Time Magazine's Worst Decade Ever: A George W. Bush Connection

Worst President Ever and Worst Decade Ever -- is it Really that Simple?

Time magazine this week named the first ten years of the 21st century as the "Worst Decade Ever." Time magazine posited that there were countries and individuals that prospered but, for the greater majority, and especially for the United States, 2000-2009 was the Decade From Hell -- the worst decade ever. And when one breaks down the decade into major events, there is quite a bit of evidence to back up Time magazine's assertion. And it doesn't take long to see that the Worst Decade Ever has a common decider denominator.

The millennium began with the Y2K hangover, that prophesied moment of computerized doom that never occurred. The U. S. became embroiled in a presidential political race that would bitterly divide the country and end in a Supreme Court decision that many still causes heated debate years later. George W. Bush was sworn in as president in 2001 and eight months later witnessed the destruction of the Twin Towers and part of the Pentagon in the single worst destructive terrorist attack in world history. Bush administration officials and were often quick to point out how safe the United States had become since safeguards put in place since 9/11, but they always fail to mention that no other major international terrorist incident on American soil had ever occurred up to that point in time (except the WTC bombing in 1993).

In retaliation for September 11, the Bush administration invaded Afghanistan, drive the Taliban, the fundamentalist Muslim government in Afghanistan that had harbored the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, almost completely from that mountainous country. By the time George W. Bush left office, the Taliban had retaken much of the Afghanistan and a quiet war was beginning to show signs of turning into a major military operation once more.