fact. The first two I think accounts for alot of countries, but oh right, Iraq was supposed to be an "example" for the rest of the Middle East. That worked out well, didn't it?

Please use the quote function properly, don't make it appear as though I share your warmongering sentiments.

Oops. Are you the kind of person who wouldn't have supported war against Nazi Germany, as it constituted warmongering. Because believe me, I know left-libertarians who do.

That isn't worth a response. Comparing Nazi Germany to Hussein's Iraq in relation to the threat they posed to the US and the rest of the world is just beyond ridiculous.

[Emperor Dubya]

Of course not. He created the entire mess for no reason.

Mmmmm. Of course the massive human rights violations, and Saddam's interest in procuring WMD'S had nothing to do with it. Or the country's covert support for Al Qaeda.

Yes well hopefully he had a lot more on his hit-list, starting with Syria and Iran.

I wasn't aware the last one was a proven fact. The first two I think accounts for alot of countries, but oh right, Iraq was supposed to be an "example" for the rest of the Middle East. That worked out well, didn't it?

Please use the quote function properly, don't make it appear as though I share your warmongering sentiments.

Oops. Are you the kind of person who wouldn't have supported war against Nazi Germany, as it constituted warmongering. Because believe me, I know left-libertarians who do.

That isn't worth a response. Comparing Nazi Germany to Hussein's Iraq in relation to the threat they posed to the US and the rest of the world is just beyond ridiculous.

Well you say that now, but did anyone think Germany would be a threat to the world in 1933.

[opebo]

How ridiculous.  But, on this forum we probably can't really express what Bush actually deserves, so there's little point in attempting to comment further.

[minionofmidas]

No, because he started it.

[morgieb]

lol @ how partisan this poll is.

The answer is no. Ending it does not excuse starting it.

[So rightwing that I broke the Political Compass!]

lol @ how partisan this poll is.

The answer is no. Ending it does not excuse starting it.

Of course not. He created the entire mess for no reason.

Mmmmm. Of course the massive human rights violations, and Saddam's interest in procuring WMD'S had nothing to do with it. Or the country's covert support for Al Qaeda.

Yes well hopefully he had a lot more on his hit-list, starting with Syria and Iran.

I wasn't aware the last one was a proven fact. The first two I think accounts for alot of countries, but oh right, Iraq was supposed to be an "example" for the rest of the Middle East. That worked out well, didn't it?

Please use the quote function properly, don't make it appear as though I share your warmongering sentiments.

Oops. Are you the kind of person who wouldn't have supported war against Nazi Germany, as it constituted warmongering. Because believe me, I know left-libertarians who do.

That isn't worth a response. Comparing Nazi Germany to Hussein's Iraq in relation to the threat they posed to the US and the rest of the world is just beyond ridiculous.

Well you say that now, but did anyone think Germany would be a threat to the world in 1933.

This would be reasonable to say about Iraq in 1991- not only invading Kuwait and having the 4th largest military on the planet, but also on the cusp of developing nukes and positioned to invade Saudi Arabia.

But Iraq in 2003 was a broken and frankly unscary thing.

[So rightwing that I broke the Political Compass!]

lol @ how partisan this poll is.

The answer is no. Ending it does not excuse starting it.

Giving him credit for ending it in no way dilutes the critique of him for starting it. Good doesn't wash out the bad, but neither does the bad wash out the good.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

Obama made the promise to end the war and he ended it. Who knows when it would have been over if Bush was allowed to be president for another four years. American combat operations would probably still be going on. Obama deserves the credit for this.

I'd argue, however, that Bush deserves much more credit than he asks for when it comes to the death of Osama bin Laden. If my understanding is correct, aggressive interrogations at Gitmo helped yield the necessary information to find bin Laden. Bush set up an extremely strong framework for the process that ultimately saw OBL's death. He deserves some recognition.

[Mister Twister]

No. Only Obama gets credit