re: #45 The War TARDIS

He didn’t destabilize Libya, but he destabilized the Mashriq region by toppling Saddam. Granted, Iraq was always going to collapse, but he did hasten it un-necessarily, but this was compounded by blunders such as an overly strict De-Baathification that left many Sunnis without jobs, and a continued support of al-Maliki, and his persecution of Sunnis.

This also distracted from Afghanistan, a war that could have been winnable. Afghanistan has existed as a distinct entity since before the Colonial era, unlike Pakistan or Iraq. Granted, Bush failed there too. He set up a by-the-book Unitary Republic, with relatively weak provinces. Considering the parallels historically between Switzerland and Afghanistan, it should have been set up as a Federal Directorial Republic, with multiple Presidents and strong provinces. That is the best way the multi-ethnic, multi-lingual nation of Afghanistan should work.

The removal of the Hussein dynasty in Iraq was always going to be ugly, though I agree the Bush administration made some greivious mistakes (the bad way De-Baathification was carried out indeed being one of them).