> I think Bush was just incompetent. <
You’re probably right. And he was very incompetent.
LBJ mishandled Vietnam. But LBJ had no real lessons of history to guide him. Ten years earlier the United States had fought the communists to a draw in Korea. So it was not unreasonable for LBJ to think that a draw was possible in Vietnam.
Bush had an advantage that LBJ did not. Bush had the lessons of Vietnam to learn from. But Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld ignored those lessons, and indeed repeated most of the mistakes LBJ had made.
But Bush’s crew didn’t stop there. At least LBJ didn’t invade some other country while the Vietnam War was still raging.
(Sorry for the rant.)
Bush also had the 1993 WTC bombing before as an example. I don’t think he paid one second of attention to national security before 9/11.