Oh Saddam had wmd's alright. I don't think that's the problem. The problem was, Bush gave Saddam over a year to get rid of them - and he did. Problem solved, but, we invaded anyway. Hindsight is always 20/20. Had Cheney known what would happen 12 years down the road, would he have talked Bush into invading anyway? Who knows?

It no longer matters whether we should have invaded or not - we did - and now the mess is ours We shouldn't have turned over the reins of power so early - we did - now the mess is ours. We shouldn't have worried whether we had permission from the Iraqi Government to keep occupation troops there - we did - so we didn't, now the mess is ours. We should have just packed up, gone home and divested ourselves of the mess we made - we didn't - so here we are again.

I just wish that all the lips flapping at THIS President, had done more lip flapping at the FORMER President. It probably wouldn't have changed anything, as Cheney was determined to invade Iraq, but it would make listening to the lips flapping now a little easier. Not that it matters, but I went on record in 2002 saying invading Iraq would be a huge mistake, by creating a permanent burden. Not because I'm prescient, but because I know the enemy.

There was plenty of lip flapping when Bush committed forces to Iraq. To say that it wasn't so is disingenuous of you. Not to mention, Bush did something that Obama hasn't mastered... he took his case to Congress for approval. For years, key Democrats (B. Clinton, H. Clinton, J. Kerry to name a few) had spoken out about the need to remove Saddam. Congress gave Bush the blessing he needed to pursue actions in Iraq. They had access to the same intelligence that Bush did and felt there was a need.

Secondly, a major difference between the two was that Bush listened to his military advisers. I had the pleasure of speaking to one of the Admirals who was in some of the briefings. He was surprised to find out that Bush had a very good grasp of the intricacies involved and asked intelligent and poignant questions of the military officers. Obama appears to think he knows it all and consistently goes against the advice of his commanders. Hence, the results that he is now having to deal with.

In my profession I am pretty highly respected and reputed to have a vast and deep knowledge. Some have gone so far as to offer that they find me highly intelligent (everybody has the right to be wrong of course)... that being said... a man has to recognize his limitations. If my house has an electrical or plumbing problem, I know better than to try to fix it myself... I hire people who have sk**ls in those areas. It doesn't make me any less to admit that I don't know how to re-wire the circuitry or replace a busted pipe in the wall. I am sure I could learn given time to do so, but then again... those types of things just aren't my forte. Nor do I expect them to be sk**led in accounting, tax or financial matters. Knowing what you know and when you should rely on others is a key to good management and often, leadership.

Former President George W. Bush, who before leaving office warned against withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq too early, told Fox News that America has since learned the "lesson" that Iraqis are not yet capable of providing for their own security.

The former president, who spoke with Fox News' Brian Kilmeade, reacted to President Obama's decision to launch airstrikes in Iraq -- and now Syria -- in a new war against the Islamic State.

Asked if the Iraqi people failed to seize the opportunity to build a new country, Bush stressed: "It's not over."

But he said the U.S. military intervention shows the Iraqi people still need help.

"The Iraqi people obviously are going to have to make a decision as to whether or not they want to live in peace," the former president said. "They're not ready to do it on their own, and that's the lesson we've learned recently."

Bush, in 2007, had delivered a prescient warning about what might happen if U.S. troops withdrew too early. He said at the time this would risk "mass k*****gs on a horrific scale" and potentially draw U.S. troops back into the country.

Those predictions have since come true.

Asked Thursday how he knew, Bush said: "I know the nature of the enemy."

"Anybody who k**ls 3,000 innocents and beheads people because of their religion or because of their point of view is dangerous," Bush said.

He said the long-term strategy to confront this threat and foster democracy "takes time," and lamented what he described as "impatience" with that process.

"Americans have got to understand that the lesson of 9/11 is still important today as it was right after 9/11, and that is the human condition elsewhere matters to our national security," he said.

Bush said he agreed with Obama's military advisers that the U.S. should have left a residual force when it pulled out at the end of 2011.

But he said he's not going to "second-guess our president -- I understand how tough the job is."

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/10/02/bush-on-isis-america-has-learned-lesson-about-iraq/ video

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/09/11/bush-in-2007-delivered-eerily-accurate-warning-about-iraq-unrest/ warning and video

Believe me, I'm not out to start WWIII with you but I must say IMO
George W. Bush our ex president, (I use lower case as a sign of my deepest disrespect), is incapable of such deep thinking as you've
espoused! He should go down as the worst POTUS America has ever had to date. Second to Bush is Bill Clinton for his NAPA support and passing that caused American jobs to literally evaporate and put us in the state we are no in....as you might have guessed...I'm an Independent! Always was and always will be!

Oh Saddam had wmd's alright. I don't think that's the problem. The problem was, Bush gave Saddam over a year to get rid of them - and he did. Problem solved, but, we invaded anyway. Hindsight is always 20/20. Had Cheney known what would happen 12 years down the road, would he have talked Bush into invading anyway? Who knows?

It no longer matters whether we should have invaded or not - we did - and now the mess is ours We shouldn't have turned over the reins of power so early - we did - now the mess is ours. We shouldn't have worried whether we had permission from the Iraqi Government to keep occupation troops there - we did - so we didn't, now the mess is ours. We should have just packed up, gone home and divested ourselves of the mess we made - we didn't - so here we are again.

I just wish that all the lips flapping at THIS President, had done more lip flapping at the FORMER President. It probably wouldn't have changed anything, as Cheney was determined to invade Iraq, but it would make listening to the lips flapping now a little easier. Not that it matters, but I went on record in 2002 saying invading Iraq would be a huge mistake, by creating a permanent burden. Not because I'm prescient, but because I know the enemy.