With ISIS now running the whole region after the blunders of the Kenyan, it might be helpful to remember how Bush left Iraq: *****************************
3/17/2009
In most ways, the news from Iraq couldn't be better. People there feel more secure, and are more committed to democracy, than ever. Is it possible that President Bush was right after all?
A poll of average Iraqis conducted by ABC News, the BBC and Japan's NHK shows significant progress on virtually all fronts. Yet, we've heard nary a peep about it from anyone.
Some 85% of respondents said their neighborhood security was good, vs. 62% a year ago and just 43% in August of 2007. And 52% said security had gotten better in the last year during the Bush-Petraeus surge, which was widely ridiculed at the time as an unnecessary escalation of the Iraq War.
Support for democracy jumped to 64%, a 21-percentage-point gain since 2007, according to a report on CNSNews.com. As for how Iraqis felt about the general state of affairs in Iraq, 58% called it very good or quite good, up significantly from 43% last year and 22% in 2007.
When asked what their concerns are today, Iraqis sound a lot like Americans: Jobs and prices are at the top of their list, not war, not security, not terrorism.
In short, it sounds like we not only won the war, but the peace as well. And for those who cast a skeptical eye on the idea that any Islamic country could ever be democratized, it turns out the former President Bush is winning that debate too.
It's become de rigueur to deride Bush's "failed" policies in Iraq. No one speaks well of them except, maybe, Iraqis.
But here are the facts, stark as they are: During his vicious 20-year reign, Saddam Hussein (remember him?) killed an estimated 5% of Iraq's population. That works out to about 5,000 people a month slaughtered by the regime.
You might disagree that Bush was right to depose this murderous thug. But in doing so, you would then have to defend the deaths of thousands of innocents.
