No. Even ignoring all the other evil/crazy/stupid things he’s done, it’s not our right or our business to reshape the ME by mass murder.
It could happen. People hated Truman by the time he left office and fifty years later he’s remembered as a great president. So who knows? If Iraq gets straightened out, terrorism gets knocked down, tax cuts fix the economy, and New Orleans gets rebuilt, I’ll admit I misjudged George Bush and he was a great president after all. And because I want all those things to happen, I’ll be delighted to have been proven wrong.
The alternative is that he dies doing something really, really stupid/embarresing, like autoerotic asphixiation. I doubt they’d make martyr out of him then.
He has killed many more people than all the people currently on death row in all the states of the US combined.
Granted, he didn’t personally kill them, but the illegal, immoral, unjustified war that he unleashed on Iraq was the direct cause of those deaths.
That said, I don’t think he deserves to die. But that’s only because I don’t believe in capital punishment. I do believe that for justice to be served he should spend the rest of his life in prison.
I wouldn’t. None of that would change or justify the harm he’s done now.
Suppose some medical company tortured and killed tens of thousands of people, men, women and children, in medical experiments. The result : A cure for a half dozen major diseases. Should they be hailed as heros, or punished ? Punished; the results of their actions don’t matter.
Hmmm. George; done in by Richard, for the purposes of clearing Richard’s way to greater power…
Yeesh, I hope Will Shakespeare’s middle name wasn’t Nostradamus…
And did it ever occur to you that if Bush were to sprout giant leathery wings in public, in 40 or 50 years he will be remembered as a freakish man-bat?
The irony is that Kennedy, who DID get us into Vietnam IS seen as a great president in some circles (probably by yourself in fact)…while Johnson who picked up the mess when Kennedy got wacked is seen as a poor president indeed. If Bush were assassinated at this point, I could very well see a similar scenerio unfolding. Its not as detached from reality as you and the pile on think, given the right kinds of circumstances.
Just like 9/11 catapulted Bush into the heights of power in the US, making folks love or hate the man with unbelievable passion, while had there been no 9/11 Bush would have been a mediocre care taker president, probably a one termer, garnering neither wide spread support from the right nor particular rancor from the left but just sort of being there, Bush assassinated by terrorists at this point in history could have a similar effect, placing him in the upper reaches of past American presidents…instead of the lower tier he will surely inhabit if things play out naturally.
-XT
Good point, XT. If Bush were assassinated the person who’d really be screwed by history is Cheney. Bush’s reputation would probably end up below Kennedy’s, which would put Cheney’s reputation below Johnson’s.
Really? We were in Japan for about a decade after WWII, and we didn’t make them a state. We stayed long enough to stabilize, rebuild and to forge strong economic ties with them. We still have a presence in Korea, and by my calendar it’s been more than 50 years since the cease fire was signed. Unless you are trying to imply that the US has actual, real imperialistic designs on Iraq, I don’t see your point.
I have plenty of sense, and IF, 50 years from now, a stable, more or less democratic Iraq is the cornerstone of a stable, more or less democratic ME, then Bush will be lauded for his role in that.
How is it naive? I’ll let out the Palestinian situation for the moment, but let’s just suppose Iraq settles down into a stable, more or less democracy, one with Islamic overtones. The revolutionary forces in Iran are mostly young and pro-west. If their next door neighbor Iraq establishes a prosperous, free society, don’t you think that that will spill across the border? I sure do. Syria is a country that wants to walk big on the world stage, but lacks the ability to do so, they will go with the flow. Kuwait is economically tied to the west, they’re opportunists. Afghanistan is a mess, but they’ve been a mess for 1000 years. Rule of law is what is needed there, and like Iraq, establishing that is a process that will take decades, not years. Saudi Arabia is our friend, but they have a ruling house that is beset by Islamic fundamentalists. A general stabilization of the region will weaken these fundamentalists and hopefully allow the west to exert a moderating influence on the House of Saud. Jordan needs to embrace the Palestinians instead of using them for anti-Israeli purposes, and Lebanon is a blooming democracy that took a big hit from Israel lately because of their unwillingness/inability to control the terrorist group Hesbollah. This is a very simplistic summation of an amazingly complex reality. I know this, but I’m just trying to give you an idea as to how it might all fall together. It might all fall apart. We don’t know, but we have two choices: Try to make things fall our way or withdraw and let things fall against us. I’d much rather at least make the attempt to make things better.
I agree with very few of the things Bush has done in his presidency. However, presidents tend to be remembered for their foreign policy initiatives, and, like I said, IF things fall right, that will be Bush’s legacy, as much as you might hate it.
Yes it did. And millions upon millions of people died before that happened. MILLIONS OF PEOPLE DIED! Is that what you wish upon the middle east?
I think Nixon is the president you’re looking to condemn here.
Sure, you’re right. We could get out of it and ride out the consequences. Millions of dead folks, sky high oil prices, lots more terrorist attacks killing innocents in the EU and the US, maybe even the elimination of Israel. Who cares? It’s their problem, not ours. We’ll be OK, fat and satisfied on our side of the globe with only the random terrorist attack to worry about. Too bad, so sad, but most Americans will survive, right?
Of course we have imperialist designs on Iraq; that’s why we invaded in the first place. Not that we would make them a state; that would give them too many rights to suit us.
Unlikely; more likely history will say something like “Despite Bush’s attack on Iraq and the resulting chaos, in 2025 . . .”
Then we will have a stable, democratic mortal enemy.
And if the Mindless Ones break into our universe in Iraq, that will spread over the border too. After what we’ve done, I judge either event about equally likely.
Except everything we do is pretty much guaranteed to make things worse, not better.
And our behavior in Iraq makes this less likely how ?
To all those who say they would be sad should Bush be assassinated (and I hasten to add that I would be very sad to see him die prematurely as I would like to give history time to pass it’s terrible judgement upon him) because it represents and attack on America - would it make any difference if he was assassinated by your average, off the street, American nutcase and not by some schemeing foreign power? Would you not feel so bad if his death wa snot an act of war?
mm
Changes? 
I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.
Either would be traumatic, but the act of war would be worse because of the current over-extension of our military (which is Mr. Bush’s fault, but that’s not the point here). Our forces would suffer badly.
His death would be satisfying but for a moment. What would be far better would be for him to live to a ripe old age, and with every passing year becoming more universally condemned as the worst president in American history. I want him to live to see a Supreme Court dominated by Democratic appointees, and also live to see the day where gay marriage is recognized in every state.
I think the prospect of his premature demise is too awful to think of. Pres. Cheney; military lashing out (if it be terrorism). Nightmare. I’d like to see him impeached and die in jail.
Nope, not one iota. Don’t like the man, personally. Now, if Clinton were to drop, I’d probably feel stunned and saddened.
Can’t wait until he’s out of office. Recall! Recall!
I really can’t imagine the latter happening, and the former is also vastly unlikely. What has Mr. Bush done that merits imprisonment?
Please don’t mistake my calm for actually approving of any of his policies. Except his no-more-nude-scenes-for-Jack-Nicholson policy. That’s a good one.
I’d be equally upset either way. The attack on the institution of the office of the president is as greivous an act whether it’s done by a home-grown or foreign assassin. To me, it would be kind of like finding out Oklahoma City was bombed by an American: not any “better” in terms of the effects of what happened or was intended to happen.
KAYLASDAD – Cool thing with George and Richard; that hadn’t even crossed my mind. 