Chess

I realize it's waaay too much to even ask this President anything about chess.. But this is where our commander in chief doesn't have a clue that when you do something - there are repercussions for what you've just done.. Cause and effect... Causality..

And that's something Bush hasn't had to account for too much.. Because anytime he's made a decision about Iraq -- there's been no one to really tell him what the repercussions are.. He has been incredibly spoiled in that regard, but it's apparent that luck is going to give way to his legacy..

IRAQ: The Shia problem.. Yep - he got his boy Saddam out of power - but not one conservative out there has the foresight to understand the Shia problem or have any idea or concept how to resolve it.. Iran is predominantly Shia.. Iraq has a very healthy Shia population.. As things continue to develop between Iran and the rest of the world (who, by the way has a major backer in Russia on their side whom we'll talk about here in just a few) who does Bush think Iraq is going to support when the Iran issue explodes??

And therein lies Bush's first cause and effect problem: the moment he took Saddam out, he immediately destabilized an incredibly complicated and fragile balance of power in the region.. Saddam -- as big as his bark has been -- had nothing.. Why?? Because Saddam had to do what he could to keep Iran at bay.. That's why he fought with the weapons inspectors, that's why he made it seem like he was really a bad dude because otherwise - he had no protection if Iran started pouring their shared border..

Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Syria -- all have interests not to see an expanding Iran.. So - once again: what does Bush think Iraq is going to do when Iran becomes center stage?? We're going to see a true "test" of our alliance with the newly established Iraqi government.. We don't have to look very far - because Iraqi people don't want to see Americans there anymore than they have to.. The whole "hundred year lease" debacle is evidence of that.. It's not unrealistic to expect that at *best* our Iraqi "allies" are going to forbid us access within the borders of their country.. At *worst* they'll take up sides with the Iranians and thumb their collective noses at us..

You don't think that's realistic?? It very much is and that's why Bush and McCain have such a failed view of how the rest of the world operates.. This is why they're playing checkers when they should be playing chess..

RUSSIA

The latest Russian incursion into Georgia is another failed Bush agenda.. Putin made it clear that under no uncertain terms was he happy with the agreement the United States made for the missile defense shield that is right in their backyard.. There was no negotiation, no discussion, we just did it because this administration has a habit of doing things and fail to see the causality of their actions..

Am I suggesting a correlation between the two?? Yes I am.. Because if you remember the justification for the missile shield in the first place -- it wasn't directed at Russia -- oh no -- it was meant for "the other guys.." Never mind the fact that if Russia had done the same thing in Cuba -- you'd expect the same knee jerk reaction by this administration if it was somehow going to affect our sovereignty..

Again - Bush is playing foreign policy using checkers when there's a very clear cause and effect going on as one would expect if they were playing chess..

OTHER ISSUES:

North Korea -- threatened them and eventually relented the moment we discovered that the North Koreans were more interested in maintaining the agreement they had under Clinton -- which brought food into their country -- than being completely disrespected by this administration .... only to arrive back at the place where they wanted to be in the first place..

India -- giving them the nuclear bomb -- then a good deal of our tech jobs by encouraging our companies to relocate their businesses over there ... yeah ... that worked out really well for us.. Pakistan didn't like us that much when we marched into Afghanistan to find Bin Laden ... but they were REALLY unhappy with us when we gave India the bomb.. But once again, this administration doesn't have any foresight muscle in their brains to figure out that they've contributed so much to the decay and destabilization of the region..

So -- let's pull this together.. Instead of planning your strategy 10 moves ahead like chess players do ... we have a foreign policy that is predominantly guided by the checkers mentality of "action, reaction.." That's deeply troubling in a world where we're not going to be the powerhouse we have been.. In fact, many suggest that with the Olympics going on right now, this is China's way of saying: "we're right behind you..."

And the scary thing is: they are..

So instead of leading the league of nations that look to us as a major superpower, we floundered and squandered incredible opportunities that would've kept us ahead for years to come.. In the whole host of issues we face as a nation -- our handling of our world relations is even more important now that we have to correct the wrong doings of this administration..

Exactly how many free passes does this man get??