What is Bush's biggest national security failure?
That's the question National Security Network has tried to tackle in it's new project, Bush's Bombs: A National Security Legacy of Failure.
To answer the question we first had to find them all, and that was no small task. It's taken us more than 50 pages and 11 chapters to find over 100 incidents that we will release over 5 days. Just one week to document 8 years of failure...on just this topic. You can check back for the details here, but we also simplified it a bit.
We couldn't pick one. So, we picked 5 that epitomize the overarching failures of the Bush foreign policy.
In our opinion, Bush's Biggest Bombs are:
Ignoring reality in favor of ideology: The Al-Qaeda Iraq Connection and Justification for War
Systematically running roughshod over our government institutions: FEMA and Hurricane Katrina
Weakening America's global leadership: The Financial Crisis
Disregarding and undermining basic American values and traditions: Abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib
Failing to govern competently: Osama bin Laden's Escape
But that still wasn't enough. Each category includes a series of duds that couldn't be ignored...such as appointing John "I hate the UN" Bolton to the United Nations,failing to keep our promises to our vets, and other offenses.
Taken individually, Iraq, Katrina, Abu Ghraib, or any other Bush failure would be a black mark on this president's legacy. Together, they serve as an indictment of the man who will be remembered as the worst president in US history. Sadly, it's a legacy that won't be solved simply by swearing in a new president.
Every day this week, we'll bring you you a few more chapters in the story of the Bush administration's National Security failures.
In the meantime, what do think of this list, and what do think was Bush's Biggest National Security Bomb?