An Alternate 9/11 History

[cdb]

This appeared in Newsweek, and highlights what a competent leader might have done. I don't agree with every point, but it is a great perspective, IMHO.

Sept. 18, 2006 issue - Five years after 9/11, the world is surprisingly peaceful. President Bush's pragmatic and bipartisan leadership has kept the United States not just strong but unexpectedly popular across the globe. The president himself is poised to enjoy big GOP wins in the midterm elections, a validation of his subtle understanding of the challenges facing the country. A new survey of historians puts him in the first tier of American presidents.

As Bush warned, catching terrorists wasn't easy, but he kept at it. At the battle of Tora Bora, CIA operatives on the ground cabled Washington that Osama bin Laden was cornered, but they desperately needed troop support. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld immediately dispatched fresh forces, and the evildoer was killed.

--snip--

Soon Bush put the country on a Manhattan Project crash course to get off oil. He bluntly told Detroit that it was embarrassing that Chinese automakers had better fuel efficiency, he classified SUVs as cars, and he imposed a stiff gas tax with a rebate for the working poor. To pay for it, he abandoned his tax cuts for the wealthy, reminding the country that no president in history had ever cut taxes in the middle of a war. This president would be damned if he was going to put more oil money into the pockets of Middle Eastern hatemongers who had killed nearly 3,000 of our people. To dramatize the point, he drove to his 2002 State of the Union address in a hybrid car. Sales soared.

--snip--

When Karl Rove suggested that the war on terror would make a perfect wedge issue against Democrats in the 2002 midterms, Bush brought him up short. Didn't Rove understand that bipartisanship is good politics? Lincoln and FDR had both gone bipartisan during wartime, he reminded his aide. So when evidence of torture at the prison camp in Guantánamo Bay surfaced and Rumsfeld was forced to resign, former Democratic senator Sam Nunn got the job. With post-9/11 unity still at least partially intact in 2004, Bush was re-elected in a landslide.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14753927/site/newsweek/

[negativenihil]

1. sigh.

it sucks when fantasy is far better than reality...

[Aviation Pro]

2. When writers dream....

...and now back to reality. Little Monkey doesn't have the brain-power to even concieve of such an alternate universe.

[Cerridwen]

3. I grew up reading any sci-fi or fantasy book or magazine

I could get my hands on. I watched "Twilight Zone" and "Outer Limits", the original "Star Trek" and read and watched "Dark Shadows".

And I'm telling you, I could believe in any one of the things I watched or read as a kid happening far more than I can believe any of that story happening.

And that, to me, is the saddest thing of all.

:(

[louis-t]

10. Gene Roddenberry was so insightful..

I watch Star Trek TNG every night. The parallels to current events are amazing.

[Parche]

12. outer limits

GW Bush is like the 'Mutant' from Outer Limits, he is effected by his ignorance, and yet
needs screws the public who try to help the Country

[theguvnorgc]

4. Fairy Tales

Remember when we were kids....it was fun to dream about stuff..... man, I miss that.

[liberal N proud]

5. Maybe in the Real America that would happen but we are in the Twilight Zone

[LTR]

6. I was going to post this the other day

But I thought it was so ridiculous that I decided to take a pass.

What dreamworld is this guy living in? No way Rove would allow any of this.

[cdb]

8. It is ridiculous, I know

But I was moved by the sheer fantasy of it... and maybe shows that I still, naively, have hopes and dreams for the future... fuck these criminals

[Dogmudgeon]

7. Absolutely vicious, absolutely correct

"When life hands you lemons, rip up the Constitution."

Bush has blown it so badly, so much, so fully that it may never be unblown again.

Two thumbs-up for Alter. The article is subtle and very well-deserved.

--p!

[whistle]

9. When I read to that part that said the world is surprisingly peaceful

...my bullshit alarm went off and I stopped reading.

[southpaw]

11. You do realize this is a fantasy scenario, right?

Give it another look... you'll probably appreciate it.

[raccoon]

13. If only....what if....(sob). nt

[Rainbowreflect]

14. I think I hurt myself!

:rofl: :spray:

[Aviation Pro]

15. Best line in the story....

"In 2003, Vice President Cheney advised the president to take out Iraq's Saddam Hussein militarily. But Bush was beginning to understand that his veep, while sounding full of gravitas, was in fact reckless."