11:44 pm:
Bush has not done a good job and the American people agree. President Bush is the first president to go into his second term with less than a majority approving of his performance. One can easily conclude that the president has committed hubris on many occasions, alienating key allies while promoting ignorance.
1. The problem with Iraq.
The election and civil war
Iraq is a country in the heart of the Middle East. In the country of Iraq there is a split between three main groups of Muslims: the Kurds, Sunni, and Shiites. Implemented during the imperialism of Great Britain was a strategy of putting a minority into power; thus sustaining the power in the country because the minority would oppress the majority. In Iraq the Sunni, which is only 20%, was placed to oppress the Shiite with a majority of 60%. With the development of the facts one can see the conflict arising. Iraq is in civil war. The elections that are going to take place this Sunday are in place so Iraq can have an assembly which will create a constitution. But the very legitimacy of these elections are being challenged as intimidation, protest, and lack of established voting centers have all caused one to question the ability to establish a democracy ( a fair one at that). The majority of the Sunni area is too dangerous and will not vote. Security is established nowhere even the green zone where all the powerful officials in Iraq live does not currently have water.
2. The cost of war for Americans.
There are speculations that the Bush Administration is planning on asking for an additional 80 billion dollars for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. This will bring the total cost of the war in this year’s budget to an astounding 100 billion dollars. Meanwhile, the President feels the greatest need of the United States is Social Security reform, which will cost as much as 1 trillion dollars in overhaul. A new Gallop poll showed that senior citizens feel the system only needs minor improvements. President Bush needs to take the factors of our growing deficit into consideration when deciding what to change. This could have changed if Americans would have had more assistance in the Iraq war. President Bush worsened the relationship and the cause for war with Iraq, when he refused to acknowledge that there are no weapons of mass destruction or that there were no connections between Saddam and 9/11. The Pew Research Center shows that not one country has increased their opinion of America since President Bush has taken office, though significant decreases have taken place in Europe and the Middle East.
It is of course silly not to give the president at least some hope at a start of a new term. I just hope that this hope does not dims by new misinformed and ignorant mistakes such as the new speculation that Iran is going to be new Iraq (New Yorker).
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