George W. Bush has now stated that withdrawing the troops and cleaning up his mess in Iraq and the whole of the Middle East is going to be someone else's problem.
From the AP:
President Bush said Tuesday that American forces will remain in Iraq for years and it will be up to a future president to decide when to bring them all home. But defying critics and plunging polls, he declared, "I'm optimistic we'll succeed. If not, I'd pull our troops out."
I want that to sink in for the three fourths of the American population who want troop withdrawal to begin yesterday. We ain't leaving during the Bush Administration. Remember that come November.
And remember we have a President that is completely unconnected with any sort of reality.
Nearly four out of five Americans, including 70 percent of Republicans, believe civil war will break out in Iraq, according to a recent AP-Ipsos poll.
[But] Bush said he's confident of victory in Iraq. "I'm optimistic we'll succeed. If not, I'd pull our troops out," he said, warning that abandoning the nation would be a dangerous mistake.
"So failure in Iraq, which isn't going to happen, would send all kinds of terrible signals to an enemy that wants to hurt us and people who are desperate to change the condition in the broader Middle East," Bush said.
So not only does the next President, and our children and grandchildren, have to fix what he has already done, but we will have to repair what he has yet to do in defense of a war that is unwinnable in any scenario, just because this President is to stubborn to not only admit a mistake, but to change course in any way for fear of weaknesses.
So we have to face the reality of War in Iraq through at least January 20, 2009. At the current rate, that would mean 4655 dead American soldiers, 31,918 seriously injured American soldiers, and maybe up to half to a three-quarters of a trillion dollars spent. I will not even estimate the countless deaths that will come from nuclear wars with North Korea and Iran.
So, Iraq joins a whole host of problems either created or worsened by this President that some other President and perhaps entire generations will have to fix. You know, like the deficit, global warming, port security, healthcare, education, the annihilation of our Constitutional civil liberties, the national debt, North Korea, Iran and so forth.
Besides the obvious, what is at the top of your list for the next President to fix or repeal?