The Worst American President in History

On September 11, 2001, nearly 3000 people were killed in Al-Qaeda's attack on the United States. Of that number, 2,738 were American citizens; the rest were foreign nationals.

Prior to 2001, Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda are alleged to have plotted the following attacks which killed Americans: the 1993 truck bombing of the World Trade Center, which killed six Americans; the 1998 attack on the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, which claimed 12 Americans among 235 total fatalities; and the 2000 attack on the USS Cole in a Yemeni port, which took the lives of 17 American sailors.

All told, Osama bin Laden can be held directly responsible for 2,773 American deaths.

As of the end of October, 2006, there have been 2,801 American servicemen and servicewomen killed in Iraq. Meaning that George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and Donald Rumsfeld have killed more Americans than Osama bin Laden.

And for what? Nothing. I didn't count the 340 American soldiers killed in Afghanistan; not because I value their sacrifice any less, but because I believe that fight is a noble and just one, and their deaths should have been for something. Bin Laden is still hiding, alive, somewhere in the caves of Afghanistan or Pakistan. The Taliban regime in Afghanistan allowed al-Qaeda to train and recruit, and so our 2001 invasion of Afghanistan was completely justified, and would have made the US safer in the long run, if we'd ever finished the mission, captured bin Laden, and wiped out al-Qaeda altogether.

Instead, we pulled most of our troops out of Afghanistan before the job was done, and sent them to fight this ridiculous war in Iraq -- one that we cannot possibly win.

I don't mean to focus only on American deaths, either. By all accounts the Iraqi civilian death toll is in the tens of thousands, and that's horrific. But a tragedy close to home is always a bigger tragedy, and George W. Bush has sent nearly 3000 American men and women to their deaths based on faulty intelligence and outright lies, and the end, their deaths will have accomplished NOTHING.

Everyone lampooned the critics of the Iraq War in 2003 who compared it to Vietnam. Well, that comparison looks more and more apt with each passing day, with each American death.

On May 1, 2003, our idiot-in-chief stood under a "Mission Accomplished" banner and declared that "major combat operations in Iraq have ended." On that date, the American military death toll in Iraq stood at 139. I'm sure the families of the 2,662 American soldiers killed since then take little solace in the fact that "major combat operations" have been over for three and a half years. I guess those 2,662 soldiers were killed playing tiddly-winks with Iraqi civilians, huh???

This is why history will show that George W. Bush has been the worst American president in the past 100 years, if not in all of American history. Say what you will about other presidents in my generation -- they were crooks (Nixon); they were ineffective (Ford, Carter, Bush I); they were deceptive and confused (Reagan); they couldn't keep it in their pants (Clinton).

None of them sent nearly 3000 Americans to their deaths for no purpose and for no gain. Because of George W. Bush, the families of 2800 people are grieving their sons, brothers, husbands, daughters, sisters, wives. Children are orphaned, wives widowed, young lives cut short way before their time. Another 20,000 Americans have been injured in combat, some with life-altering injuries: amputations, shattered bones, head traumas.

So, when will it stop? Unfortunately, this administration of crooks, liars, and murderers has another two years to try and further ruin America. But, we can put the brakes on this runaway train of death by putting the Democrats back in control of Congress next week. Let's bring some oversight back to Washington, force the Legislative branch to be a "check and balance" on the Chief Executive, as our founding fathers intended.

For six years now, GWB has basically been "King George," with a rubber-stamp Congress approving everything he proposed. He's only had to use one veto in six years*, for heaven's sake. Congress is not supposed to be a yes-man to the President. Since the Republicans in Congress haven't had the balls to say no to President Bush, it's time to throw them out on their asses.

Vote Democratic next week, and let's start making America something to be proud of again.

* And, incidentally -- let's get enough votes in Congress to override his goddamn veto on stem-cell research. Why is it better to let unwanted embryos go into a trash can rather than a research lab? Thousands of embryos are discarded every year -- let's use a few of them to bring hope to thousands of Americans.