Poll: Why Did Bush Refuse to Attack Iran or Allow Israel To?

[Lewinsky Stinks, Dr. Brennan Rocks]

Well, it's pretty self-explanatory. I want to know what you all think. I lean towards option 4 (the Saudi intervention one) for a few reasons:


--Bush couldn't seriously have feared the Iranian military. Give me a break. Is the entire might of the U.S. Air Force and Navy not a match for what the Persian Midget can put up? And did he care about international opinion when he started the Iraq war?

--I can't believe that this president would not consider Iran's nuclear program, and his promises to use it, to be for real. The man may have been an idiot, but he had plenty of brilliant men feeding him quality intel.

--It is possible that Bush didn't care, but come on--after nuking Israel, Ahmadinejad would certainly lock his sights on DC or Houston. He couldn't truly just blow that off.

--It is possible, and even likely, that Bush wanted to spare Iranian "civilians" from the effects of an airstrike, because we certainly see this in Iraq today, but he still went to war in Iraq (a half-donkeyed war he didn't really want to win, perhaps, but a war nonetheless), and that war has killed some Iraqi so-called "civilians", after all.

Bush's Saudi royal connections (and the whole Bush family actually) are infamous and amply documented all over the web and in print as well. It is completely feasible that this "friendship" is what tipped the balance in favor of no attack on Iran. Remember that Bush did not attack Saudi Arabia in 2001, even when it quickly became clear that that Nazi state was directly responsible for 9/11. Instead, he attacked two scapegoat Muslim Nazi countries. Sparing Iran could just be a continuation of that.



Chaimfan

[IsraelForever]

I just voted "other".  I think that he said to himself, "I'm on my way out the door.  It's not my problem now.  History may judge me harshly as it is.  Let Obama deal with it.  Chubbis en drerd, I'm outta here!"

In other words, he didn't want the responsibility on his shoulders.  You could say he "wimped" out (perhaps).  Or you could say that he was tired and couldn't deal with making such a decision.

Just my guess.

[zachor_ve_kavod]

One of the most incomprehensible decisions made by a president.  I can only attribute it to cowardice.

[Zelhar]

He wanted to leave office with the appearance that his Iraq project is not a complete failure. Had he attacked Iran, its Shiite Nazi Arabs in Iraq would have launch a new phase of total chaos and violence. So basically, for selfish egotistical reasons, Bush dodged the essence in favor of appearance.

[ag337]

I voted for other.

And my reasoning is very much the same as IsraelForever.

I think Bush had it, after all the criticism he got for the war in Iraq.
He knew he was going out of Washington on a low note.
And I don't think he was ready to handle more backlash while on his watch.

Some may reason Bush did this because he was selfish.
I don't agree.  I feel Bush had a enough and left the office a broken man.

[SW]

George W. Bush has done a lot of things. 2 wars. Iraq and Afghanistan. Should there be a 3rd?? No! The world would hate America much more with a 3rd war. I think it's now Obamas turn... he decide what is right or wrong. And it's wrong not to attack Iran. Iran is growing to a big threat.

[HiWarp]

George W. Bush has done a lot of things. 2 wars. Iraq and Afghanistan. Should there be a 3rd?? No! The world would hate America much more with a 3rd war. I think it's now Obamas turn... he decide what is right or wrong. And it's wrong not to attack Iran. Iran is growing to a big threat. Let's delete Iran

If you are waiting for Obama to attack Iran, you will have a very long wait.

[SW]

George W. Bush has done a lot of things. 2 wars. Iraq and Afghanistan. Should there be a 3rd?? No! The world would hate America much more with a 3rd war. I think it's now Obamas turn... he decide what is right or wrong. And it's wrong not to attack Iran. Iran is growing to a big threat. Let's delete Iran

If you are waiting for Obama to attack Iran, you will have a very long wait.

I know... He will never attack his "brothers".

[briann]

from what I heard... the original plan was (supposedly) to attack Afghanistan, Iraq, and Iran.   and Powell said Iran would be too difficult and expensive to include in the attack.  (This is second hand info... so don't quote me on it)

[ag337]

I have to agree with the comment made that "Obama will never attack his brothers".

Also, Obama will not do it, because he is so concerned that the image of U.S. would be tarnished.  Supposedly, image is really important to Obama and he doesn't like it that the U.S.A. is viewed as the big bad bully of the world.

Obama's other objective to build his so-called "legacy" of being the first black president would be damaged if he took decisive action against Iran.

This is going to be a very long four years, if we survive it.

[Americanhero1]

[Debbie Shafer]

Bush should have let Israel go forward in dealing with Iran's nuclear facilities.  He only delayed the inevitable that will save lives.  Another scenario not mentioned is that possibly he felt there would be a nuclear response aimed at the United States, if Israel was not able to locate all the Nuclear sites and successfully eliminate them.

[Lewinsky Stinks, Dr. Brennan Rocks]

Bush was a lame-duck president. He had absolutely nothing to lose by bombing Iran's nuke program. And I don't believe he is really that cowardly.

[✡ Hindu Zionist ॐ]

i think there were pro-arab lobbies in the US working with Bush that time. One of India's great Hindu Nationalist leader was denied a visiting visa to USA during Bush administration, just because pro-arab-pro-left human rights lobbies complained to AMerican Human rights commission by telling them Mr. Modi lead pogroms against Muslims in Indian State of Gujarat.

[SW]

May George W. Bush didn't do everything right... but I am sure he did the best!

[The One and Only Mo]

I voted other. I believe it was his all his "assistants" that told him what to do.

[Ze'ev]

I voted other.
I do not believe Bush is/was afraid of Iran.  I believe the powers that be did not want things to degrade into WWIII. 
Iran and Russia are pretty close allies.  If the USA or Israel were to attack Iran things could very possibly escalate on a global scale quite quickly.