History’s verdict on George W. Bush will likely be very different than what we hear from the skeptics today. We read about such scoffers in 2 Peter 3. “First of all, you must understand that scoffers will come in the last days, scoffing and following their own evil desires”
(2 Peter 3:3 NIV).

Of course, one’s view of President Bush’s term in the White House will depend on one’s worldview. From a biblical view, it is apparent that God’s hand was on the President, in light of the differences he faced. Think of the challenges the President faced while in office:

1. 9/11 and homeland security
2. Hurricane Katrina
3. Immigration Issues
4. Saddam Hussein and Iraq
5. Osama Bin Laden and Afghanistan
6. The ongoing abortion holocaust
7. The world’s epidemic—AIDS
8. Israel and the Palestinians
9. The nation’s economy (oil, automakers, loan companies, etc.)
10. The liberal media and the Democratic Party

These were just a few of the President’s demanding challenges. Nevertheless, President Bush has left the White House, and his legacy is amazing. There is probably no other task more complex and difficult in the world than the position of the President of the United States. By no means, are we claiming that the Bush administration was flawless; however, the truth still remains, President Bush and his administration accomplished a number of achievements for which he is to be praised during his eight years in the White House and for which we Americans should be thankful.

Ten Good Reasons to Cheer Over the President ’s Eight Years in Office

1. Credibilit y
   President Bush achieved presidential authority. He had to rebuild a credibility that was extremely eroded away from the era of Vietnam, Watergate and Bill Clinton.
   
   
2. Homeland Securit y
   While in office, President Bush’s number one achievement was also the number one function of government—to protect its citizens. The defining moment of the George W. Bush’s Presidency was 9/11. Who would have thought those who died on 9/11 would be the last to die on American soil from an Islamic terrorist attack? Amazingly, from that infamous day to the last day President Bush was in office, not one American has died on our home soil due to a Muslim terrorist act. We have God to praise and President Bush to thank for his stand against terrorism.
   
   For many, who sit comfortably in Middle America, it may not seem much of an accomplishment. Many believe that the President’s claims concerning Saddam Hussein were unfounded. It became obvious that an Iraqi invasion was necessary after all of the following took place: Hussein rejected 14 U.N. resolutions; the United Nations’ inspectors, who were looking for weapons of mass destruction, were expelled; the British, French, Chinese, Israeli, Russian intelligence agencies and the CIA all documented massive human rights abuses by Sadam Hussein. Even Hussein’s generals reported the use of weapons against his own people, mass graves sites, torture chambers and the abuse of the U.N. Food for Oil Program.
   
   The protection from deadly enemies that the President of the United States provided has been only somewhat appreciated. Undoubtedly, this protection will be more fully appreciated when we have a President who attempts to maintain a politically correct administration and eases up on that protection, in order to gain favor at home and abroad.
   
   Today, Iraq’s gross domestic product is 30 percent higher than it was under Saddam Hussein’s brutal dictatorship and his rapist sons. We are truly thankful for the men and women in our armed forces, who have given their lives in Iraq and other hot spots around the world, so that we might be safe here at home.
   
   Furthermore, the President tookmany measures which foiled dozens of attempts and “would-be-attacks” on Americans who would have been blown up on airlines crossing the oceans, along with other similar assaults. These measures included the locking down of American borders, scrutinizing travelers to and from the U.S., taking the war to the enemy and eavesdropping on terrorist suspects, while working closely with international intelligence agencies. In addition, the President’s administration beefed-up the interrogation of terrorists.
   
   These procedures have, no doubt, saved countless American lives. How many thousands of lives have been saved? We will never know, but these decisions of President Bush have kept us safe and prevented a second major attack. The President did not waver when he moved forward to conduct the surveillance of terrorists without first receiving a federal judge’s approval. He also made a decision regarding the treatment of terrorists and where they should be imprisoned. Such decisions are legitimate, which the President, as Commander-In-Chief, should be able to make confidently and feel no need to apologize.
   
   
3. Israel
   The President has maintained an unswerving support for Israel. At one time, President Reagan was viewed as Israel’s best friend in the White House, but now President Bush can claim that honor. He accused Yasser Arafat of being an impediment to peace in the Middle East, which infuriated the Arabs, the United Nations and the anti-Israel forces throughout the world
   and here at home.

George Bush committed more resources to fight HIV than had ever been committed by any country in the world against a single disease.

When George Bush was Governor of Texas and considered running for the presidency, a number of ministers were invited to a private meeting with Governor Bush. Mom (the only female invited) and I were privileged to attend. During the time of questions, Mom asked, “Governor, if you are elected, and I believe you will be, what will your stand be in regard to Israel?” Before the Governor could respond, Mom recited about half a dozen verses from Scripture, one being, “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Gen. 12:2-3 NIV).

The Governor responded, “Freda, I will always be a friend to Israel, and I will see that my administration and America will stand with her as long as I am in office.”

In spite of being trapped with those who wanted to give the Palestinians some of Israel’s land, the President was clever in his support. When President Bush announced that Ariel Sharon (former Israeli Prime Minister) should withdraw the Israeli tanks he had sent into the West Bank in 2002, he exerted zero pressure on Sharon to do so. Furthermore, the President supported the wall along Israel’s eastern border without endorsing it as an official boundary, even though he was well aware that it might eventually become exactly that. President Bush was truly a loyal friend of Israel.

4. World Politics
   The President declared, in his second inaugural address, in 2005, that American foreign policy would henceforth focus on promoting democracy around the world. This policy gave President Bush credibility in pressing for democracy in the former Soviet republics, the Middle East and towards isolating various dictators. Furthermore, the Bush administration revolutionized foreign aid. Bush doubled foreign aid world wide, which no president had done since Harry Truman. Aid was given based on 17 requirements, fighting corruption within the receiving country and lifting the country’s citizens out of poverty. In 2000, Libya’s dictator, Kadafi, was an active and vicious member of a world terrorists’ organization. He was willing to employ terrorism at whatever costs to gain his own purposes. Four years later, Kadafi’s WMD (weapons of mass destruction) program was sitting behind glass in a museum in Oakridge, Tennessee.
   
   
5. World Economy
   The President’s administration strengthened relations with East Asian democracies (Japan, South Korea, Australia) without causing a rift with China and India. This is important in light of 9/11, as these countries and the U.S. have a common enemy—Islamic jihadists.
   
   
6. Ecology
   In 2001, the President rejected the Kyoto global warming treaty that was loved and worshiped by the environmental lobbying elite. Such a treaty would have been a disaster because the two worst offending environmental countries in the world, India and China, were exempt. The President slowed down the environmental campaign to allow time for facts to emerge revealing that the leading scientists were not in agreement over the data revealed. Many claimed that a global cooling trend, rather than a global warming trend, is occurring. Thank you, President Bush, for acting accordingly.
   
   
7. The Supreme Court
   The naming of two conservatives to the Supreme Court: John Roberts, 53, and Sam Alito, 58, was one of President Bush’s unprecedented achievements and a positive element for our nation’s future. These two men have made the Supreme Court indisputably more conservative, and they should be around for decades to come. Presently, the Supreme Court is our country’s most powerful judicial arm of the government.
   
   
8. Education
   Back home, the President successfully established his No Child Left Behind (NCLB) program. The program was an education reform bill which demanded mandatory testing and accountability. The liberal opposition adamantly opposed the bill. The program forced teachers to test students’ math and reading skills. In addition, while serving as Governor of Texas, George Bush was a supporter of the Charter School Program, which is a system of publicly funded schools, typically governed by a group or organization, such as a church. As a result, students can be educated in a godly environment, rather than a humanistic one.
   
   
9. Health
   The President established a plan for Medicare prescription drug benefits that was enacted in 2003. This plan opened the door for senior citizens to purchase affordable drugs through Medicare, which were previously not available to them. Not only has this plan become widely popular, but it has also cost the government far less than expected due to the competition triggered among drug companies in the production of generic prescription drugs. In addition, on January 29, 2003, the President gave a life-saving proclamation to assist in eradicating the global plague of the HIV virus (AIDS). HIV has killed over 23 million people in the U.S. since first being discovered in 1983. George Bush committed more resources to fight the HIV virus than had ever been committed by any country in the world against a single disease. He influenced every leader, coming to the United States for help, to have an HIV prevention plan at the top of their country’s agenda.
   
   
10. Evangelism and the War in Iraq
    The President announced, January 2007, he was sending more troops to Iraq and adopting a new counter-insurgency strategy. Although the President’s opponents initially included the State Department, the Pentagon, most of Congress, the media, the foreign policy establishment and indeed, the whole world, it is obvious that God’s hand was directing the decision of our President. According to the recent London Sunday times, America has defeated the last remnants of al-Qaida in Iraq. In fact, the British newspaper called it “the culmination of one of the most spectacular victories of the war on terror.” The paper reported that al-Qaida once numbered more than 12,000 strong, with strongholds in the west and central regions of Iraq. In the last two years, the radical military group has been disseminated to a mere 1,200 fighters, surrounded in the northern city of Mosul. The destruction of al-Qaida in Iraq (AQI) is one of the most unlikely and unforeseen events in the long history of American warfare. We can thank President Bush’s surge strategy, in which he bucked both Republican and Democratic leaders in Washington by increasing our forces in Iraq instead of surrendering. The war in Iraq has been turned around 180 degrees, both militarily and politically, because the President stuck to his guns.

The enemy would rather see our troops defeated than recognize a successfully initiated response to 9/11.

Where are the headlines and the front-page stories about all this good news in America? As the Media Research Center recently pointed out, why does all of the liberal media not seem to consider this historic event a major story? Why are the news programs silent regarding this latest progress report on Bush’s fight against terrorism? The simple reason is the enemy would rather see our troops defeated than recognize a successfully initiated response to 9/11 by the President and his administration. Iraq has become a victory for the Bush administration.

In spite of the enormous, financial cost of the war, there is one more victory which no costly war could discredit—the multitude of individuals who have now had a born-again experience since the ousting of Mr. Hussein. Statistics reveal that during and after the dictator’s reign of terror, there were about 35,000 throughout the nation who became born-again. Seven years later, the numbers rose to over 300,000 believers. Unlike other Arab nations (where it is a capital crime to become a Christian), this increase is very substantial in a predominantly Muslim nation which now has the freedom to choose.

We thank you, President Bush and First Lady Laura Bush, for your commitment to God, His Son, the people of America and for your loving service to this great nation. God Bless You!