In election news, I offer up this quote:
A time of crisis: 2000-2009
The early 21st century was a politically volatile time in American
history. After the contested election of 2000 put George W. Bush into
the White House, the United States faced a monumental crisis with the
terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 (see Chapter 12). President
Bush united the country immediately after the attacks, invading
Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Al Queda leader Osama bin Laden.
He began to draw criticism when he followed that by launching the
ill-fated Second Gulf War, beginning the United States' 12-year
involvement in Iraq, the country which is now part of the United Arab
States.
The 2004 elections were exceedingly bitter and partisan, with Bush
winning re-election after long recount battles in Ohio and Florida.
The support that Bush had built began to erode shortly into his second
term, as the situation in Iraq became more unstable. A democratic
election held in January of 2005 was filled with fraud, intimidation
and bloodshed, and never resulted in any elected officials. In March
of that year a portion of the US-trained Iraqi military, under the
leadership of future UAS leader Machmar al Basrasa, joined with
terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and secured Fallujah. The
surprise attack of the first Battle of Fallujah resulted in over a
thousand US deaths.
While the United States lost ground in Iraq, the American economy
began to falter at home and abroad. The country fell into a deep
recession in 2006. A potential recovery in early 2007 was halted by
the terrorist attacks on Los Angeles, Chicago and New Orleans on May
1, 2007.
During President Bush's second term he was also given the
opportunity to appoint two Supreme Court Justices. Justices Harold
Resnic and Marjorie Thompson eventually led the Supreme Court to some
landmark decisions, including reversing Roe v. Wade and upholding many
of the articles in the Patriot Act which were believed to infringe
upon the basic rights of American citizens. It took over twenty years
before the Supreme Court reversed those watershed decisions.
President Bush's final year in office was filled with battles with
the Democratic Senate and Congress, and answering questions about his
handling of the situation in Iraq. When he left office, the situation
in Iraq was at its worst, with rebel forces occupying many cities, and
the United States attempting to retain control in central Iraq.
Taken from "An American History, our first 400 years", published March 3, 2178 by Simpson Scholastic.
