Our security is addressed as it relates to the wrong policies of George W.

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A previous article summarized how George W was wrong on every thing, enough so that a recommendation was made to change his moniker from George W to George D.W, DW for dead wrong. He is referred to as DW in this security related article as well. A grade is assigned to each addressed issue--a one person grading system at work.

--Afghanistan C-

Attacking Afghanistan after 9/11 was a no-brainer (Clinton had such plans after the Cole attack, but the needed basing rights in Uzbekistan was not allowed until after 9/11). Then, after defeating the Taliban and killing or capturing much of al Qaeda, DW blew it when he pulled out early as he charged off to an Iraq fiasco--a great gift and relief for the terrorists.

But during that short war, too few troops let bin Laden escape at Tora Bora. He was monitored on the airways there talking to his followers as he apologized for their predicament. But, we had too few troops at Tora Bora (60 or so). More troops (700) were requested by the team leader there. CIA's Hank Crumpton personally asked DW for the troops. No response, so bin Laden escaped.

Promised infrastructure building was slight allowing Afghanistan to morph into a narcostate providing money for the terrorists. President Karzai, our good ally, plans to leave due to his reconstruction related drop in popularity. Now the Taliban is resurging. The Iraqi insurgence has shown the Taliban the way--a feedback from the Iraq fiasco.

--Iraq F-

Invading Iraq is seen as a monumental blunder of historic proportions. Beyond leaving Afghanistan too soon, the adventure weakened us from every viewpoint. Now we're stuck there without a good way out. When stuck in the mud, arguments may arise about how to get out, but then, eventually, the question has to be asked, "What fool got us stuck here in the first place?"

It is believed that our invasion of Afghanistan was part of the al Qaeda plan, that we would get stuck, humiliated and then driven out as the Russians were, but it didn't work. Rather we got stuck in Iraq. There the gains made in Afghanistan were more than trumped with our losses in Iraq.

It was reported by Muslims themselves that the moderate Muslim majority is shrinking in response to Iraq and the Israeli conflicts. That corresponds to the comprehensive April National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) leak in the late news. Now, as we know, the NIE states that the terrorists numbers have been expanding, that Iraq is now a terrorist recruiting ground with a new generation of Jihadist emerging--making us less safe. DW had to know of that important report. His hard line since April though has been that we are safer--his major strategy going into the mid-terms.

--Iran F

DW passed on an opportunity to calm Iran when he refused to talk with them in '02. DW then included Iran in his "Axis of Evil" speech just prior to invading Iraq--an implied threat that further stimulated Iran's taste for the nuclear. He did his best to aggravate a country that sponsors terrorism and in all probability is pursuing a nuclear bomb.

We know the Iranian people have a favorable opinion of the U.S. people in general and are unhappy with their government. They need help to dump the clerics and President whatshisname. But then, DW is all about tough talk and gives little thought to hearts and minds--the only way to win in the long run.

DW's line has been that he would talk to Iran only after they quit their enrichment program--no middle ground, hence, no discussions as Iran charges on with its enrichment program.

--N. Korea F

DW alienated Kim further in '02 when he accused Kim of enriching uranium and breaking previous agreements. Then DW included N. Korea in his "Axis of Evil" speech just prior to invading Iraq--an implied threat that motivated Kim to speed up his nuclear bomb program--and Kim is an arms merchant, His store is open to the terrorists as they stroll by with our oil money.

DW's line has been that he would talk to Kim only after he quits arming--no middle ground, hence no discussions as Kim keeps his nuclear lines humming.

--Israel D

DW's predecessors held the middle ground in the mid-east, but he is seen as a solid Israel ally. During the Hezbollah conflict, even the moderate Muslims raged as they saw dead children pulled from the ruble on their TVs. All knew that U.S. made planes dropped the bombs. Further, the Hezbollah leader and troops were celebrated as heros leaving us as the villains. It was all a great time for terrorist recruiters.

Logic states that DW enabled the conflict in two ways. First, his negligence in the area allowed the U.N. negligence allowing a Hezbollah buildup. Second, his Iraq fiasco emboldened Iran, hence Hezbollah.

--Homeland Security C-

As we know, much has, could have and should have been done to improve our security since 9/11. This is deadly serious business. Political games should be left out of the equation, but assignment of funds to possible terrorist targets has been absurd placing politics before human lives. DW opposed forming the 9/11 commission and then was slight in implementing. Kean of the commission is appalled saying priority is missing with little urgency to protect. He gave many failing grades.

On the other side of the coin, we need to appeal to hearts and minds in the world at large and of the terrorists in particular. All ways should be explored to penetrate the extremist's flawed mind-set--a real challenge. A lesser challenge would be to simply improve our world image. We know how to do that. We did it before--before the arrival of DW.

Our image has plummeted in the last five years throughout the world--even with our closest. For instance, Briton's favorable view has fallen from 83% to 56% and Germany's has fallen from 78% to 37% while that of the Muslims are in the low single digits. It's reported that our foreign policy and the dislike for DW has driven these numbers. DW obviously thinks more along the lines of external force and internal politics with little thought about hearts and minds.

--Missile Defense C

With the emerging nuclear threat, our missile defense is becoming more visible, but the view is not all that great since the system is not all that great.

After John Bolton encouraged DW to break the ABM treaty with Russia, DW rushed a ridiculed ABM system he inherited into operational status. Each ABM missile carries a single, large "kill vehicle" The system had not tested well and drew massive criticism. It would be overwhelmed by an incoming ICBM with many warheads, decoys and sub munitions if it did work. Worse, decoy detection has been very problematic.

As DW was pushing his ABM plan, an outside person submitted another plan to previous President Ford through the back door who forwarded it to Rumsfeld. The plan defined an ABM missile carrying many, autonomous, miniature kill vehicles (MKVs), with each MKV assigned a target in flight. Then, rather than being overwhelmed while trying to detect decoys, the MKVs will launch from the mother missile and kill everything in sight. That very concept is now being implemented by the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, Valuable time has been lost but maybe there's hope.

--Environment/Global Warming F -

DW alienated the world (before 9/11) by walking from the Kyoto earth warming treaty. He said reducing would be just too costly--the leader of the wealthiest and greatest polluter, while over 120 other countries signed on. A major step back from winning hearts and minds. Further, states and industries are now going green with increased profits, better products, expanded employment and a better world.

--Energy D-

A good chunk of our oil money sent overseas is detrimental to our security. A Herculean effort should have been and should be in place to stem that outflow. DW did, of course, propose more drilling then dropped it.

Much could be done in many various ways in areas such as DW's drilling, alternatives, efficiency and conservation. Obviously, all but drilling kills two birds by reducing oil use and pollution/warming. The bully pulpit should be worn to a frazzle by now from overuse as DW tried to coax folks to conserve. It was reported that the government provides generous subsidies to the very profitable big oil with little to nothing going to clean energy. The oil lobbyists at work.

The drive to increase mpg is history. It is known that mileage of 40 mpg and much better is doable. That could be huge. Our car industry would have been saved as well if the government had imposed tougher mpg standards a while back. Those lobbyists do get around

A logical energy policy could obviously make us safer, cleaner, cooler and richer.

--Immigration F

DW ignored our immigration problem until lately when pressured. As any fool knows, a porous boarder provides a great opportunity for terrorists.

IMPERIAL PRESIDENT F

We know how DW/Cheney soundly criticized Clinton for not responding to the Cole attack of 10/00. Ben-Vinesta of the 9/11 commission just stated that the CIA identified al Qaeda as the villain two months later--as Clinton was leaving office, so the response was passed to DW. The commission voted to omit that from their final report.

It is documented that the terrorist issue was reduced from "urgent" to "important," when DW arrived on the scene. Threat warnings were received just prior to 9/11 in the form of intercepted peak chatter plus a report relating to a bin Laden plan to strike within the U.S. That all happened just days before DW headed for his full month August '01 vacation at his ranch.

Then, DW's arrogant display of "go-it-alone cowboy diplomacy" alienated much of the world and his threats to adversaries with no follow-up is seen as bluster harming our credibility.

We know there were too few troops in Iraq from day one. Obviously, the military should have been expanded early-on. The military we heard such glowing reports about is being degraded. Now there are extended tours, reduced recruitment and extreme misuse of the reserves and the guard.

His reactions to the natural disasters were dismal. He missed chances for quick and personal responses that would have impressed the Muslims in Indonesia and Pakistan.

He has been playing the political card when assuring us that Iraq has made us safer. But then, we heard his prewar rhetoric and he was caught lying on TV by play-backs--a liar really needs a good memory.

Now, thanks to DW, we can worry about a new tipping point, a point from which the world could slide into a disaster of monumental proportions.

To summarize, DW blew it in Afghanistan, created a mess in Iraq, degraded our military, drained our treasury, greatly damaged our world image and caused thousands of lost lives and limbs. Now, the NIE report indicates that although we decimated al Qaeda's leadership, the overall threat has grown with the number of terrorists increasing at exponential rates. Further, we know that if DW had taken the '01 reports seriously, stayed off the ranch, mobilized all hands and really worked the problem, there would have been at least a chance that 9/11 could have prevented.

Authors Bio:
I am a retired engineer who has a bit of a problem with George W