GWB Foundation???

With a Reunion Planned, Bush Eases Back Into the Public Eye
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/11/us/politics/11web-baker.html?_r=1&nl=pol&emc=pola1

Good thing the shindig is in Dallas, or any number of them could be arrested for war crimes!

Seriously, though, a future George W. Bush Policy Institute?? This is just puzzling to me. Optimistically speaking, maybe it will have absolutely nothing to do with foreign policy. I mean, Iraq, 48 hour ultimatums, pre-emptive war, going to war based on WMD rumors and cartoons, Abu Ghraib, extraordinary rendition, Guantanamo, illegal combatants, declaring "war on terror", warrantless wiretapping, NSEERS, blind support for Israel (including its violations of law), double standard-requiring Palestinians to meet criteria that Israel refuses to meet, etc. There is a long list of really bad directions and wrong turns that were never corrected.

Maybe someone has learned a lot and will set up a foundation to study how all of these horrendous things happened- or how Bush's original plans (I'd like to think they started out noble enough) went so horribly, horribly wrong. Judging from Cheney and likes of others Bush surrounded himself with, though, I suspect it will be a foundation dedicated to correcting a few glitches (not teh torture, but the getting caught; not the secret prisons, but the public finding out about them, etc) in an otherwise grand and successful plan for a war on Islam, ahem terrorism, and forced American democratization (only recognized if your leader is approved by us, of course!) of the Middle East.

The guy has strong points. He did some good in Africa. Why not expand on that?

Please, please, please stay away from foreign policy!

Last Bush Press Conference

The question about his past mistakes is particularly interesting for 2 reasons. First, a few years ago that same question received an answer of can I get back to you because I can't think of any (!). Second, the "disappointments" he mentions I would call monumental mistakes with far reaching consequences, the biggest stains on his legacy, while his "mistakes" he listed were pretty minor things. I could add more… I think I have a blog post or two somewhere with a list.

"Clearly putting a "Mission Accomplished" on a aircraft carrier was a
mistake.
I've thought long and hard about Katrina -- you know, could I have
done something differently, like land Air Force One either in New Orleans or
Baton Rouge."

The issue wasn't when or if he came to visit! It was the whole slow and messed up response and the FEMA debacle where his cronyism got him in deep.

"There have been disappointments. Abu Ghraib obviously was a huge disappointment
during the presidency. Not having weapons of mass destruction was a significant
disappointment."

Abu Ghraib and finding no WMD in Iraq after having invaded were disappointments?? Abu Ghraib was a disaster! An international scandal. Not finding WMD in Iraq (or invading before you knew) was so much more than a mistake. It proved the administration had an agenda other than the defense of our nation and finding those responsible for 9/11. It did prove diplomacy was lacking and sorely needed and that the pre-emptive policy is not effective and just wrong. We claimed to give Hussein an ultimatum then follow through with enforcing law, but given the time frame and the way we approached the UN, then went ahead without a real consensus, the whole thing became a really bad joke, a nightmare that turned us into greedy occupiers and ruthless invaders and lawless torturers.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2009/01/20090112.html