Bush-Cheney legacy: Will they be remembered as protectors of the US against terrorism or the spy administration?

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by Melody Bish

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George H.W. Bush and Richard Cheney assumed the presidency and vice presidency, respectively, in January of 2000. Throughout the first year of the Bush/Cheney Administration, issues such as the role of religion in government and improving the nation's economy, as well as its pre-college education system, made the loudest news from the fledgling administration.

Foreign policy was not a high priority, initially, as per Bush's campaign pledge to a US Foreign Policy wherein the US would not participate in "nationbuilding."

Any initiatives Bush might have prioritized changed on September 11, 2001, when the United States was attacked via members of Al Queda gaining control of planes and smashing them into both New York City's World Trade Center Complex and Washington DC's Pentagon. A third plane was taken down in Pennsylvania and thought to be intended for an attack on the White House or Capitol Building.

The loss of life on American soil was the first substantial such loss in well over one hundred fifty years during the Civil War. President Bush vowed to exact vengeance on those who attacked America, calling for a War on Terrorism.

While providing the UN Security Council "proof" that weapons of mass destruction were being built and stored in Sadam Hussein's Iraq, Bush also pressed for passage of the Patriot Act, which essentially permitted the federal government to wire tap and spy on persons within the US deemed potential threats to the nation's security.

Indeed, questioning the Administration and its policies was termed un-Patriotic, given government actions were deemed to be proper protections of the US from another attack.

Eventually, the United Nations approved a "Multi-National" Force to inspect suspected areas housing weapons of mass destruction in Iraq; an action Iraq's Leader, Saddam Hussein, refused to allow. As the Bush/Cheney Administration warned Hussein of potential attacks if he did not permit inspection of sites of potential concern in Iraq, Hussein's Royal Guard and militia began preparing for a jihad (Holy War).

From the September 11 attacks through the end of the Bush/Cheney Administration, foreign affairs held the most prominent place in the Administration's policies and the Patriot Act was utilized at will by the FBI.

Utilization of US Troops overseas and internal wiretapping and spying were synonymous with the Administration, who claimed their actions were intended to protect the nation from further 9/11 type attacks.

Initially, Americans rallied around the President but as September 11 became more of a memory and the US remained at war with Iraq, Bush/Cheney's approval ratings sank to some of the lowest numbers ever for a sitting president.

Bush's position never waivered; he committed troops to proactively protect America from the danger provided by weapons of mass destruction and initiated the provisions of the Patriot Act to battle domestic terrorism, given the 9/11 pilots had spent time in America on student visas and even took flying classes.

In reality, no weapons of mass destruction have ever been located in Iraq; Al Quada leaders continue to hide in the Middle East and there were no findings of domestic terrorism despite the intrusions into the private life of various Americans.

Given Bush did nothing grand to defeat terrorism, as the world still faces terroristic acts from various regimes and there have been no findings of internal terrorists planning further harm to the nation, the Bush/Cheney Administration is doomed to a role history will reference as a period of paranoia and internal spying - the likes of which the US never knew prior to this Administration.

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