ISIS was formed due to gross stupidity of Bush and his neo-cons. Don’t believe Trump’s lie (see FactCheck.org and Politifact). It wasn’t just a horrible turn of events. It was due to a lack of thinking.
Bush disbanding the Iraq military was crazy
I was reading this article in the Washington Post about how the power behind ISIS is mainly the Baathists who were thrown out of the army after Bush invaded Iraq to depose Saddam Hussein.
The de-Baathification law promulgated by L. Paul Bremer, Iraq’s American ruler in 2003, has long been identified as one of the contributors to the original insurgency. At a stroke, 400,000 members of the defeated Iraqi army were barred from government employment, denied pensions — and also allowed to keep their guns.
I remember having the thought, in 2003 when the army was disbanded, “What are all those ex-military people going to do?” But my wife was more clear-eyed. She likes to read about history. She knew the Sunnis had been suppressing the Shiites. She blurted out, “That’s crazy!”
“Being stupid” is under-thinking, not being cautious
Another quote from the article:
He cited the case of a close friend, a former intelligence officer in Baghdad who was fired in 2003 and struggled for many years to make a living… If someone had given him a job and a salary, he wouldn’t have joined the Islamic State. … There are hundreds, thousands like him.
Republicans accuse Obama of being too cautious, over-thinking. But it was precisely under-thinking, the lack of caution, that created this huge, multi-trillion dollar mess. It was lazy right/wrong thinking. It was believing a simplistic thought like, “Our army is the best. We’ll just beat them and win!”
Bush’s decision to disband the Iraq army was not the result of thinking. Maybe you could call it, having thoughts. Or maybe, confident guessing. It’s not thinking.
Politics requires thinking, and caution
Acting without caution is stupidity. Unlike everyday stupidity, political stupidity can have huge, long-lasting, detrimental effects. Effects like the continuing threat of ISIS and the continued US involvement in the Middle East are two examples. But political stupidity can affect us in ways that aren’t as obvious.
Political stupidity manifests when pundits choose controversial opinions just to drive ratings. Like Fox News’ decision to demonize the Clintons and Obama at every turn.
Political stupidity rears its ugly head when candidates offer sound bites over truth, like the Trump lie about Obama and Hillary starting ISIS.
Stupidity comes from emotional reactions
When voters celebrate a candidate like Trump who’s different but not qualified, that’s a form of stupidity. The emotional decisions of Trump’s followers don’t involve thinking. They’re grounded in instinct and emotion bred from years of Republican lies against “liberals”. This was leveraged by the Bush campaigns 16 and 12 years ago, and is now usurped by Trump. We can’t afford to have our leaders chosen by people who ground decisions in instinct and emotion.
And Republicans in Congress have been stupid to let problems fester instead of developing real solutions to problems. The Republicans had plenty of time to propose ways of lowering spending or changing Obamacare. They could have worked with the Democrats to make it happen. Instead of thinking, they assumed the best they could do was to let the debt balloon and Obamacare remain intact while they simply blamed these on Democrats.
But they didn’t underestimate Republican voters. Most believed the rhetoric. They continue to support their representatives fighting others in Congress instead of working together.
Caution is good
Obama is a cautious leader. But his caution is an indication of his thought process. It’s a thought process that led to successful navigation of the huge economic collapse Bush left us with. And under his leadership, America increased tolerance and rights for our LGBT citizens, positive job growth, lessening our Middle East troop levels and more access to health care. He did not play every part of his presidency perfectly. For instance, he’s made no headway in lessening divisiveness in politics or even in thinking outside-the-box about it. And I think the TPP is a huge mistake. But he has done pretty well.
We need more politicians who can really think. We need wise leaders, not “deciders.” We need a leader with experience and not ones that lack even basic management skills. It’s the only way we’ll find good solutions. We need more progress and less stupid decisions.