Turning Reality, Truth Inside Out

Turning reality, truth inside out
OUR OPINION: With exit in view, Bush, Rice push revisionist history

http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/e...ry/805162.html

12/10/2008

It's to be expected that an outgoing administration, whether it is the government or a private business, will attempt to put its achievements in the most favorable light possible. This is not true of the Bush administration. As eight years of the Bush presidency comes to an end, the president and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice are going beyond sprinkling pixie dust on the administration's failed policies. Some of their remarks have been wholly disconnected with either reality or truth.

In a speech last week, Mr. Bush said the Middle East is a freer, more hopeful place today than when he took office in 2001. He said the threat from terrorist groups like al Qaeda has been curtailed and that Iran faces greater pressure from the international community than ever before. Mr. Bush described his Mideast policies as ``ambitious in vision, bold in action and firm in purpose.''

Burnishing record
Picking up on this theme, Ms. Rice made the rounds of the Sunday-morning news shows, blaming ''flawed intelligence'' for the administration's decision to invade Iraq in search of weapons of mass destruction. ''I would give anything to be able to go back and to know precisely what we were going to find when we were there,'' Ms. Rice said.

These attempts at revisionist history ignore the reams of data and evidence gathered in the intervening years that thoroughly disprove these rosy views of administration policies.

The invasion of Iraq nullified that country's influence as a counter-balance to Iran's ambitions. Neutralizing Iraq greatly increased Iran's power in the region and seriously undermined U.S. Middle East peace initiatives. The war diverted America's attention and resources away from al Qaeda stongholds in Afghanistan -- and the consequences have been disastrous. Al Qaeda remains a menace, and Osama bin Laden remains on the loose.

Determined to attack
Contrary to Ms. Rice's assertions about flawed intelligence, it is now clear that the administration was determined to attack Iraq even before the 9/11 attacks, and stubbornly ignored evidence refuting claims that Saddam Hussein was amassing an arsenal of weapons of mass destruction. The war was so consuming of America's blood and treasure that the Bush administration only belatedly launched a plan for Middle East peace, and even then blundered in executing the plan just as it did in stabilizing Iraq when the war turned into an occupation.

Mr. Bush's vision may have been ambitious and his plan bold, but history will record that he utterly failed to meet those objectives. His administration emboldened America's enemies, put Israel's security at greater risk, mired the U.S. military in an endless occupation and diminished America's prestige around the globe. No pixie dust can change that reality.