Did Bush Make The World A Safer Place ?

After 9/11, many who weren't already paying attention suddenly realized that we live in a dangerous world. President Bush used the opportunity to promise Americans (and the world) that he would declare a war on terror, and make the world a safer place for everyone.

His first move, the invasion of Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, was almost universally supported. Anyone who has read this blog knows I am not a Bush supporter, but even I thought the Afghanistan invasion was neccessary and appropriate. The Taliban didn't just support and protect Al-queda, their beliefs are virtually interchangeable.

But Bush wasn't happy with attacking the real criminals who had attacked us. Before we had even finished the job in Afghanistan, he turned his attention elsewhere. After lying to America and the world, he invaded Iraq, once again using the excuse of "making the world a safer place".

Of course, now we know that he was not telling us the truth. Saddam was not a danger to America (or any other country for that matter), he did not have nuclear weapons or even a nuclear weapons program, and he was not in league with Al-queda. In fact, as most Muslims already knew, Saddam and Osama hated each other.

Now we are stuck in a real mess in Iraq, and the Taliban is coming back in Afghanistan. Why did Bush have to invade Iraq before finishing the job in Afghanistan? I don't know. But most of the world thinks it was to control Iraq's vast oil supply.

The Pew Global Attitudes Project gives us the following percentages of people in different countries who think we invaded Iraq because of the oil:

Great Britain..........33%

Russia.....................51%

France.....................58%

Germany.................60%

Pakistan..................54%

Turkey....................64%

Morrocco................63%

Jordan....................71%

But has the invasion of Iraq made the world a safer place? No! Once again referring to the Pew Global Attitudes Project, we find that most people, including half of Americans, think Bush has made the world a more dangerous place. Here are the numbers:

COUNTRY............LESS SAFE

France..................76%

Spain....................68%

Germany..............66%

Great Britain.......60%

Russia..................44%

Japan...................61%

China...................44%

India....................34%

Nigeria................32%

Jordan.................74%

Egypt...................70%

Turkey.................70%

Indonesia............54%

Pakistan..............52%

As you can see, a majority of people in countries that we consider to be our allies, think that Bush's blunder in invading Iraq has made the world a more dangerous place.

The war in Iraq is bleeding away the effectiveness of our military, is needlessly costing the lives of our soldiers, is using resources that could be put to better use in Afghanistan, and has made the world a more dangerous place!

It is time to bring our troops home. Just yesterday Muqtada al-Sadr, who was once a supporter of the government Bush installed in Iraq, called on Iraqi soldiers and police to join his militiamen in attacking American soldiers. Over the weekend, 10 more American soldiers were killed in Iraq. Our soldiers have no friends in Iraq. They are hated by both the Shiites and the Sunnis.

Stop the madness and bring our soldiers home!