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Showing Original Post only (View all)Krauthammer: "The Bush Legacy: he kept us safe" [View all]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/charles-krauthammer-the-bush-legacy/2013/04/25/b6de6efa-add8-11e2-8bf6-e70cb6ae066e_story.html
Clare Boothe Luce liked to say that a great man is one sentence. Presidents, in particular. The most common one sentence for George W. Bush is: He kept us safe.
Not quite right. With Bushs legacy being reassessed as his presidential library opens in Dallas, its important to note that he did not just keep us safe. He created the entire anti-terror infrastructure that continues to keep us safe.
That homage was paid, wordlessly, by Barack Obama, who vilified Bushs anti-terror policies as a candidate, then continued them as president: indefinite detention, rendition, warrantless wiretaps, special forces and drone warfare, and, most notoriously, Guantanamo, which Obama so ostentatiously denounced until he found it indispensable.
Quite a list. Which is why there was not one successful terror bombing on U.S. soil from 9/11 until last week. The Boston Marathon attack was an obvious security failure, but there is a difference between 3,000 dead and three. And on the other side of the ledger are the innumerable plots broken up since 9/11.
(...)
Clare Boothe Luce liked to say that a great man is one sentence. Presidents, in particular. The most common one sentence for George W. Bush is: He kept us safe.
Not quite right. With Bushs legacy being reassessed as his presidential library opens in Dallas, its important to note that he did not just keep us safe. He created the entire anti-terror infrastructure that continues to keep us safe.
That homage was paid, wordlessly, by Barack Obama, who vilified Bushs anti-terror policies as a candidate, then continued them as president: indefinite detention, rendition, warrantless wiretaps, special forces and drone warfare, and, most notoriously, Guantanamo, which Obama so ostentatiously denounced until he found it indispensable.
Quite a list. Which is why there was not one successful terror bombing on U.S. soil from 9/11 until last week. The Boston Marathon attack was an obvious security failure, but there is a difference between 3,000 dead and three. And on the other side of the ledger are the innumerable plots broken up since 9/11.
(...)
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"not one successful terror bombing on U.S. soil from 9/11 until last week"
Gidney N Cloyd
Apr 2013
#3
Except for 9/11. Except for the anthrax attacks. Except for the shoe bomber. Except for Katrina.
hatrack
Apr 2013
#12
The Main Stream Media can easily produce charts 1990-2012 to easily demonstrate this 'fact'
usGovOwesUs3Trillion
Apr 2013
#16
What MIGHT keep us safe, but which neither Bush or this President has been willing to address . . .
markpkessinger
Apr 2013
#20
Some interesting insights into psychology there. Cognitive dissonance run amok.
lumberjack_jeff
Apr 2013
#23