BUSH

BUSH  by Jean Edward Smith, Simon & Schuster 2016

Some people may not like sections of this book, especially the Iraq pieces, but it's the biggest Bush book to come out yet.  Smith calls the invasion of Iraq "the worst foreign policy decision ever made by an American president," but is it?

"Rarely in the history of the United States, "Smith writes, "has the nation been so ill-served as during the presidency of George W. Bush... (his) legacy was a nation impoverished by debt, bsieged by doubt, struggling with the aftereffects of the worst recession since the Great Depression, and deeply engaged in military conflicts of our own choosing.  His tin ear for traditional conservative values, his sanctimonious religiosity, his support for Guantanamo, CIA "renditions," and government snooping have eroded public trust in the United States at home and abroad.  For eight years Bush made the decisions that put the United States on a collision course with reality."  Really?  So it's all George Bush's fault.....

But Bush was the president who was there after 9/11.  He and his cabinet had already developed in 1997 the Project for the New American Century, and author Smith leads us to believe that 9/11 gave Bush the impetus to move forward with this initiative.  I'm glad Bush was our President during Sept 11 - that night I saw F-16s flying over our house, and my family felt better, safer.  

Smith writes - "Unprepared for the complexities of governing, with little executive experience and a glaring deficit in his attention span, untutored, untraveled, and unversed in the ways of the world, Bush thrived on making a show of his decisiveness.  But his greatest strength because his worst flaw.  His self-confidence and decisiveness caused him to do far more damage than a less assertive president would have.  Bush was the decider.  But he did not wrestle with the details of policy, particularly foreign policy."  Smith compares Bush to FDR and Eisenhower for their attention to and involvement in the details.

Smith does, however, credit Bush with his handling of the 2008 financial meltdown when he says Bush handed over the details to Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and Fed Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

As for Iraq, author Smith believes that Bush's legacy may center on his worst decision in power, the invasion of Iraq - death of Saddam Hussein followed by increased instability in the Middle East, the conflict between Shiites and Sunnis, etc etc.  Smith does not attribute the rise of Al Qaeda and ISIS to the former president, at least not openly.