You know one of the saddest things about * is? he coulda been a hero

[noahmijo]

I keep saying this because it's true. The mealy mouthed little punk coulda been a hero after 9/11.

He could've accepted the international help that was thrown to us left and right from our friends in Canada to our allies in France, Germany, Italy hell even Russia would've joined in on this job:

Catch Bin Laden.

As an armchair military person I always felt that wars are won only with good intelligence and key moves involving Special Ops-not reliance on just full blown kill em all invasions. Catching Bin Laden could've been done with secret intelligence gatherings, putting special ops from our allied nations and ours on the ground, infiltrations, recon, and ultimately at the most maybe just a couple of surgical strikes in the right places to take out the right people and ultimately wind up with Osama's body dead or alive.

Of course you have the Taliban to contend with, but again the right intelligence and tactics could arrange for their leaders to have "accidents" The Taliban pulled this off with many of its enemies most notably Ahmed Shah Massoud, longtime contact for the CIA during the Afghan-Russian war, and head of the Northern Alliance. What if a terrorist leader died and nobody quite knew how or why? how do you gather a storm of believers against an enemy that they do not know or understand? who killed our leader? was it the Americans? no maybe the French? whoever did it knew what they were doing and obviously know far more about you than you do them. That should've been the first lesson of 9/11.

The two primary problems as far as I can tell is for one Bush didn't give a shit about catching bin laden and never did (we all know the pipeline story I don't need to retell it here) and secondly this battleground which Al-Queda and bin Laden roam on isn't one you can just subdue with an invasion and a war of attrition-it's an environment of warlords, multiple conflicts, people are bought people are sold, loyalty is both firm and loose. This "we're going to liberate Afghanistan" was phony from the beginning because it is a nation that has always been inhabited by warlords, smugglers, thieves, murderers-THAT is the law in that nation with or without the Taliban. Wouldn't I like to see zero Taliban in that nation? sure so would everyone in that country who is not Taliban, but then what? it becomes a nation of peace and prosperity? nope another warlord would take over and the cycle would just continue.

So ultimately the sad truth is Bush could've worked with foreign leaders and our military and devised plans which involved primarily recon and rigidly planned tactics which would result in the long run getting the right people, keeping civilian casualties to an absolute minimum or zero if possible, no mass bombings of cities. It's sad to say but in a way that's a tactic the terrorists use- the sleeper cell no one is aware of is fully aware of its surroundings and has detailed information through extensive research and stealth jobs that it has pulled. If and when they strike what country do we invade? who are we supposed to be pissed at? what if they're not even middle eastern this time but they're smart enough to fool dumb leadership into invading a middle eastern country to get back at "them?"

As it is even with the facts out in the open Bush "decided" to invade Iraq - which if he wants to use a WW II comparison for this I'll give him one - what you did was when we were attacked by Japan and by default of the Axis treaty resulted in both Japan and Germany declaring on America, you decided to invade Russia. Russia is ruled by an evil dictator who is indeed dangerous, but the fact is they aren't the ones who attacked us-their enemy did.

I know critics of this OP might say well the best strategy is to get out of the middle east stop supporting Palestine, how do you know Al-Queda is behind 9/11, okay I agree with these sentiments and as far as PNAC being behind 9/11 I am of the opinion that I haven't seen total proof yet, but what does irk me is the fact that this administration and its PNAC masters were toasting when 9/11 occurred-they knew they'd get their wars and their pull now with the fear of the people at their disposal.

This was written solely with the idea that Osama and his Al-Queda followers were the ones behind 9/11 just for argument's sake. The fact that this administration did not take the approach I outlined in this OP in lieu of a half assed invasion and then a cut and run job to go invade Iraq makes me question more and more just how responsible Osama and Al-Queda were in fact responsible for the terrorist attacks on that day.

*Disclaimer* So far the most popular response I am getting is one that questions why I even think Bushie could ever have the capacity to be a hero-I never thought he did ever since he pulled the smear job on Ann Richards I thought he was a POS. I'm just saying that if only he did he could've transformed himself from drunk loser to hero that's all.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

1. You just described one of the alternate universes where a Dem was in the WH.

You only got the names wrong.

[seabeyond]

2. bush never coulda. not hero material. yes the opportunity was there

but he never coulda. what was offered to him and this nation is foreign to bush. he could never understand ergo take advantage of such an opportunity

[katmondoo]

8. Had he come to the rescue of the Katrina victums

He would have regained a measure of popular support by showing he could react to a terrorist attack and bring help to the stricken, instead he chose not to.

[jarab]

18. Just a month of regular visits

to the hurricane ravaged would have restored his image, which image I think was good right after nine eleven.
But, if you ain't got it in you, compassion is hard to fabricate. Maybe that's why he didn't try that which was foreign to him.

...O...

[seabeyond]

19. compassion, empathy..... not in him. cant fake that stuffhe wasnt .

caable of doing right with katrina. he is not capable of success. his life has been one failure after another. people do not up and change. this is who the man is. that is why iraq is doomed to fail. he is a failure. and everything else he does, ultimately it will be a failure. the essence of his being.

[indie_voter]

3. A better man would have risen to the occasion

The problem is his nature doomed him (and us). He's incapable of reflection, incapable of empathy, incapable of compassion. Any one of those traits would have led him down a better path. The measure of a person is their character. To be a hero he would have to put the needs of the many over his own.

[illinoisprogressive]

4. He coulda but, chose to be an opportunist for war. and

I agree he never cared about bin laden. Only what he could do for his polls.

[JHB]

5. If he were the type of man who could do that...

He'd have never been in position to do it. He'd have acquiesed to an honest recount, and Gore would have been in office.

[Rosemary2205]

6. In my VERY humble opinon you are all wet.

Your post is based on the idea that the NeoCons had no idea 911 was coming and after it happened just messed up the game plan. Unfortunately they did know 911 was in the works, let it happen for the soul purpose of exploiting it to justify everything they have done since then. It's even speculated that the Neocon were the real force behind 911 and simply used al Queda as a proxy.

the "mistakes" in policy since then have not been mistakes - they are the neocon plan.

[noahmijo]

9. In my VERY humble opinion you don't read all the way before you post

I explicitly wrote this part just for people like you:

I know critics of this OP might say well the best strategy is to get out of the middle east stop supporting Palestine, how do you know Al-Queda is behind 9/11, okay I agree with these sentiments and as far as PNAC being behind 9/11 I am of the opinion that I haven't seen total proof yet, but what does irk me is the fact that this administration and its PNAC masters were toasting when 9/11 occurred-they knew they'd get their wars and their pull now with the fear of the people at their disposal.

In other words this was written without the idea that the Neocons were behind 9/11. I am believing more and more everyday that 9/11 was our Reichstag.

[Rosemary2205]

12. This doesn't change the fact

the "mistakes" post 911 are not mistakes. They are in my opinion, by design. I simply disagree with you that the clusterfuck known as foreign policy was a series of mistakes.

[noahmijo]

15. Well this doesn't change the fact that I laugh my ass off everytime I see

that moran with the Cards shirt with that sign.

[Rosemary2205]

17. LOL

:) I like it too. :)

[noahmijo]

20. Yea overall we're on the same page here

I understand what you're saying and I agree, I question everything too much to the point where as much as I hate these bastards and want them all to win a free trip to Oz, I do understand that at a minimum they used 9/11 for their gain - whether or not they planned it. Whether they planned 9/11 with the sole purpose of subduing all of us into a trance of fear to get their way, I don't know for sure, especially due to the fact that there are individuals out there who hate America as in hate you and me because we like to think we like to read we don't believe in beating women for religious practice or attacking gays and these people don't have to be the brown monster they can be anyone of any color or national stripes. In fact if I were a Nazi Skinhead I'd be organizing an attack with my followers that would lead authorities to believe that a group of Syran nationals were behind it. This is why I believe in having a policy of national security that revolves around intelligence and tact and tosses out the greed of those who would subvert it for their own use. In other words no more CIA moves to toss out democratically elected leaders like the Iranian Prime Minister in '53 because he won't share the oil which as far as I can tell is how the whole Islamic "mess" began. THAT'S the kind of shit I'd want to see put a stop to immediately.

Believe me the fact that these bastards used 9/11 as they did in my eyes does make them just as guilty as those who carried it out whether it was them or not.

[Lowell]

7. * is a cowardly worm, he always has been

He could never be a hero, but he sure could have handled this better. To do that he would have had to have the best interests of the country at heart. He did not and does not now. It was just another business opportunity.

Bush a hero &*%^* snort. Never happen. Worse president ever.

[porphyrian]

10. He fails at every enterprise he attempts. Why believe he would've done any differently? - n/t

[The_Casual_Observer]

11. He could have also prevented 9/11 if he didn't have his head in his ass.

[Tsiyu]

13. But the Neocons aren't into "Heroes"

They want to suck a King's dick. They have declared that imbecile Bush to be an untouchable monarch.

And when you remember that they salivated and fantasized about 9/11 and WANTED it to happen, you may begin to realize that there are no heroes left in the Republican party. They are Chickenhawk freaks of nature who would never dream of fighting for their own country.

Greed is their motivator, not some notion of heroic leadership or service.

They suck, AND SWALLOW, on their knees for another dollar here, another dollar there, and they will never even understand the meaning of the word "hero."

[Sapphire Blue]

14. 9/12/01: "We are all Americans now." 9/12/06: "We all hate America now."

Yes, he could have been a hero. Instead he is the most hated man on earth. You reap what you sow has never been more true.

[WHEN CRABS ROAR]

16. I keep saying this.

Its all about the money. Making people rich with arms and bullshit. All this talk about strategy is just so much crap. Whats important to them is endless wars for endless profits. Peace is the only solution

[damntexdem]

21. He could have been a contender.

But instead he's just a cheap thug.