Vox Blogoli: Why George Bush

President Bush’s actions and words following 9/11 exemplify a grace under pressure, outstanding leadership, and steely resolve that will not soon be replicated. His response to the assault on our Homeland was the perfect combination of effective force, assertive diplomacy, and crisis management. The Afghan campaign will go down in military history as a textbook implementation of Unconventional Warfare techniques to achieve with a small number of SOF operators what the entire Soviet Army could not. This was set in motion within a month of the precipitating event, which is all the more amazing. Not all Presidents would take the risk of confronting our enemies in Afghanistan in such a manner. He managed to kill Usama bin Laden without martyring him, which has allowed the US to continue to pursue AQ elements in the tribal border regions under the pretext of revenge. The President also understands very well that without the boogeyman, his momentum on the GWOT would be jeopardized by squishy liberal opponents.

As for Iraq, everyone who is honest will concede that Saddam Hussein was a significant threat to the US that could not be ignored. Admittedly, the President overemphasized the WMD issue as justification for the war, but by all accounts this was a "slam dunk". He signed some treaties, violated every single one, shot at our pilots every day, committed a genocide against the Shia, gassed the Kurds, openly collaborated with terrorists including Al Qaeda, promoted palestinian suicide bombing, brutally oppressed dissent, torture, executions, assassination attempt on US President, assisted bin Laden with WMD R&D in Sudan, created an environmental disaster in the Gulf, there is much more and all that before 9/11. Saddam by all accounts is a sworn enemy of the US with goals analagous to Al Qaeda, and his actions suggested that he had continued his WMD programs. More importantly, Iraq has now become what Afghanistan was in the 80's, the place where every terrorist wannabe wants to go to get their jihadi street creds. The obvious benefit being that the people who need most to be killed are now in contact with the people whose job it is to do the killing. It is this fact that not only makes Iraq a critical part of the GWOT, but also makes the Homeland more safe. The withdrawal of US troops from Iraq before this slaughter of terrorists is complete places the Homeland at much greater risk.

As a SEAL Reservist, I have tried to maintain contact with my friends in the Teams who have remained on active duty. This President has authorized SOF operations that were unthinkable with the prior administration. If I told you the places my friends have been, you would be shocked. President Bush’s risk tolerance for operations in support of the GWOT is satisfyingly high. While John Kerry promises to double SOF which is impossible, the President has shown a detailed understanding of what the SEALs are up to and how they are getting it done. The President has mandated the creation of 2 additional SEAL Teams, but he told our top Admiral that he would not abide the degradation of training and selection of men. This is music to the ears of a Navy SEAL who places his life in the hands of his comrades in training and war.

SEALs that I have talked to love the President and Donald Rumsfeld as well. The CINC matters to the military more than you could imagine, and this is a personal matter for me. I served under Bill Clinton, and at the time everybody in the Teams knew that we were never going to be unchained to conduct Direct Action against America’ foes. I was constantly on the road traveling around the country and around the world on training evolutions. It was so frustrating to know that you were going to be away from your family to practice for a game that the coach would never let you play in. Many experienced operators left the Teams with me at the end of the 90s for the same reason. It wasn’t like we didn’t see threats or targets out there, but after Somalia, we knew Clinton didn’t have the sack to pull the trigger. So did UBL as it turned out.