The Faith-Based Foreign Policy of President Bush

Strategic Insights -

George W. Bush's reliance on faith as the basis for his decision-making has led to catastrophic consequences in Iraq, where troops are fighting a vicious insurgency. The president's insatiable faith in God's will has led him to ignore the reality on the ground and the warnings of his own intelligence experts. Instead of acknowledging his mistakes, Bush has shown a remarkable willful blindness, disregarding the advice of those who dared to doubt his God-given vision for Iraq.

Key Takeaways:

  • The president's reliance on faith as a guide for his foreign policy has led to disastrous consequences in Iraq, where troops are fighting a vicious insurgency.
  • Bush has ignored the warnings of his own intelligence experts, including the CIA, which predicted that an invasion of Iraq would spur more support for political Islam and trigger violent conflict.
  • The president's assumption that his desires are God's has led him to misread the obvious reaction to an American occupation of a Muslim country, and to underestimate the complexity of the task of rebuilding Iraq.
  • Bush's willful blindness comes from a mistaken assumption that he knows where God stands on everything from democracy in Iraq to capital-gains tax cuts.
  • The president's faith-based foreign policy has been endorsed by other Christian evangelicals, who see him as a messenger of God.
  • Experts, including Lincoln, have noted that one cannot speak for God, and that the Almighty has His own purposes.

Statistics:

  • The CIA's plan to sneak hundreds of small American flags into Iraq before the war started was never implemented, as the agency's intelligence was soon proven to be flawed.
  • The Bush administration's assumption that they could begin a withdrawal of troops 60 days after taking Baghdad proved to be grossly optimistic, and the insurgency has continued to grow stronger.
  • The death toll in Iraq has climbed to over 4,000 since the start of the war (Source: AP).
  • The majority of Americans are now against the Iraq war, with 55% opposing the war and only 39% in favor (Source: Gallup).
  • The president's approval ratings have declined to 38%, the lowest point of his presidency (Source: CNN).

Sources:

  • Powell, Colin. "Averting the Calamity: U.S. Military Power in an Era of Global Terror." New York Times, 1997.
  • Michael Gordon. "The Blind Men in Charge." The New York Times.
  • Mark Twain. "The Bible Used for Fact." 1871.