Bush doesn't want to win this war very badly. Here's proof.

You may think this title is crazy.  You may think you're about to hear some kind of half-baked conspiracy theory.  But no - I'm not into those.  This is a simple conclusion based on the totality of Bush's actions.  And it's not even one that I came up with on my own. 



Actually, E.J. Dionne Jr. did -- and once you read this article, even the most ardent Bush backer will have trouble explaining why our president is doing this.  Essentially, the author concludes that the Iraq War isn't Bush's highest priority.  Saving tax cuts, and advancing more of them, seems to be his highest priority. 



Let's say for the sake of argument that invading Iraq when we did was the right thing to do...yes, I realize that statement alone inspires incredulous guffaws from 70% of U.S. residents at this point.  Just indulge me for a moment, and think about it: our military is strained right now.  Bush has decided to send 20,000 more troops to Iraq, far fewer than what is needed acccording to most bipartisan experts - mainly because we don't have any more troops to spare.  He has told us that the battle will be tough, and that we all all need to sacrifice to defeat the enemy. 



Yet he refuses to raise taxes on anyone, and continues to advance further tax cuts - particularly for the wealthy.  How does that make any sense?  I thought we all had to sacrifice...right?  Yet Bush angrily shoots down any notion of asking the wealthiest Americans to pony up some cash to build up the military.  Clinton gutted defense spending; fine.  In so doing, he balanced the budget - but left behind a military force ill-equipped for taking on a conflict like this.  So in order to effectively fight this war, woudln't you have to raise taxes to increase the size of the armed forces, as well as to make sure they were properly-equipped?



You can't win a war at this level without dramatic shifts in military spending -- and you can't pay for such a change while maintaining key government services unless you increase taxes.  There's no way to give Bush credit for creative accounting and financial management, either: the war is the biggest reason why we have a deficit and debt spiraling to new record highs.  



One of the most key principles of most Republicans I know is that of personal responsibility.  If you owe someone money, you pay them.  If you borrow money, you pay it back.  If you want to buy something, you make sure you earn enough money to afford it.  In his execution of the war and his handling of the federal government budget, W has completely failed in all these areas. 



He is financially irresponsible.  He is spending money we don't have, and refuses to take all measures necessary to earn enough money to afford his actions.  He lobbies for new bankruptcy laws that are more friendly to creditors in pursuing broke individuals; at the same time, he continues to accumulate billions of dollars in government debt that he won't even be around to help pay.  Since I don't believe that Bush is a complete idiot, there is only one reasonable conclusion left to draw. 



He obviously wants to win politically at home even more than he wants to win militarily overseas.  To put it another way, he would rather cut taxes and look tough than catch Osama bin Laden and defeat the insurgents in Iraq.  We are willing to do what is necessary to win.  Our president, apparently, is not. 

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