All things Middle East related

[nonniey]

Originally Posted by punch it in

Withdraw from a twenty year war is probably a little more difficult than sending aid to New Orleans. Bush had absolutely no excuse. Biden may or may not have had bad intelligence. We wont know how this will affect his presidency until the dust settles. Definitely not looking like it is going in the plus column at this point though.

Well according to all accounts he had good intelligence, good advice and good recommendations, he just chose not to heed them (Sounds a bit like how his predecessor operated). As for how this ultimately effects his presidency you are correct we'll have to wait till the dust settles. That said it will effect his legacy, most likely he has now locked himself into the historical bottom half of Presidents with this action.

[punch it in]

Originally Posted by nonniey

Well according to all accounts he had good intelligence, good advice and good recommendations, he just chose not to heed them (Sounds a bit like how his predecessor operated). As for how this ultimately effects his presidency you are correct we'll have to wait till the dust settles. That said it will effect his legacy, most likely he has now locked himself into the historical bottom half of Presidents with this action.

Difference with your original comment about Katrina is in that case the tragedy had happened and Bush inexplicably chose to ignore it for a week, in Bidens case it is retrospective. It obviously was mismanaged but I find it hard to believe that with a couple minor tweaks it could have been smooth and he just said fuck it. Maybe he listened to the wrong people or wrong advice, but to say he knew this was going to happen and did it anyway seems off to me. The last three presidents were all talking about a withdraw, all wanted it, nobody did it. Maybe because this was the inevitable result? Idk. I just know that mistake or not (obviously looking like one now) there is no ulterior motive here or malicious intent, and he is trying to make it right.

[nonniey]

Originally Posted by punch it in

Difference with your original comment about Katrina is in that case the tragedy had happened and Bush inexplicably chose to ignore it for a week, in Bidens case it is retrospective. It obviously was mismanaged but I find it hard to believe that with a couple minor tweaks it could have been smooth and he just said fuck it. Maybe he listened to the wrong people or wrong advice, but to say he knew this was going to happen and did it anyway seems off to me. The last three presidents were all talking about a withdraw, all wanted it, nobody did it. Maybe because this was the inevitable result? Idk. I just know that mistake or not (obviously looking like one now) there is no ulterior motive here or malicious intent, and he is trying to make it right.

To be fair another difference is that Bush didn't make the decision for Katrina to hit the Gulf Coast, Biden actually caused this catastrophe and now has to respond to it.