(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Many adults in the United States hold firm views on the way their current president will be perceived in the future, according to a poll by Opinion Dynamics released by Fox News. 56 per cent of respondents think history will remember George W. Bush negatively for the job he has done pursuing terrorists after 9/11.

Al-Qaeda operatives hijacked and crashed four airplanes in the U.S. on Sept. 11, 2001, killing nearly 3,000 people. In July 2004, the federal commission that investigated the events of 9/11 concluded that "none of the measures adopted by the U.S. government from 1998 to 2001 disturbed or even delayed the progress of the al-Qaeda plot" and pointed out government failures of "imagination, policy, capabilities, and management."

Afghanistan has been the main battleground in the war on terrorism. In October 2001, Bush ordered the invasion of Afghanistan, claiming that there would be "no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbour them." The conflict began after the Taliban regime refused to hand over Osama bin Laden, prime suspect in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Bush—a Republican—earned a second four-year term in the November 2004 presidential election.

In September 2006, Bush explained his rationale for the war on terrorism, saying, "9/11 lifted the veil on a threat that is far broader and more dangerous than we saw that morning—an enemy that was not sated by the destruction inflicted that day, and is determined to strike again. To answer this threat and protect our people, we need more than retaliation; we need more than a reaction to the last attack; we need to do everything in our power to stop the next attack. And so America has gone on the offence across the world."

Polling Data

Do you think history will remember George W. Bush positively or negatively for the job he has done pursuing terrorists after 9/11?

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