George W. Bush

On September 11, 2001, a group of 19 extremist Muslims led by al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden hijacked 4 American commercial jets. 2 were crashed into each of the individual Twin Towers in New York City. The two skyscrapers were destroyed, infamously collapsing onto the ground in front of appalled and terrified on-lookers. While it wasn't entirely ruptured and was able to be rebuilt at least semi-easily, the Pentagon was hit by the third plane. The target of the fourth plane was never clear and remains a mystery, but it fortunately only crashed into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. While tragic due to the loss of the jet and the murder of all those on board, no major landmark was hit, averting any additional tragedy. This violent, catastrophic terrorist attack took the lives of 2,997 American men, women, and children and has been immortalized as the lamented 9/11. Away from the White House that day to speak to some schoolchildren, the president during this awful event was the recently-inaugurated George Walker Bush.

The previous year, in 2000, Bush was the Republican nominee. Meanwhile, Al Gore, the vice president for then-Executive Officer Bill Clinton, was the Democratic nominee. The election proved to be extremely close, with the question of who would replace Clinton in January being entirely dependent on what happened in a single state: Florida. However, even in Florida, the vote was incredibly close, almost infuriatingly so. With an advantage below just 1,500 votes, Gore technically won Florida. But because of how close the margin was, Florida state law required a recount. Yet the recount came back with exactly the same result: Gore won by less than 1,500 votes. Another recount was held. And another. And another. As this all went on, Bush and Gore sued one another, registering the case of Bush v. Gore. Since both men were government officials, the case instantly went to the Supreme Court. In the first weeks of 2001, the court issued its opinion and sided with Bush. As a result, the constant recounts ended and Bush was inaugurated on January 20, 2001.

When 9/11 shattered national stability just 8 months into his 8 years as president, Bush was left with an impossibly-heavy task: To guide the nation through the immediate aftermath of this Pearl Harbor-esque travesty and to restore the country's morale. I would argue that he did a horrible job in this pursuit. On September 15, 2001, Bush launched the War on Terror, a global campaign to fight despotism and terrorism abroad. In particular, he wanted to curb the influence of Iran, Iraq, and North Korea, which he collectively referred to as "the Axis of Evil". The War on Terror sounds beneficial on paper, but it has generally been used as an excuse to topple foreign governments that challenged US interests under the guise of counter-terrorism. During the first years of the War on Terror, Bush opened up several brutal facilities like the Abu-Ghraib Detention Center and often made use of Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, where his administration imprisoned people, generally without trial and in miserable circumstances.

Soon after 9/11, Bush learned that the Taliban, an Islamic fundamentalist group that had taken control of Afghanistan, was giving refuge to Osama Bin Laden. As a result, on October 7, 2001, he launched an invasion of that country in search of Bin Laden. The invasion of Afghanistan - which sparked what is now known as the War in Afghanistan that continued until 2021 - was initially justified due to the Taliban's hospitality toward Bin Laden. If we wanted to arrest Bin Laden and hold him accountable for the deaths he caused, we needed to search in Afghanistan. However, after the Battle of Tora Bora, Bin Laden escaped Afghanistan. Bush knew this, yet he continued the occupation of Kabul and the rest of Afghanistan, which dramatically hurts his score.

Domestically, Bush created the Department of Homeland Security to help prevent repeats of 9/11 and similar instances of violent terrorism. The Department of Homeland Security is a good idea in and of itself and has positive potential, so I generally consider it an accomplishment of the Bush Administration. Although, it has often violated many rights Americans possess in the Constitution, such as illegally spying on citizens and asking social media companies to remove "misinformation". Those actions go against the Fourth and First Amendments respectively and so I can't give Bush that much credit for the Department of Homeland Security even if I do consider it a positive overall. Bush also signed the PATRIOT Act. Enacted on October 26, 2001, the PATRIOT Act (which stands for "Providing Appropriate Tools Required for Intercepting and Obstructing Terrorism Act") permitted the federal government to monitor the private lives and communications of ordinary Americans in pursuit of reducing terrorism, whether a warrant existed or not.

At the end of 2002, Bush began making a series of false claims about Saddam Hussein and the rest of the Iraqi government. Bush, alongside his Secretary of State Colin Powell, told the United Nations that Saddam's dictatorship had access to various weapons of mass destruction, up to and including nukes. Bush and Powell also lied about Saddam having connections to Bin Laden and al-Qaeda. Claiming that with the US' post-9/11 weaknesses, these facts about Saddam Hussein and his leadership placed America at risk and so justified a Western invasion of Iraq. In February of 2003, Bush gave Saddam one final "ultimatum": Resign or destroy all weapons of mass destruction in the possession of the Iraqi military. If Saddam didn't do one of these things (the latter of which was literally impossible, as no such weapons existed), he would face a US invasion.

On February 24, 2003, Saddam participated in an interview with CBS' Dan Rather and announced that he would fulfill neither of Bush's demands. Because of this, Bush, alongside British Prime Minister Tony Blair, invaded Iraq on March 20, 2003, sparking the Iraq War. Saddam Hussein was toppled a few weeks later on April 9, 2003, and arrested in December of that same year. After a show trial in 2006, UN employees hanged Saddam in a warehouse on December 30, 2006. Despite these facts, Bush insisted on continuing America's occupation of Iraq. The goal of this long-term stay was to further stabilize Iraq, but it only introduced further chaos into the country, which had already been harmed by Saddam's tyranny. The Iraq War continued until 2011 when it was ended by Barack Obama. In those 8 years, hundreds of American soldiers had their lives needlessly eliminated and even more innocent Iraqi civilians were killed as well. And it was all because of bald-faced lies.

Besides his wretched handling of 9/11, Bush had many other flaws as president. For example, he did very little to help New Orleans after it was wrecked by Hurricane Katrina. Bush also signed the No Child Left Behind Act. This was an education reform that reduced funding to schools with lower average grades from the students. This sounds like a common sense policy that would provide discipline and standards to the American school system, but the opposite is true. If a school is struggling and its students are performing-poorly, that's because the school can't access the supplies its needs to successfully educate its pupils. It may also be unable to hire especially-qualified teachers. So, if a school's students really are doing bad, then the school needs more funds, not less!

Economically, Bush dramatically expanded the national debt. Having launched invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, Bush needed to bulk up the military in order to sustain his duo of wars. This, in turn, required more military spending. Soldiers needed to be motivated through higher wages. Better weapons needed to be bought so as to crush the enemy. More uniforms, barracks, and food needed to be bought to sustain the soldiers and keep them nourished. Bush was spending record amounts on the US military. But at the same time that he did this, he cut taxes. Because of this, he needed to borrow even more money to maintain his militarism, amplifying America's already-obscene national debt. Ronald Reagan made the same mistake. He cut taxes and raised military spending simultaneously, worsening the debt. Yet Bush did not learn. Neither did Donald Trump, as he did the exact same thing.

Finally, Bush withdrew the US from the Kyoto Protocol. Signed and supported by Bill Clinton, the Kyoto Protocol was a treaty involving America and several other nations in which all signing countries received the supplies they needed to reduce their carbon emissions. It was a very important and beneficial policy that could have alleviated the already-temporary and short-term financial implications of regulating fossil fuels by providing America with the resources it needed to accomplish that. But Bush, citing economic concerns of all things, decided to exit this vital document that could have helped us establish a greener future. However, I will admit that Bush had a couple achievements, which is why he isn't lower on my list. For instance, he signed the Unborn Victims Act, which punishes people who murder pregnant women both for the deaths of the woman and the fetus. He also initiated PEPFAR or "the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief", which has fought the spread of AIDS across the globe and especially in Africa. Millions of lives have been saved by the program.

However, these accomplishments cannot make up for all of Bush's faults. At home, he ignored New Orleans' suffering during Hurricane Katrina and left impoverished schools to flounder in permanent scarcity, deprivation, and loss. He betrayed America's children so he could place his name on a sheet of paper entitled "No Child Left Behind" in a sick irony. He caused the national debt to explode and infringed on the human and Constitutional rights of the American people. Abroad, he forced America to fight two pointless wars all at once and tortured innocent people in dirty prisons sinking miles below international and legal standards.