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George Bush, Liberator

Considering that it’s published in the UK, the Telegraph is a great American newspaper. Today, hosting Nile Gardiner on the vision and action of the much-reviled George Bush, champion of western values: 

Much of the condemnation of his policies though is driven by a venomous hatred of Bush’s personality and leadership style, rather than an objective assessment of his achievements. Ten or twenty years from now, historians will view Bush’s actions on the world stage in a more favourable light. America’s 43rd president did after all directly liberate more people (over 60 million) from tyranny than any leader since Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Widely seen as his biggest foreign policy error, the decision to invade Iraq could ultimately prove to have been a masterstroke. Today the world is witnessing the birth of the first truly democratic state in the Middle East outside of Israel. Over eight million voted in Iraq’s parliamentary elections in 2005, and the region’s first free Muslim society may become a reality. Iraq might not be Turkey, but it is a powerful demonstration that freedom can flourish in the embers of the most brutal and barbaric of dictatorships.

The success of the surge in Iraq will go down in history as a turning point in the war against al-Qaeda. The stunning defeat of the insurgency was a major blow both militarily and psychologically for the terror network. The West’s most feared enemy suffered thousands of losses in Iraq, including many of their most senior commanders, such as Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and Abu Qaswarah. It was the most successful counter-insurgency operation anywhere in the world since the British victory in Malaya in 1960.

The broader war against Islamist terrorism has also been a success. There has not been a single terrorist attack on U.S. soil since 9/11, and for all the global condemnation of pre-emptive strikes, Guantanamo and the use of rendition against terror suspects, the fact remains that Bush’s aggressive strategy actually worked.

…

If superpowers do not demonstrate an ability and a willingness to wield power (as Britain did on numerous occasions at the height of the Empire) their hegemony will be increasingly challenged. President Bush exercised U.S. military power to stunning effect in both Iraq and Afghanistan, an important reminder that America was still a force to be reckoned with after the 1990s humiliation of Somalia and the half-hearted missile strikes against Bin Laden in Sudan. In an age of growing threats and challenges, the projection of hard power matters, and America’s next president would be wise to take heed.

Because war and the defense of freedom, contrary to the misty Hallmark rearview of people unwilling to take any action to do so, is not a pretty or an easy thing. I’d add that it is with tremendous grace that George Bush has accepted his designated role as villain, fall guy, punching bag, even as president-elect Barack Obama picks up where Bush is leaving off. Maybe someday they’ll look back at that small footnote, Bush’s magnanimous handling of the not-so-friendly fire, as another sign of his great statesmanship. Much as Lincoln, revealed as an “ape” by lesser pols and small opinionmongers in his time, is today the statesman, commander in chief and champion of freedom everyone wants to be compared to.

But you’ll want to read the whole unabashed western civilization-loving thing, from the director of the Margaret Thatcher Centre for Freedom at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, DC. ( … wouldn’t want to base that thinktank in Londonistan. It needed to be somewhere in the greater Anglosphere where the best British values still prevail, in fact have been moved forward.)

That’s the Telegraph’s art choice up there, by the way, of Bush as an American Caesar. Ironically, it looks to be just another shot of Chimpy gamely taking yet another when-did-you-stop-beating-your-wife question from the Bush-bashing press.

With a nod to Gateway for spotting this one.

Topics: America, Britain, Bush, history

  Posted by Jules Crittenden at 11:16 am on Saturday, December 27, 2008

13 Responses to “George Bush, Liberator”

1. Grimmy Says:
   December 27th, 2008 at 11:39 am

   “Much of the condemnation of his policies though is driven by a venomous hatred of Bush’s personality and leadership style, rather than an objective assessment of his achievements. ”

   Wrong wrong wrong.

   Most of the hatred was originally aimed at Bush by the leftards, both foreign and domestic, simply because he dared to challenge, and defeat, the then chosen representative of all America’s enemy, foreign and domestic.

   In their minds, since Bush was not a leftist, fully vetted and approved by the thought bosses and meme makers, he was, automatically, a fascist. Only those two extremes exist in the leftard mindset.

   The lead sentence in the article is as out of sync with reality as is that which tries to claim that anti-Americanism as an ideology and near religious dogma, was invented as a response to Bush’s presidency.

   The Bush admin wasn’t perfect. There’s no such thing as perfect in anything made by humans, thought up by humans, or that has humans in it.

   The hatred against POTUS Bush was surely amplified by the filthy, degenerate, intellectually inbred, feckless, spineless, treasonous enemy loving scum as issues developed, though.

2. 60 Million Minds | Neptunus Lex Says:
   December 27th, 2008 at 12:20 pm

   [...] Freed. [...]

3. Americaneocon Says:
   December 27th, 2008 at 5:45 pm

   Nice posting!

4. WP Zeller Says:
   December 27th, 2008 at 7:35 pm

   There’s a lot to remark upon about George Bush, but here, near the end of his Presidency, all I can think of is his very considerable personal integrity.
   Never mind the nonsense about “lying” about WMDs; he’s really been the most upright, the most forthright, and the most honest president of the last half-century, and I include Reagan in that.
   There’s been no legitimate scandal, no real obfuscation. He saw a job and did it, with exception intestinal fortitude, and rectitude, too.
   His spending, No Child, and the Medicare extension are black marks, but none were done with malice or untrustworthiness.
   His record on Africa will be a source of pride for decades; his record on the protection of the homeland is beyond belief, and the wildest hopes any of us ever had.
   The enemies of the West have been beaten back, again, further than we could have imagined. He’s been honest, tough, and stood up to anybody and anything when it came to the real job he was hired to do: protect America.
   The liberation aspect will indeed take years for the many enemies he has on his own “side”, but we can all fear the end of his amazing efficiency as Commander-In-Chief.
   “Personal integrity” is not a term we’ve been able to use on our leaders in my lifetime. Bush is the first President who earned my undying respect.
   That’s the biggest story, for me personally, of these last weeks.

5. TMLutas Says:
   December 27th, 2008 at 11:26 pm

   President Bush’s first sin against the hard core left was to win Florida and the White House in 2000. There is an unusual reservoir of bile that was stored up from him before he ever took office. Nothing he did would ever redeem his sin of forthrightly and aggressively avoiding having that election stolen by his political opponents in the other party. The consequences of the ruined transition that came out of that fight are going to be a huge topic of historical interest.

6. piniella Says:
   December 28th, 2008 at 6:39 am

   the much-reviled George Bush, champion of western values:

   Does this mean that Habeas Corpus is NOT a western value?

7. The_Real_JeffS Says:
   December 28th, 2008 at 12:41 pm

   Does this mean that Habeas Corpus is NOT a western value?

   Please pay attention. We’re discussing George W. Bush, not Abraham Lincoln.

8. Religion & Politics linkaround | The Anchoress Says:
   December 28th, 2008 at 9:02 pm

   [...] Obama bristles about it. Bush ignored it and liberated 60 million people and, as Jules remarks has accepted the role of punching bag as he has done it. Bush has done more to keep people alive in Africa than any president previous, [...]

9. J.M. Heinrichs Says:
   December 29th, 2008 at 3:04 am

   “Does this mean that Habeas Corpus is NOT a western value?”
   It might be, but it is not discussed in the Geneva Conventions.

   Cheers

10. Dave Surls Says:
    December 30th, 2008 at 12:48 am

    “Does this mean that Habeas Corpus is NOT a western value?”

    Not when a liberal Democrat is POTUS. For example:

    “…nonresident enemy aliens, captured and imprisoned abroad, have no right to a writ of habeas corpus in a court of the United States.”–Johnson v. Eisentrager, 1950

    However, the rules are different when a Republican is POTUS and a bunch of supreme court justices want to hamstring the war effort…

    In that case nonresident enemy aliens captured and imprisoned abroad do have a right to a writ of habeas corpus, for which see Boumediene v. Bush.

    So whether it’s a “western value” really depends on who is currently holding office.

11. George Bush Liberator « Blog Entry « Dr. Melissa Clouthier Says:
    December 31st, 2008 at 3:07 am

    [...] George Bush Liberator Free people. Think of that. [...]

12. Skippy-san Says:
    January 4th, 2009 at 9:25 pm

    Far East Cynic links with:

    And for that. Bush deserves the scorn of history-not its adoration.

    Jules Crittenden is wrong.

13. Stones Cry Out - If they keep silent… » ChangeWatch Says:
    January 14th, 2009 at 2:04 pm

    [...] by the Left that the new boss seems the same as the old boss is one thought; maybe the old boss got some things right. Share the [...]

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