Bush didn’t cause all U.S. problems

Editor:

I recently read that President Bush was our worst president and we needed to elect a Democrat.

He certainly did not create our illegal alien problem, our energy dependence on the Mideast or America’s moral downfall.

Let’s look at some facts. Numbers are not exact.

We did not start the war on terror. It was started by terrorists on 9/11.

FDR led us into World War II. Germany never attacked us, Japan did. From 1941-1945, 450,000 lives were lost, an average of 112,500 per year.

Truman finished that war and started one in Korea. North Korea never attacked us. From 1950-1953, 55,000 lives were lost, an average of 18,333 per year.

John F. Kennedy started the Vietnam conflict, Vietnam never attacked us. Johnson turned Vietnam into a quagmire. From 1965-1975, 58,000 lives were lost, an average of 5,800 per year.

Clinton went to war in Bosnia without U.N. or French consent. Bosnia never attacked us.

He was offered Osama bin Laden’s head on a platter three times by Sudan and did nothing. Osama has attacked us on multiple occasions.

In the two years since 9/11, the Taliban has been crushed, al Qaeda has been crippled and nuclear inspectors have been in Libya and Iran.

We lost 600 soldiers, an average of 300 a year. All this while not allowing another terrorist attack at home.

I am not a prophet but I would not be surprised to see one just before the next election.

Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, al Qaeda’s purported operations chief, has told U.S. interrogators that the group had been planning attacks on the Library Tower in Los Angeles and the Sears Tower in Chicago on the heels of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror strikes.

These plans were aborted because of the decisive U.S. response to the New York and Washington attacks.

Another planned attack was Operation Bojinka (Serb/Croation for “big bang”), a plot to blow up 12 U.S. airlines over the Pacific.

The FBI is currently investigating close to 70 terrorist or terrorist linked groups. Why don’t we give them a one-way ticket home?

Trivia question of the day: Can you name this country?

It’s got 709,000 regular (active duty) personnel, 293,000 reserve troops, eight standing army divisions, 20 Air Force and Navy wings with 2,000 combat aircraft, 232 strategic bombers, 19 ballistic missile submarines with 3,114 nuclear warheads on 232 missiles, 500 I.C.B.Ms with 1,950 warheads, four aircraft carriers and 121 surface combat ships and submarines plus all the support bases.

Answer: The USA.

Bill Clinton and Al Gore eliminated American forces. If we still had these troops, personnel could be rotated more frequently.

Russell May

Lowell, Ohio