Change!… Bush Restored the Iraqi Marshes – Obama Destroyed the US Marshes
Posted by Jim Hoft on Thursday, June 3, 2010, 5:23 AM
It could be argued that President George W. Bush was the greatest environmental president in the last 100 years. During the Bush years air pollution levels in every category fell from 2001 to 2007.
But, that’s not all…
One of the most significant environmental tragedies of the late 20th Century was the destruction of the Mesopotamian Marshes by Saddam Hussein. The Iraqi marshes were the largest wetland ecosystem of Western Eurasia. The genocidal dictator drained thousands of miles of southern Iraqi marshland after the 1991 War and slaughtered the Marsh Arabs who lived there. But after Iraq was liberated from their brutal tyrant the US restored the region. George W. Bush resurrected the marshes. In early 2003, less than 10% of the Mesopotamian Marshlands remained. By early 2004, 40% of the marshlands had been re-flooded. Since the liberation of Iraq the marshes have been restored to over 85% of their former glory.
A photogragh in 1977 of the marshlands before Saddam drained the land of water. (Nik Wheeler)
George W. Bush brought life back to the Iraqi marshes.
Contrast this resurrection story to what we are witnessing today.
40 plus days ago, a BP rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico killing 11 workers. Since that time the underwater well has been spewing over 798,000 gallons of oil into the waters off the Gulf coast each day. And, where has Barack Obama been during this time? On vacation, playing golf and basketball, partying with rock stars and threatening BP. Instead of initiating a proactive approach to the disaster, Team Obama has ignored, downplayed, and passed the buck on the worst environmental disaster in American history. If you taught Leadership 101 this would be a great example of Exactly NOT what to do.
Crude oil has already been reported along barrier islands in Alabama and Mississippi, and has impacted about 125 miles of Louisiana coastline. Today the oil slick is expected to reach the pristine white sand beaches of Pensacola Beach, Florida. How sad.
Bush restored the Iraqi marshes. Obama destroyed the US marshes.
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Published February 22, 2012 at 4:19 pm - 32 Comments
Opus #6 commented:
Note to Obama: Whining and blaming is not a leadership strategy.
patman commented:
Blame Bush. Er…. Yeah. Blame Bush.
listingstarboard commented:
Bush also accomplished tremendous strides in malaria prevention in Africa, Obama promptly cut the funding. I have never understood why Republicans don’t defend Bush and trumpet his many successes LOUDLY. It is the reluctance of Republicans to be politically incorrect that hogties their efforts. BE LOUD AND GOP PROUD.
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Militant Conservative commented:
A new breed of Republican is coming folks. My breed. WE don’t sit down and shut up. WE don’t back down nor slink away when RACIST is yelled. We stand our ground and ask the vermin to prove their statement. WE dominate the TPM and are feared. This is the Tsunami that is comin in November. The left will get more vocal and more strident, this just helps the TPM.
powder is dry. The dogs bark but the caravan moves on.
Colo Kid commented:
The human side of the oil-spill disaster is beyond huge in the entire Gulf Coastal bend; Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. The coasts of Louisiana and Mississippi and Alabama are now oil soaked. Now the sugar white, pristine beaches from Pensacola to Ft. Walton Beach to Destin to Panama City and eastward are to be destroyed by human incompetence. Someone rightly mentioned the Intercoastal Waterway in the tragedy. Don’t you know, Obama only destroys; our beautiful nation and its beautiful beaches, too.
Bill commented:
This is an Obama Disaster. Bush dealt with a “Natural Disaster” in Katrina and left a clean plate for Obama off the coast of LA. Dolphins frolicked in the waves of LA, baby shrimp lived happily with their families, pelicans enjoyed the warmth of the gulf waters on their feathers.
But Obama is dealing with a “Man-Caused Disaster.” As king, he is responsible. Dolphins are dying, baby shrimp are suffocating, and birds no longer fly because of the weight of the oil on their wings.
Big L commented:
they are stradling the issue. sort of working to cap it so they sustructure can be saved. Heck blow it up with the MOAB-Monthe ofall bombs. That is what Red Adair did. He’d blow the well and snuff out the fire. It is not so much different. (Yes I know Red was removing the oxygen)
bg commented:
++
having been so involved with Iraq, that was the first thing i thought of.. to be reading my thoughts in a headline is nothing new, but this is one i truly wasn’t looking forward too.. *sigh*
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Ken commented:
As a resident of the state of Louisiana I can attest to the facts that during Katrina, we had a Democrapic Gov (Kathleen “Blanko”) resisting Federal assistance from Republican President Bush, and now we have a Republican Gov (Jindal) begging for Federal assistance and a Democrapic President Obama resisting.
Is it just me or is there a pattern here?
Now the idiot wants to come back to the state for another photo op.
NOTE TO OBAMA:
We need action and results, NOT PHOTO OPS STUPID!!!!
T. O'Connor commented:
As a self-identified environmentalist (or perhaps “conservationist” is a better term), I was living in Europe during the run-up to Operation Iraqi Freedom. I had been doing some conservation work concerning the corn crake, a threatened European rail. Currently I am studying rails in the US.
In February of 2003 I approached the Greenpeace offices in London. Greenpeace UK had been devoting huge amounts of resources and committing spectacular “actions” on behalf of their single-minded anti-war campaign.
“What are you doing?,” I asked. Don’t you know that the Mesopotamian marshes are nearly destroyed, yet were once one of the prime wintering grounds for millions of wetland- and shorebirds, especially the corn crake?
Couldn’t they guess that the US Army Corps of Engineers was already hard at work on plans to restore these marshes that were once more vast than the original Everglades?
They didn’t know what in the world I was talking about, and with all of their hearts they didn’t want to know. All they wanted was to see the back of me!
Fellow conservatives, please help me win back the “conservationist” ethic. I have the same message as I did for folks at Greenpeace: learn the history, I mean before it was commandeered.
Robert commented:
The administration is floundering. Oil creeps upon us, the national debt soars, enemies emboldened, allies chastened.
National health care is already behind schedule and over budget. Obama can only point fingers and blame others, and revert to enacting his socialist agenda.
john commented:
T. O’Connor
June 3rd, 2010 | 8:50 am | #12
You bring up an excellent point. Unfortunately, socialists have hijacked the environment for their own political ends. They don’t care about it really, unless it scores political points. This became clear to me seeing the massive number of beach closures in California due to raw sewage “spills.” Seems the green enviro liberal nuts don’t care about real pollution unless there is a political agenda behind it. As for Obama, he can talk all he wants but he is responsible for this mess. BP has every motivation to stop and collect the oil spilling in the gulf. It is their source of revenue. They gain nothing from the spill. Obama on the other hand, is doing everything to prolong the mess. Golfing, vacationing, photo ops showing how much he cares, threatening criminal charges, etc, all serve to distract from efforts to clean up.
aprilnovember811 commented:
Did they mention this on the old media? No, I didn’t think so. After eight years of the old media, chanting, “booooosh, boooosh, evil boooosh,” very ignorant people did this to this country. They voted in a perceived “African American,” to try to appear noble. They voted for destruction. I want to cry, for what they have done to Louisiana, Florida, and the rest of this nation. Mr. environmental Obama, is indirectly(although that remains to be seen,)responsible for so much death of sea life, and economic life. I can’t look at him, it’s like looking at Saddam Hussien. It gives me that same icky, need to take a shower feeling.
Andreas K. commented:
It’s the Jews’ fault, didn’t you get the memo?
And who is voting “present” again? That’s right! Barry Boy in the White House!
Reasoner commented:
When the people expect the government to give them everything they ask for—because the politicians have promised it—they also expect the government to “fix” all the natural and man-made disasters.
But in cases such as this, the impotence of government is revealed since they can’t do anything besides tax- and spend and control people’s lives for their own political gain.
For anyone with a knowledge of history: we have become the Roman empire, and we are falling.
God save the USA, the last, best chance for human dignity and freedom against the tyrannies of the oligarchs.
T. O\\\'Connor commented:
John (at 9:40), the radical environmentalists are often as profoundly caring as all of the great humanitarians at the UN, or off of the Gaza coast, etc.
What approaches the realm of tragedy in my view is that the most extreme practitioners still do not represent the continuing main thrust of the American conservation movement.
The highly-charged polemic nature of the subject is increasingly defined by the furthest (ignorant) wings of each persuasion, Left and Right. I mean, when they are ignorant.
Meanwhile, I’m still birding with conservatives who don’t know how to phrase the topic or its American history into necessary sound-bytes. Hunters are still heading out each fall and winter, tongue-tied not only about how to defend, but more importantly to promote their heritage. It’s no different with all of the subtlest things we hold dear; even the language to promote participation in – and thus the perpetuation of – the Republic has been stripped away.
The subject of conservationism, which rightfully belongs to the Right as much as anyone else (think mid-century), has by now fused with other reversals of possession, such as civil rights.
Who in 1950 would have thought that civil rights would come to be identified with the Democrats?
We lose issues because we’re not intelligent about our own history. We don’t know how to defend our own subtlety.
And when Progressives get a hold of a thing, the spirit of it is usually thereby dead, as far as I’m concerned.
Screw it. I’m going back to my birds.
bg commented:
++
listingstarboard @ 7:44 am #3
they stayed too long, they lost sight of the fact that “we the people” employ them, they eventually decided they know what’s best for US, they are so entrenched in their own little world of corruption.. one could easily say “it’s not what they could do for their country, but what they’re doing for themselves.. turning Kennedy’s simple yet profound words on their head..
it’s also obvious “we the people” abdicated our
rule over them to them having rule over US..
we need a fresh start, if anyone believes things will change via keeping the same old change keepers in place hoping this will be the turning point, then they’ve missed what’s been taking place for the past few decades at the very least..
as far as Bush goes, love him or hate him, the man was like a lone salmon swimming upstream against not only his enemies, but his friends as well, and i for one am surprised he did as well as he did considering what he was up against.. i also firmly believe he threw a huge monkey wrench into their take-over plans via going into Iraq (where they were dead set on taking US before Bush came along anyways, but alas, i digress), hence, the urgent steamrolling of Obama policies through what is clearly an IMPEACHABLE presidency if they had the backbone to enforce our laws (that goes for both parties)..
at any rate..
the thing i admired most about Bush was
his unconditional faith in “we the people”..
God Bless George Walker Bush ~ The Last AMERICAN President..
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T. O'Connor commented:
And let’s not forget President Bush’s 140,000 square mile Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, among the largest marine reserves in the world.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papahānaumokuākea_Marine_National_Monument
James commented:
obama couldn’t carry President George W. Bush’s jock strap. God bless you President George W. Bush, the greatest president in american history.
francis commented:
Stupid liberals, blaming Bush for everything. Blame Bush idiots. How can they blame Bush, when Obama is the proximate cause of the world’s evil, and oh yeah, a LIBERAL?
How can liberals blame Bush when they are the devil?
George Bush created Heaven and Earth, while Barack Devil Obama’s sulphurous farts destroy entire ecosystems every second. Stupid liberals.
Rick commented:
LOL Even though some people don’t have very much education or an ability to think for themselves…president Barack Hussein Obama STILL cares more about them than former president George W. Bush ever will. Sad? Yes. True? Yes.