2003 - 2011 - Bush's Iraq War. The first "preemptive" war initiated under false premises. Bush's grand lie. Bush's Debacle.
He destroyed a country over there. And he destroyed a country over here. We were all implicated in his lie and in his morally bankrupt adventure. Killed many, many people. Imprisoned people. Tortured people, humiliated people, displaced people. It was a sordid, corrupt, horribly misguided war. A war that disfigured a generation of Iraqis, and a generation of Americans too.
If America is teetering, and I think it is, Bush and his War are major reasons why. It cost money and lives and a reputation. It cost a belief in ourselves. We saw America's lie. We saw America wallow in the filth, we saw America torture, we saw America debase itself. We saw America fall from any sense of grace.