big_ben said:
My judgement is that the reason we are in this situation is directly because of Bill Clinton. He was a great president for the US economy, but he was a horrible president for the US foreign policy and the US military.
Big Ben, I respect a lot of what you have to say, but you are so blinded by apparent hatred of Bill Clinton that I think you are being short-sighted.
First, Clinton continued many of the same policies that Bush Senior did, and that Reagan did before him. On Iraq, Bush Sr. too had a chance to get rid of Saddam but the issue was more complicated -- a feared power vacuum and Sunni/Shiite strife, among other reasons.
On Osama, Reagan and Bush armed the guy to the hilt during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Clinton's great chance to kill him is largely exaggerated. We had a shot, but even if an immediate order was given, he already "disappeared" like he did after 9/11. We still can't get the guy.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/155236.stm
http://www.infoplease.com/spot/osamabinladen.html
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=95696
http://www.ratical.org/ratville/JFK/JohnJudge/linkscopy/RSblowback.html
http://www.lewrockwell.com/ostrowski/ostrowski26.html
See:
http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/2001/Sep-14-Fri-2001/news/16996075.html
"But Berger said military, intelligence and White House officials agreed that they should not proceed based on the December intelligence. 'Everyone agreed this was not actionable,' he said."
On Iraq, Reagan and especially Bush sr. had a policy to befriend and sell chemical agents and arm Saddam Hussein in opposition to Iran. Rumsfeld was a key cog in the building of relations with Hussein. Clinton continued policies as usual, inherited from Sr. There was not impetus to invade another country during the 1990s.
On North Korea, Clinton's treaty did not cause N. Korea to start a nuke program. Their leader is a nut head. We had a diplomatic relationship, albeit stitled. But when Bush put N. Korea in the "axis-of-evil," it pretty much pushed Ill off the deep end. Many Asian countries are all about respect. I think Bush made a mistake by challenging that respect. After threatening war with Iraq, the other "axis of evil" countries could only think they were next. I believe Bush bungled the diplomacy by doing several complete reversals in policy -- no relations and no oil, then he said we will talk and send the oil. And this war may push them to do something really horrible.
Finally, I do think Bush made mistakes too. First thing he did when he took office is disrespect world opinion by dissing Kyoto and the ABM treaty. Perhaps they needed to be revised, but the way Bush went about it pissed the world off. It is hard to gain world support after that. And what has happened to the pro-Americanism following 9/11 -- gone to fuel American hatred. ON that issue, I am very ashamed by Bush's leadership. I think this whole thing could have been handled better.
Like I said, I agree with some of what you say. But international policy is much more complicated than "it's all Clinton's fault."