When pundits are asked to name the best Presidents of the 20th Century
Harry S. Truman's name always comes up. That is interesting because when
he left office 56 years ago he had lower approval ratings than George W.
Bush now has. Because he served only the unexpired term of President
Franklin D. Roosevelt, Truman was eligible to run for a full term. His
own party told him, "Don't even think of it." He and incoming President
Dwight D. Eisenhower didn't like each other. Compared with today's
cordiality between President Bush and President-elect Barack H. Obama
that transition was worse than a cold shower.
How will history judge Bush? Many of us won't be alive when the first
verdict is in. He has made his share of mistakes but one issue for which
most of the public blames Bush derives from the belief that Iraq did not
have weapons of mass destruction. Retired Army Major General Jerry R.
Curry, in spite of his exceptional achievements, military and academic,
in his retirement has become partisan and, hence, controversial in some
circles. However, his credibility seems strong.
General Curry has said on that matter history will judge differently
because US operatives found a large stockpile of concentrated natural
uranium (550 tons) in the heart of Bagdad. This is known as "yellowcake"
and is evidence that Saddam Hussein had a nuclear program designed to
make weapons of mass destruction. US operatives had to sit on the
information lest terrorists found out about it and tried to acquire the
uranium. Ambassador Joseph Wilson denied Bush's claim that Hussein
wanted to buy "yellowcake" from Niger. Wilson had been told otherwise by
a former Prime Minister of Niger, Assane Mayaki. Wilson did not give the
report any credibility and insisted that there was no evidence that Iraq
wanted to purchase yellowcake. British intelligence insisted Iraq did
not seek yellowcake from Niger. Bush chose to ignore Wilson and cited
British intelligence on the issue, and Wilson and his CIA wife, Valerie
Plame, who sent him to Niger, were outraged. The media picked up on this
story and Bush has paid dearly ever since. Bush could have had the last
laugh with his critics when the yellowcake was discovered. Instead he
has not said a word while the yellowcake was extracted from Iraq and
passed through two continents before it safely reached Canada.