I LIKE BUSH BECAUSE ...

… his policies are turning me into a prophet.

I wrote this op-ed for the Bakersfield Californian five years ago. It explains why we needed to do more than rush into Iraq with Bush’s “Fig Leaf” Coalition (which is now - like his policies - in shambles). Here’s a snippet:

A post-Sadaam Iraq will have to be rebuilt, governments must be established, peacekeepers will have to be brought in, and task-oriented multilateral agencies will have to be consulted … To do less will invite state breakdown and radical mischief in Iraq ... An even uglier reality would be the overthrow of the corrupt and kleptocratic Mubarak regime, and the ouster of increasingly authoritarian and isolated Musharraf in Pakistan. Just the threat of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal falling in fundamentalist hands would prompt another U.S. preemptive strike. An additional economy busting war tax will follow.

Bush has yet call for the necessary taxes to pay for his misadventures (which makes him, at least, consistently irresponsible). Still, the results of his policy debacles - as noted above - are turning me into a prophet.

- Mark