Bush Legacy Tour

President Bush and his conservative allies misled the American people into a war that has made our country less safe. The war has resulted in the deaths of more than 4,000 American troops and untold numbers of Iraqis. Tens of thousands more have been injured.

And while the brave men and women in uniform and their families pay the ultimate price for the war in Iraq, every American has paid for President Bush and his conservative allies’ decisions. American taxpayers have paid well over $500 billion to the war – money that could fix our schools, get the unemployed back to work, and make sure every child has access to a family doctor.

Heavy deployments have placed “incredible stress” on soldiers. Troops that were once at their highest readiness levels are now at their lowest. General Richard A. Cody, the Army’s vice chief of staff, said “I’ve never seen our lack of strategic depth be where it is today.”

By stretching our military too thin, President Bush has prevented us from accomplishing our goals in the war in Afghanistan: to find Osama bin Laden and put an end to his terrorist network – the true culprits of the attacks on September 11, 2001.

What’s more, the war in Iraq has destabilized the Middle East, fueling a conflict with Iran and setting back efforts to resolve the Israel-Palestine conflict. Rather than providing the United States with a new source of affordable oil, Iraq has created uncertainty in international oil markets, contributing to skyrocketing gas prices. And the war in Iraq has alienated U.S. allies and harmed America’s reputation throughout the world.

Despite the unpopularity of the war, President Bush maintains that he made the right choice, telling Fox News Sunday, “It was the right decision then and it's the right decision today to have removed Saddam Hussein.”

Sgt. Patrick R. McCaffrey joined the U.S. National Guard the day after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. He was assigned to Company A, 579th Engineer Battalion, Engineer Brigade, 40th Infantry Division, Multinational Corps, Iraq. He was killed in June 2004 by members of the Iraqi Security Forces he was helping to train. It took more than a year for his mother to learn the truth about how he died. In addition to his mother, he left behind a wife and two young children.

His boots are encased in glass as part of the Iraq exhibit on the Bush Legacy Tour.