Since the start of the so-called global war on terror, President Bush has always tried to put a positive spin on what has been an undeniably grave situation.
From failed attempts at capturing the elusive Osama Bin Laden, to the inability to develop Iraq into a stable democratic society, the United States global war on terror has enjoyed very little success and ultimately been unsuccessful.
President Bush, however, has always maintained that our continued involvement in the region has made our world safer and has prevented Al Qaeda from strengthening and setting up areas of safe haven.
Yet as the carnage and deaths of innocent civilians continues to mount in Iraq and Afghanistan, it has become painfully evident that our actions have caused a great harm to the people in that blood-soaked region.
Despite evidence showing our involvement has had an adverse effect, it seems that President Bush has had difficulty coming to grips with exactly what it is that our global war on terror has achieved.
Since the start of the war, our involvement has supplied terrorist organizations with a battleground with which they can train fighters in and has provided them with the tool needed to tap into the vast population of potential recruits.
What we have effectively done is enter into a war with an enemy that has few prospects of ever fully being defeated or governed, due to their ideological commitments and differences.
The Bush administration’s attempt into forcing a prescribed set of democratic values has been unsuccessful and what we are experiencing now is the backlash.
The world, through six long years of war, has had to sit back and watch as attempts to stabilize Iraq and Afghanistan have failed, the security situation has deteriorated and thousands of U.S. and allied soldiers have died.
All the while terrorists have continued to develop increasingly effective means of destruction.
Successful attacks carried out in European, African, Asian, and Arab nations over the years speak to the strength and reach of such terrorist organizations.
And yet, the Bush administration carries on with statements that contradict reports released by government agencies charged with assessing the strength of Al Qaeda and the state of our national security.
The National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) has for years counted Al Qaeda as one of the biggest threats to national security.
The 2006 NIE reported U.S. forces had greatly marginalized Al Qaeda’s leadership and that the global Jihadist movement lacked a “coherent global strategy.”
The latest report released by the NIE speaks of a completely different situation. The NIE concludes that Al Qaeda has regenerated the key elements needed to conduct an attack on U.S. soil: safe haven, operational lieutenants, and its top leadership.
So it seems that just as quickly as key elements of Al Qaeda have been destroyed, they have been rebuilt.
And so carries on the story of a global war on terror, with President Bush choosing to celebrate its small successes, while overlooking its even larger failures.