W. Bush (5) Defense: Neutral 3 – George W. Bush’s defense policy is the hardest to rate of any president. In the aftermath of 9/11, his administration’s creation of the Department of Homeland security and effective response to gut Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, while keeping Bin Laden on the run kept Americans safe. Conversely, there’s the expansion of the War on Terror into Iraq. After initial success in toppling Saddam Hussain, it was clear there was a miscalculation in the ability for Iraq to self-govern without US support which led to years of ongoing conflict resulting in hundreds of billions in tax dollars being spent and thousands of lives of American heroes.