Bush- He started the war in 2003. At first the war when the war was started it was supported, but when there were no WMD found it lost support. Abu Ghraib incident also caused popularity loss. Bush was accused of not having an exit stategy from the war. His goal was to establish a democratic government over there. More troops were sent in 2007 to bring down the violence, which worked. Towards 2008 he began to bring bacik troops. In his inaguration it was hard for him because it was a close election and people thought he shouldn't be president. Dick Chaney was his running mate. He talked about how he drove his mother to the hospital when he was young when she had a miscarriage. He was also a heavy drinker, but quit completely at age 40. During the 9/11 attack he was at a florida school reading to children to promote education. He was told by his secretary that a second plane had hit and that America was under attack. He wanted to show that he was calm because if he wasn't calm america wasn't. They first flew to Louisiana, then to a bunker, and then back to D.C. at night. He ordered that any plane that did not respond to commands to land would be shot down by U.S. military. He said that he is a person that believes in justice and not revenge. A few days after the attack there was thought to be a gas released in the White House that if inhaled could be lethal. this was later found to be false. He had only three people waterboarded, but it was done to them many times. It worked to help find information on the attacks. There were rumors that the Vice President was the one making the decisons along with a secretary. Bush says though that he was always the one making the decisions. He says that the fact that they did not find WMD in Iraq made him sick to his stomach, but he still would have gone to Iraq had he known because they freed many people. Bush called the Abu Ghraib prison incedent was a stain to the image of the U.S. military. Donald Rumsfeld was the secretary of defense when this happend and he wanted to resign. When Bush had more troops sent to Iraq it worked in bringing the violence down. When president Bush told a worker good job for the work he was doing in New Orleans, he was criticized for being detached from the situation. Bush could not send in troops to help after Katrina because the govenor was not requesting it. Otherwise he would have to declare it an insurrection. Bush says that the most disgusting part of his presidencty was when Kanye West said he did not care about black people. Bush said that this is very far from the truth. The average American didn't like it when he bailed out the banks, because he had to use the tax money. He said it was neccessary for the whole economy not to crash. Alot of people thought that it was actually president Obama who called for the bailout. Bush said that he never wanted to be a critic of Obama because he already has enough critics to worry about. He also wants to get back to having a more normal life.
We discussed how there is confusion and indecision still in the Trayvon Martin case, where neighborhood watchman Zimmerman shot and killed Trayvon Martin in "self defense."
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