Bush's Good Ideas

President Bush's term is mercifully coming to an end in a few months. Although his handler's mistakes were numerous and the painful consequences will be felt by all for years to come I was wondering if he did anything wise or even semi-competent during his tenure? Sure, it would be easy (and lengthy) to list his foibles but what did he and his administrators get right?


The only thing that springs to mind is his attempt to create a temporary work permit program for the illegals (read: Mexicans) in the U.S. I think it was a great idea but the more radical elements of his party shot it down fairly quickly.

Can anyone else think of anything he did/supported over the past 7 years that was beneficial to America?

Supported waterboarding despite the pussy critics. WTG Dubya.

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Originally Posted by Texpat

Supported waterboarding despite the pussy critics. WTG Dubya.

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Fair enough, Tex. Waterboarding.


What else?


No offense intended.

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Originally Posted by Agent_Smith

The only thing that springs to mind is his attempt to create a temporary work permit program

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but the inherent divisive nature of rovian strategy left him with no allies on either side of the aisle...so this too failed.

bush accomplished little more than bankrupting the country and destroying what was left of its reputation.

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Originally Posted by raycarey

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Originally Posted by Agent_Smith

The only thing that springs to mind is his attempt to create a temporary work permit program

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but the inherent divisive nature of rovian strategy left him with no allies on either side of the aisle...so this too failed.

bush accomplished little more than bankrupting the country and destroying what was left of its reputation.

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god bless america:)

He made people who can't speak English very well feel more accepted, knowing that their president couldn't string a coherent sentence together.

he gave more aid money to africa than bj bill.

He renamed French fries, Freedom fries.

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Originally Posted by Agent_Smith

Bush's Good Ideas

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How refreshing. Finally an OP with no ambition to achieve century status.:)

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Originally Posted by Agent_Smith

Can anyone else think of anything he did/supported over the past 7 years that was beneficial to America?

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he ultimately destroyed the NeoCon and Republicans future legacy,

a job well done, I might add

He killed Saddam which wasn't an entirely bad thing,

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Originally Posted by Butterfly

he ultimately destroyed the NeoCon and Republicans future legacy

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good point.

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Originally Posted by Butterfly

He killed Saddam which wasn't an entirely bad thing,

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yeah, but they messed that up too with the release of the cell phone video.

^ the phone video was there to amuse the gallery, so not a big deal

He shaved 10 years off your pathetic, miserable lives by winning a glorious second term. :)

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Originally Posted by Texpat

off your pathetic, miserable lives

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says the angriest poster on TD, living in the middle of nowhere in a country he loathes.

have another drink tex.....it'll help numb the sad reality of your existence.

Here's to two term GOPs! :)

The 7.8 billion dollar, 68 projects, 2.4 million acres restoration of the Everglades. It's been years since I read about it. I'm sure someone can find a way to condemn it or point out it is in fact a selfish land grab. I'm sure there are compromisees within the agreement.

Another Step Forward for Everglades Restoration

Creation of the world's largest marine sanctuary (84 million acres) at the tip of the Hawaiian Islands.

Hawaii Islands Named World's Largest Marine Sanctuary

According to a NPR report Bush has proposed an additional 650,000 acres of marine sanctuary in the Pacific, Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico waters around the US.

He sent his father and Bill Clinton over to Southeast Asia after the tsunami hit to raise aid for the disaster victims.

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Originally Posted by sabang

he gave more aid money to africa than bj bill.

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Yes, but has it helped that continent to any measurable degree? It seemed to me that was a way to buy off the leaders for oil companies to plunder resources, and terror cell info (not entirely a bad idea but poor precedent).

His comment about Osama...

Two weeks ago he was in charge of a country, now he's in charge of a cave.


Was amusing at the time. Just a starter for many more amusing quips that would follow. A president and an entertainer. (not everyone in the world's laughing though).

The book of 'Bush's Good Ideas' has to be right up there with 'Italian War Heroes' and 'Biafran Cookbook".

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Originally Posted by Texpat

He shaved 10 years off your pathetic, miserable lives by winning a glorious second term. :)

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He shaved a lot more years off the lives of over 4,000 brave, young, patriotic American soldiers by misleading his country into an Iraqi war for the benefit of Israel and oil companies.

-Idea to spread democracy to the middle east, work in progress with Iraq and Afghanistan.

-Ease dropping/surveillance program against baddies
-Got Libya to give up WMD programs
-Brought the fight to the terrorists, no attacks to yankland since 911
-GITMO, through baddies in jail for undetermined time

Sure Boon/Tex can think of many more. :)

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Originally Posted by britmaveric

Idea to spread democracy to the middle east

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this was his 'idea'?
no, his idea was to do it by force.....with a bribed and extorted 'coalition'.

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Originally Posted by britmaveric

Ease dropping/surveillance program against baddies

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who really knows what your trying to say here, but let's assume you mean that he increased telecom surveillance.
the supreme court has repeatedly found that he over stepped.

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Originally Posted by britmaveric

Got Libya to give up WMD programs

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he 'got' libya to do that, eh?
interesting perspective.

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Originally Posted by britmaveric

Brought the fight to the terrorists, no attacks to yankland since 911

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when was the last attack before 9/11?

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Originally Posted by britmaveric

GITMO, through baddies in jail for undetermined time

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along with the 'baddies', untold innocents as well.

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Originally Posted by britmaveric

Sure Boon/Tex can think of many more

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of the same quality of your examples?
i'm sure they can.

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Originally Posted by britmaveric

-Idea to spread democracy to the middle east, work in progress with Iraq and Afghanistan.

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The official policy of the US government is to support dictatorships in the Middle East. This has been the policy for the last 80 years, and continues to the policy.

Saud family in KSA, #2 most aid in the world from the US goes to Hosni Mubarak in Egypt, doing the oil deal with Qaddafi, Kuwait, and other Gulf States.

Elections that are free and fair int he Middle East, is the last thing the US government wants.

OIL - is the reason.

And, democracy is not looked upon the same in the M.E. as it is in Euro-Centric nations.

The entire notion reveals the cultural arrogance and the ignorance of the United States government and public.

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Originally Posted by raycarey

when was the last attack before 9/11?

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1993 - World Trade Center Bombings

1995 - Oklahoma City (although this was domestic)

I'm sure there are many MANY terrorist attacks that were attempted but were never carried out because Homeland Security/NSA/CIA/FBI thwarted them. We just never hear about it.

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Originally Posted by durianfan

1993 - World Trade Center Bombings

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exactly 1993.....approx 7 or 8 years before 9/11.

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Originally Posted by Milkman

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Originally Posted by britmaveric

-Idea to spread democracy to the middle east, work in progress with Iraq and Afghanistan.

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The official policy of the US government is to support dictatorships in the Middle East. This has been the policy for the last 80 years, and continues to the policy.

Saud family in KSA, #2 most aid in the world from the US goes to Hosni Mubarak in Egypt, doing the oil deal with Qaddafi, Kuwait, and other Gulf States.

Elections that are free and fair int he Middle East, is the last thing the US government wants.

OIL - is the reason.

And, democracy is not looked upon the same in the M.E. as it is in Euro-Centric nations.

The entire notion reveals the cultural arrogance and the ignorance of the United States government and public.

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Hit the nail right on the head there.

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Originally Posted by durianfan

I'm sure there are many MANY terrorist attacks that were attempted but were never carried out because Homeland Security/NSA/CIA/FBI thwarted them. We just never hear about it.

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I am sure it would be all over the news, to celebrate the success. But there has been silence.

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Originally Posted by stroller

But there has been silence.

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there have been a few incidents over the years...but they generally consisted of posers, and a few knuckleheads in the wrong place at the wrong time.

They do a pretty good job of killing each other without the need for terrorists.

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Originally Posted by stroller

I am sure it would be all over the news, to celebrate the success. But there has been silence.

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Given the number of terrorist attacks since 9/11 in Europe, there "likely" have been several thwarted in the US. Silence maybe justified.

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Originally Posted by Norton

Silence maybe justified.

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Sorry, I do not follow. Justified in what way? Why would one keep silent about successfully preventing terrorist attacks?

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Originally Posted by stroller

Why would one keep silent about successfully preventing terrorist attacks?

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I would think the spooks may be reluctant to publicize as it could give away some of the methods or intelligence sources they have. Purely speculation on my part but we know how the intel community is about secrecy. If a bomber was arrested at an airport or in a building likely would be publicized. If the plot was thwarted in the early stages due to inside intelligence doubt we'd hear about it. The method of "thwarting" may be a reason for non disclosure as well.;)

They caught the guy at the Canadian border with a carload of explosives. The disrupted the plan to bomb LAX airport.


On another note if it's all about oil how come:

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China and Iraq could soon sign a US$1.2 billion oil deal that was cancelled after the 2003 US invasion, AP reported. The government of Saddam Hussein made an agreement with China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) to develop the al-Ahdab oil field, in violation of UN sanctions, which bar direct business with the Iraqi oil industry. Iraq and China began talks on reviving the deal in October 2006, because the Chinese were waiting for sanctions to be lifted after the US removed Saddam. An anonymous official told AP that the final round of negotiations will be held in April. The oil field could produce 115,000 barrels a day. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said it had no information about the discussions, while CNPC executives could not be reached for comment.

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China close to oil deal with Iraq - MarketAvenue

How come:
DNO strikes oil in Iraq

Shares in Norwegian oil company DNO jumped nearly 11 percent on Monday, after the company confirmed that it had struck oil in Northern Iraq.


DNO strikes oil in Iraq - Aftenposten.no


We aren't keeping it all to ourselves. So what do people mean by saying "we are there for the oil"?

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Originally Posted by attaboy

We aren't keeping it all to ourselves. So what do people mean by saying "we are there for the oil"?

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Well, for a start there was certainly no other reason for the invasion and occupation.

But on to the oil issue. The Chinese deal is only a proposal at this stage as far as I am aware.

All the Middle East oil producing countries (including Iraq) nationalized their oil industries in the 1970s to stop exploitation by multinational oil companies.

Despite having massive oil reserves, Iraq's oil industry didn't fare well due to successive wars and later the sanctions placed on it by the west in the 90s.

Bush has been pushing the new Iraqi government to scrap the nationalized oil industry and open it up to privatization by the multinationals once again. There has been great debate about this and the idea is opposed by most Iraqis as it will mean the big international oil countries will make nearly all the profit while paying the Iraqi people a pittance of a royalty around 10%. This is a case of blatant exploitation, but little the Iraqi people can do about it with their country in ruins and occupied by a foreign army. No other ME oil producing country would allow such a law.

See the Wikipedia script below.
"
Iraq oil law (2007)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Jump to: navigation, search
The Iraq oil law, also referred to as the Iraq hydrocarbon law,[1] is a proposed piece of legislation submitted to the Iraqi Council of Representatives in May 2007.[2]
The Bush administration hired the consulting firm BearingPoint to help write the law in 2004.[3][4] The bill was approved by the Iraqi cabinet in February 2007.[5] The Bush administration considers the passage of the law a benchmark for the government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki.[6][7]
The new law would authorise production share agreements (PSAs) which guarantees a profit for foreign oil companies.[2] The industry had been completely nationalized by 1972.[8][2] The government in the 1990s, under the presidency of Saddam Hussein, gave PSAs to Russian and Chinese companies which gave a profit percentage of less than 10 percent.[2]
The central government would distribute remaining oil revenues throughout the nation on a per capita basis.[1] The draft law would allow Iraq's provinces freedom from the central government in giving exploration and production contracts.[2] Iraq's constitution allows governorates to form a semi-independent regions, fully controlling their own natural resources.[2]
The Iraq National Oil Company would have exclusive operational control of just 17 of Iraq’s 80 known oil fields. Normally countries do not have the type of exclusivity that would leave two-thirds of known and unknown fields open to foreign control. However, operational control of the fields does not mean control of the money made from them, and a percentage of the profits will be going into Iraqi tax revenue.[1][9] Iraq’s oil reserves are believed to be the second largest in the world[1] after Saudi Arabia.[10]
Journalist Pepe Escobar points to the destiny of the Iraq oil law as the crucial point determining the will of the American administrations to withdraw from the Iraq war.[11]"

Some more discussion on the subject here---


ZNet - Iraqi oil law

"The draft oil law is no doubt "re-privatizing" Iraqi oil wealth and will return Iraq to the era prior to Law 80 of 1961. Law 80 nationalized 99.5% of the Iraqi land from the IOCs and returned it to the Iraqi nation."

How come this thread isn't blank?

He has made a lot of us laugh at his stupidity.......but unfortunately, more have cried as well.

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Originally Posted by Panda

Well, for a start there was certainly no other reason for the invasion and occupation.

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Oh yes, there were. Establishing a military presence and strategic advantages in the ME to start with.

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Originally Posted by stroller

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Originally Posted by Panda

Well, for a start there was certainly no other reason for the invasion and occupation.

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Oh yes, there were. Establishing a military presence and strategic advantages in the ME to start with.

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Well why do you think they would want to be there if it wasn't for the oil?
There's plenty of other US allies in the ME where they could set up bases to protect USA from whoever.

Well if it that were the case the yanks aren't benefiting from any oil. They should be taking oil profits from Iraq govt, paying for yank presence there. However as always yanks get stuck in the arse for helping out and not taking a single cent.