Bush’s legacy
Even on the 67th anniversary of Pearl Harbor, FDR’s legacy is still being hotly debated. Another president whose administration was defined by their response to an attack on the homeland, President Bush, is in his final days and giving “exit interviews” to the likes of ABC’s Charlie Gibson. What is his legacy as he leaves office, and what should it be? How will it change over time, as happens to all presidents?
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December 7, 2008 11:06 pm 
Your comments about needing more troops for the invasion of Iraq are simply ignorant. There were never 500,000 troops available, much less the time and transport to move them to Kuwait and the logistics to support them once they were there. The surge only added 30,000 troops to those already in-country.
Any general advocating such large numbers is really just saying that he does want to take on the task.
Throughout history generals and admirals have always wanted more troops, ships, planes, technology, supplies, whatever, but the truly great leaders use what they have to maximum effect. Mediocre leaders sit in a hole and wait for one more battalion, one more barrage, one more tank. Usually they get more troops killed with their waiting.
Would if have been OK with you if Eisenhower said the he could not launch D-day until he had 10 million troops?
Rumsfeld was 100% correct when he said that you go to war with the army you have not the army you want. Much the media hates to admit it (because they were so wrong), the war worked, it was the aftermath where the problems occurred and its not clear to me what exactly went wrong. Expecting an army of 140,000 (or 500,000) to control all aspects of a country of 30M seems like a stretch. Mix in a strange country with strange customs, unknown local personalities, politics from above and I don’t know if any army could have done better.
Norm,
I guess I’m as ignorant as four star generals like Powell and Shinseki then. I can live with that. Yes, the war worked, in the end, but it didn’t start working until Bush got rid of Rumsfeld.
Kevin