In Soviet Russia, Risk Plays YOU

The True Bush Legacy: Cowardice

 

1991- Kuwait: 500,000 U.S. troops fresh off their victory over the Iraqi aggressors are set to head back home after a mission well accomplished. Saddam Hussein’s military was for all practical purposes, annihilated. President George H. Bush calls for the Iraqi people (namely the Shiite majority) to rise up against Saddam and overthrow him and his government. The Iraqis assumed that the United States would back them in this endeavor.

 

They were mistaken.

 

As a result, anywhere from 50,000 to 150,000 Shia civilians were murdered by Saddam’s troops. To this day, mass graves that were dug during this purge are still being discovered in Iraq. 

 

 

The United States squandered a perfect opportunity to execute legitimate regime change. International opinion was firmly behind operation Desert Storm, and the world community would have gladly welcomed the termination of Hussein’s command. But even though we had enough troops, enough money, and all the time in the world, President Bush the 1^st decided not to march into Baghdad and depose the dictator, even though such an incursion would have met virtually no resistance whatsoever. Why? More than likely because it would have come out during the conflict that we had been selling weapons of mass destruction to a murderous regime for nearly a decade, but who really knows?

 

The point is that because of a monumental display of cowardice by George H, tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians were murdered, and a dangerous dictator was allowed to keep his life and his power.

 

Had we gone into Baghdad and installed a democratic government in 1991, by now they might actually be functioning somewhat like a real country. Instead, we invaded in 2003, with not enough troops, and little to no idea about what to do once the occupation was complete.

 

2008- Georgia: In an effort to encourage Georgia to stand up to Russia, the United States supplies them with military hardware and funding, and gives the green light for an incursion into a disputed province. For years the Bush administration has been pressuring Russia on a number of fronts, including:

 

-Encouraging former Soviet States to join NATO

 

- Building a missile defense shield in Europe that would greatly shift the balance of power in the race for nuclear primacy

 

Georgian troops stormed into the breakaway region of South Ossetia, emboldened by funding, political support, and weaponry provided by the United States. The backlash comes swift and hard. Not only does Russia quickly roll Georgian troops out of the region, but they keep right on going into Georgia itself and begin a campaign to take the country by force. (It looks like this will take less than a week, if the Russian advances continue at their current pace.)

 

Meanwhile, Georgia cries for aid from the West, but none will come.

 

While in 1991 the U.S. had more than enough resources to take down a regional threat and give freedom to a nation, today we have no such option. Due to the ongoing occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan and the possible third front opening in Iran, there is no conceivable way that the U.S. and its allies can help Georgia in its conflict with the Russians.

 

 In Soviet Russia, Risk Plays You.

 

For too long the western forces have been shooting spitballs at Russia through its surrogates in the region. It was only a matter of time before the Bear struck back. Only, we are not going to suffer the consequences. Moscow represents no conventional national security threat to America; none of our cities are going to be sacked, none of our people are going to suffer. No. The true victims of this latest round of the Bush family’s cowardice are going to be the people of Georgia. Because we gave an empty promise to support them in their conflict, they will be destroyed; helpless pawns in an endless game of global conquest between powers and forces too great for anyone to truly understand.

 

 

If indeed this represents the end of the post-Soviet era and Russia has decided to reclaim its international superpower status, and you’re looking for someone to blame, you can start by pointing the finger at one George W. Bush. Like father, like son.