January 18, 2009

Bush Squeezed Good From Problems Dealt

President George W. Bush was handed a “recession” when he assumed office eight years ago.

Eight months later, he had to deal with the terrorist destruction of New York City’s twin World Trade Towers -- and simultaneous heavy damage to the Pentagon military headquarters in Washington, D.C.

An intended crash of a fourth hijacked airliner -- headed for the National Capitol -- was thwarted by passengers. “Come on, let’s rumble!” They fought the terrorists on their plane as it crashed into a cornfield killing everyone on board.

Some 3,000 American civilians were killed that morning of 9/11/01.

The four-pronged attack was the worst of eight terrorist attacks against the United States since 1979 – including a previous attack in 1993 of the World Trade Center. That one killed 6 people and injured a thousand.

Click here for “A Third Awakening” September 17, 2006.

BUSH’S LAST PRESS CONFERENCE

In his last press conference on Monday, President Bush said Abu Ghraib – the American Army prison in Baghdad for terrorists -- was “a huge disappointment.”

Photographs -- shot secretly by jailers -- showed prisoners there being treated roughly.

Included, were scenes of Iraqi inmates being sexually humiliated and physically tortured by American soldiers. The military condemned these actions and sent the soldiers to prison with dishonorable discharges.

President Bush also said Saddam Hussein had not hidden “weapons of mass destruction” -- as the United States and many European nations had come to believe.

The free world had come to believe that WMDs were just nuclear weapons. Saddam’s scientists were working on this approach.

However, the Iraq dictator had used poison gas to kill more than 5,000 civilian Kurds on his western border who resisted Saddam’s brutal control.

NOT ACCORDING TO PLAN

President Bush declared:

“I don’t know if you want to call those mistakes, but things did not go according to plan.

“There is no such thing as short-term history. I don’t think you can get the full read of an administration until time has passed.

“The greatest challenge President-elect Barack Obama and his successors will likely face is an attack on our homeland akin to the events of September 11, 2001.

“Such an event would make people less likely to question interrogation tactics and other extreme security measures adopted by the government during his tenure.

“Remember what it was like around here just after September 11, 2001. People were saying, ‘how come they didn’t see it? How come they did not connect the dots?

“People were hauled in front of Congress. Then we started putting legal policy in place to connect the dots, and people said, “How come you are connecting the dots?”

HURRICANE KATRIN A

Bush defended his response to Hurricane Katrina by pointing out that U.S. Coast Guard helicopters followed the storm ashore and began lifting 33,000 residents to safety.

He did not refer to New Orleans and Louisiana directives that specifically ordered local authorities to handle disasters without national government help unless requested.

Bush also let off some steam about Congress – declaring he would ask Congress to release the second $350 billion emergency relief funds only if Obama requests him to do so.

So far, Obama has not asked – and probably will not this late in the transition process.

UPBEAT

Bush ended his press conference with an upbeat note:

“I am looking forward to participating in Obama’s inauguration.

“I consider myself fortunate to have a front-row seat at what is going to be an historic moment, when the first African-American president takes office.

“The phrase “burdens of the office are over stated. The job is so exciting and so profound, that the disappointment will be a minor irritant.”

He then playfully tweaked the White House press corps who seemed to enjoy pointing out his malapropos.

“It just seems like yesterday that I was on the campaign trail and you were analyzing my speeches and my policies.

“Sometimes you have ‘mis-under-estimated’ me. Always, however, the relationship, I have felt has been professional. And I appreciate it. ”

THE ‘SKINNY’

As we say in the journalism profession, here is my “skinny” of George Walker Bush’s presidency:

• He coped with the worst terrorist attack in American history.
• Since 9-11-01, he and his administration have prevented any further terrorist attacks on our homeland.
• He put our economy back on track with a tax cut and cash rebates.
• However, the economy suffered a relapse when Congress forced banks and home-loan institutions to give mortgages to people who had no prospects of paying back.
• He persuaded Congress to bail-out the General Motors and Chrysler automakers -- and shore up Ford – all of which have expensive, union contracts while foreign car factories in the U.S. do not.
• He kept a positive outlook.

By Lindsey Wilger Williams, retired newspaper publisher and syndicated columnist