The Bush Doctrine refers to various related foreign policy
principles of the 43rd President of the United States, George W.
Bush. These principles include unilateralism and the use of
preventative war.
The Bush Doctrine downgrades containment and deterrence in
favor of pre-emption. This is the idea that in a world of terrorist
organizations, dangerous regimes, and weapons of mass destruction,
the United States may need to attack first. "We cannot let our
enemies strike first," the National Security Strategy document
warns.
The Bush Doctrine identifies methods to achieve its aims such
as establishing new military bases in the world, developing defense
technology, and expanding intelligence gathering. Diplomacy also
has a role to play, especially in the "battle for the future of the
Muslim world."
Invading Iraq under mistaken pretenses, mismanaging the
occupation, we must bear the responsibility and we are struggling
to manage the ensuing consequences. An observer of our military
actions over the last two decades in the Middle East could in no
way have predicted the splintered, irrational,
“Turn-Your-Back-And-You-Have-Two-New-Enemies”, scenario the US
faces today.
The US does not leave the Middle East after rescuing Kuwait,
but rather, stays in peripheral countries militarily “To Protect
Our Interests” with an imperialist attitude resented by cultures
that have an ingrained,religious hatred for that type of presence
by foreigners.
The rise of Bin Laden and many more like him today and the
deaths of 3,000 Americans on our soil, attacked in our homeland
because we did not leave the Middle East.
Failure to build anything substantial in the form of a nation
over an 11 year period. The deaths or crippling of our finest
soldiers, dramatic increases in our national debt and a cynicism
among our citizens with respect to the $Billions that have gone
into the pockets of corporations supporting our huge Military
Industrial Complex (MIC) and wasteful USAID Programs by companies
that spend more lobbying Congress than they pay in taxes.