‘ ‘ ‘ It is hard for me to begin a column recapping all of the events that have transpired over… ‘ ‘ ‘ It is hard for me to begin a column recapping all of the events that have transpired over the past eight years under President George W. Bush’s leadership. From the Patriot and No Child Left Behind acts to the subprime mortgage crisis, ineffective and occasionally detrimental events and legislation have marred the Bush administration. With the 2008 presidential election less than two weeks away, the unparalleled significance of the contest should serve as atestimony to the horrendous administration of the 43rd president of the United States. ‘ ‘ ‘ At the epicenter of all of the incredible injustices that the Bush administration has committed over the past eight years is the decision to take military action in Iraq. ‘ ‘ ‘ Following the Sept. 11 attacks, I, like much of the rest of the country, was in shock and wanted to seek revenge against the perpetrators of such monstrous crimes. Yet seven years later, with the events of Sept. 11 still fresh in the minds of so many Americans, the United States is engaged in a war built not upon the terroristic acts committed against this nation, but on false pretenses and forged documents. ‘ ‘ ‘ Moreover, rather than making substantial progress on the war on terror, Bush launched an immoral and preemptive war of aggression against a nation that posed no immediate threat to the security of the United States and was not connected with the events of Sept. 11. Ultimately, Bush exploited the Sept. 11 attacks as an opportunity to justify a preemptive military engagement in Iraq. ‘ ‘ ‘ In 2003 former U.S. Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson wrote an op-ed piece for the New York Times titled ‘What I Didn’t Find in Africa.’ Wilson questioned the Bush administration’s claim that Iraq sought uranium to produce weapons of mass destruction, which was one of the main reasons for the United States’ initial engagement in Iraq. Later that year in a Washington Post column by Robert Novak, the identity of Wilson’s wife, undercover CIA operative Valerie Plame, was revealed.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ Karl Rove was one of Bush’s most important advisers and is often regarded as the architect of not only many of Bush’s policies and legislations, but also of the Iraq war. He was also one of the original sources for the newspaper column. Additionally, Scooter Libby, who served as Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, also spoke to reporters about Plame’s identity and was later convicted of obstruction of justice and perjury. ‘ ‘ ‘ Although Bush himself did not directly disclose the name of Wilson’s wife, his administration fostered a culture of lying and deceit not only through its continued use of misleading reasons for the Iraq war, but also through deliberately discrediting a critic of the administration. ‘ ‘ ‘ The Bush administration only perpetuated Washington’s culture of partisanship, deceit and dishonesty, which has marred American politics since the Nixon administration. Where is the democratic integrity in refuting an objection to the policies of the government ‘- something that is afforded to the American people in the Constitution ‘- by illegally disclosing the name of the objector’s CIA-operative wife? Where is the integrity in denouncing any objector who poses a threat to the success and approval of presidential legislation or, more specifically, a war founded on false pretenses? ‘ ‘ ‘ Throughout Bush’s administration, both Dick Cheney and Karl Rove spearheaded critical foreign and domestic policy initiatives, specifically the Iraq war. Rove particularly was the mastermind behind the Bush administration’s combative and secretive nature. Bush has redefined the significance that the vice president and key policy advisers play in governing the United States, to the level that the president often relied first on the advice of Cheney and Rove prior to promoting any new legislation. ‘ ‘ ‘ Even in the wake of the current economic crisis, rather than strongly engaging the situation during the earliest days of the crisis himself, Bush yet again relegated the role of chief executor to another: Treasury secretary Henry M. Paulson. ‘ ‘ ‘ Prior to becoming president, Bush served as the governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000. He was celebrated for being a bipartisan leader with a 70 percent approval rating at the end of his tenure. Rather than continuing his effective bipartisan leadership that he demonstrated during his time as governor, Bush is leaving the United States not only financially destitute and engaged in a seemingly endless, unnecessary war, but also even more divided along social, political and economic lines. E-mail Shane at [email protected].