I guess my point in not blaming Bush is that I feel that many were complicit in authorizing and trumping up the war in Iraq, both Democrats and Republicans. Congress authorized military action against Iraq overwhelmingly, and I just dont buy the 'we were all duped' argument that some Democrats tried to play when popular opinion turned south. The utter and complete lack of meaningful debate and resistance shown by anybody, including the media, is something thats been well documented. So yeah, he doesnt get a pass in my book, but I dont blame him for every bad decision made by his administration. Had we not succumbed to fear, had we stood up more against authorizing action, in all likelihood Iraq would never have happened....or at the very least been more heavily contested. You can blame the Bush administration for taking advantage of the nation when we were vulnerable, but we allowed ourselves to be vulnerable and stayed silent in the face of legislation after legislation authorizing the unthinkable.
I used to feel the exact same about the Democrats authorizing use of force. That was until someone pointed out that Bush himself said he wanted the use of force authorization, not to use it, but to keep the peace. Basically so that he would have a stronger hand in getting Saddam to let WEapons inspectors back in. After that, I didn't really blame them so much for being duped. Bush said it was all about keeping the peace, not really going to war.
I learned that Al Qeada ended up being more successful than they could've possibly dreamed. Bin Laden probably couldn't have been happier if he had wrote the future himself. Over the past decade, watching the chain of events following 9/11 unfolding before my eyes, was quite amazing. It's like watching dominoes fall one after another. It was breathtaking even though one can see the logic in the chain reaction following 9/11. Following the incident and its fallout is like watching a deadly car crash. It's horrible, people deaths, injuries, lives that forever changed for the worse... but at the same time you just can't look away.
