Tom Austin: Don’t blame Bush

The Dec. 2 letter “Use caution in the Middle East” once again blames President Bush’s invasion of Iraq as the reason for the problem we face today. One can certainly be critical of the invasion that Hillary Clinton also supported, but it is such a tired argument that it is the reason for today’s problems.

When Bush left office, he warned against taking out all our troops as did many military leaders as it would create a vacuum for more terror groups. That is exactly what happened with the growth of ISIS, which President Obama said was like a JV team. Obama endorsed the corrupt Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and the overthrow of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, which resulted in a very unstable Egypt. He endorsed the overthrow of Moammar Gadhafi in Libya without a successor plan in place. As a result, Libya is a much more dangerous place.

Obama draws a red line in the sand with Syria and does nothing when it uses chemical weapons. Now Russia and Iran are much stronger in the region, and the embargo is being lifted on Iran.

Not good and not Bush’s fault!

This story was originally published December 3, 2015 at 5:55 PM with the headline "Tom Austin: Don’t blame Bush."