The Bush Legacy: He Dismantled America’s Industrial, Military And Financial Backbone

By James Donahue

In April, 2005, we wrote the following: “Whether by design or pure incompetence, we are watching a disturbing pattern of behavior in Washington D. C. that is setting America up for a collapse as a world power.”

Lest we forget the damage that occurred during those eight long years under Republican domination, while the GOP and big business interests are spending billions to discredit and block efforts by President Barack Obama and his staff to turn our nation back on course, we offer this reminder.

Without going into all of the details, here is an overview of what the “Christian/conservative” controlled Republican Administration accomplished during the years President George W. Bush occupied the White House. The list does not include the assault on the environment, the torture issue, or the illegal activities that went on behind the doors which are only now beginning to be found out.

--The 911 attack in September, 2001, set the stage for a retaliatory strike against Afghanistan, a conflict that continues to this day. It also prompted our legislators to pass the Patriot Act, without reading it, giving state and federal police agencies powers that override individual Constitutional rights.

--Incorrectly declaring that Iraq’s dictator Saddam Hussein was harboring weapons of mass destruction, Bush and the UK’s Tony Blair joined forces in an unprovoked assault on Iraq that toppled the Hussein government. A puppet government was established under the barrel of American guns. A guerrilla war continues to rage unchecked in Iraq and extreme anti-American sentiment exists. President Obama has taken steps to bring American involvement in this unjust war to a conclusion, but withdrawal is complex and that nation has suffered severely because of what we did there.

--With two wars raging, and military forces occupying bases all over the world, the U. S. military is so overextended that it can barely keep enough troops on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan. Military commanders are calling for a buildup of troops in Afghanistan, which experts say will take months to accomplish if President Obama decides to allow this conflict to escalate. The British and the United Nations forces are deeply involved in the fight against the al-Qaeda guerillas there as well.

--Bush threatened Iran, which is building a large nuclear power generating plant and appears to be on the verge of becoming a nuclear power. Iran has had the support of both Russia and China in this project. While President Obama is attempting to use diplomacy to avoid a military conflict in that country, there is a fear that Israel may take matters into its own hands.

--As part of the Bush Administration’s War on Terror, the U.S. sold sophisticated weapons systems, possibly with nuclear capability, to Pakistan. Pakistan and India are staring down gun barrels at each other over political and possibly religious differences. Our action has obviously angered the Indian government.

--Because of American, British and UN involvement in Afghanistan, the al-Qaeda have moved deeper into neighboring Pakistan where they are gaining political strength.

--India and China have just agreed to end an age-old border dispute and boost trade in a move toward a free trade agreement between the two countries.

--While in office the Bush Administration opened the door to the closing of many American factories as companies turned to “outsourcing” of U. S. jobs to foreign countries, taking advantage of a cheap labor market. India, China, Indonesia and Mexico were recipients of many of those jobs from America.

--The American economic meltdown, triggered by the collapse of the housing mortgage market, occurred in the final months before Bush left office. The collapse quickly took its toll on the global economic markets. To stem the crisis the Bush Administration dumped billions into the U.S. banking system which many economists now say was the worst thing to have done. The big money lenders simply gained more wealth and power at taxpayer expense.

--The closing of factories and lay-offs of hundreds of thousands of American workers has been good for American business interests, who paid to put Bush in the White House, but it has created a giant pool of unemployed and underpaid workers in the United States. The number of homeless people in the country is believed to exceed the level of the Great Depression years.

--Among the shut-down factories in the United States are steel plants. Most of American mined iron ore is now being shipped overseas where it is smelted into steel and then sold to world plants where steel products are manufactured.

--Bush used an executive order to establish a special panel that will have the power to close military bases all over the United States as a budget cutting measure. Without these bases, more jobs were lost. We may have lost the capability of training the manpower necessary to fight a global war.

--Most, if not all of the high-tech electronic equipment like computers, digital cameras and wide screen televisions are now manufactured in Japan, Taiwan, and other overseas countries. They are not being made in the United States. Even American automobile plants, where war machinery was manufactured during World War II, are in danger of shutting down.

--Since taking office, the Bush Administration erased a $233 billion government cash surplus left by the Clinton Administration, to a 11 trillion deficit. That deficit amounts to a sum of over $38,000 for every man, woman and child in America. Due to the continued wars and the money soaked up by Wall Street business interests, this deficit is growing larger every day.

So here is the bottom line. Our military is overextended. Most people in America are either out of work or holding low paying jobs that barely sustain them. An untold number of Americans are homeless and living in shelters or in their cars. Obama appears to be heading off a gearing up by China and other world nations for a world war against the United States after eight years of bad national diplomacy by Mr. Bush. If he fails, America may lack the capability to defend itself.

We see Mr. Obama working hard to offset as much of the damage caused by Bush as possible and as quickly as possible, but he is fighting an uphill battle. That he is being constantly opposed by Republicans and radical right-wing extremists who hate having a black man in the White House might be the straw that breaks this nation’s back.