Bush 41 Condemns His Son’s Administration
Published in Al Hayat
(Pan Arab) on 17 November 2015
by Jihad El-Khazen (link to original)
(Pan Arab) on 17 November 2015
by Jihad El-Khazen (link to original)
Translated from
by David Marcus.
Edited by Eva Langman.
The U.S. Congress passed a resolution to install a marble bust of Dick Cheney inside the Capitol. I read that the unveiling ceremony will be on Dec. 3, 2015.
Cheney was the secretary of defense in the George [H.W.] Bush administration and became vice president under Bush's son. Cheney established his own empire that became quite hawkish after the Sept. 11 terrorist attack. His wife, Lynne, and daughter, Liz — both conservative extremists — also had a lot of influence in this empire. As for Donald Rumsfeld, secretary of state during the Bush [Jr.] administration, he persisted with flawed and extremist conduct. Cheney and Rumsfeld were a disservice to Bush [Jr.], but Bush himself was president and it is he who is responsible.
All this is my opinion, but I wasn't the one who said these things. It was George [H.W.] Bush, 41st president of the United States, speaking about his son's administration. [His thoughts] are found in the book "Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush" by Jon Meacham, winner of the Booker Prize.
I requested a copy of the book from the publisher, but before I received it, I found a few dozen reviews of the it and commentary in American newspapers. So I'm relying on those today, but I may return to the whole book after reading them.
Congress is honoring a man that Bush [Sr.], who worked with the man and knew him, considered an extremist and a hard-liner. Congress might be the only governing institution in the United States that has always been less liked than the presidency, even under George W. Bush, the 43rd president.
Consider some of the figures in the Bush, Jr. administration:
- Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz
- Undersecretary of Defense Douglas Feith
- Scooter Libby, chief of staff to the vice president
- Richard Perle, chairman of the Defense Policy Board, which advises the president
- U.N. Ambassador John Bolton
All of these people are neoconservative figures; some have received judicial sentencing; all of them sought war in Iraq, resulting in the deaths of about 1 million Arabs and Muslims. Ahmed Chalabi, who recently died, was their partner. He offered intentionally falsified evidence linking Saddam Hussein with al-Qaida and claiming that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction.
If that's not enough, the Bush, Jr. administration made Paul Bremer the administrator of the Coalition Provisional Authority of Iraq. Bremer was a diplomat with no experience in our country. His first order was to expel all Ba'ath Party members from government positions in Iraq. His second order was to disband the Iraqi army.
Today, there is American intelligence saying the revolution against the American occupation was led by former officers and soldiers in the Iraqi army who lost their jobs, and that the entire leadership of the Islamic State is comprised of former officers in the Iraqi army and intelligence services.
The United States has reaped what it sowed. Around 7,000 Americans have been killed in Iraq; tens of thousands have been injured, and some of them are still recovering from psychological trauma. The war has ended up costing around 1 trillion dollars, with payments still being made to veterans and those wounded.
At last, Cheney left office with an approval rating of only 13 percent — a record low. Congress is honoring him because they are just like him. All I can say is, Arabs, beware.
Cheney was the secretary of defense in the George [H.W.] Bush administration and became vice president under Bush's son. Cheney established his own empire that became quite hawkish after the Sept. 11 terrorist attack. His wife, Lynne, and daughter, Liz — both conservative extremists — also had a lot of influence in this empire. As for Donald Rumsfeld, secretary of state during the Bush [Jr.] administration, he persisted with flawed and extremist conduct. Cheney and Rumsfeld were a disservice to Bush [Jr.], but Bush himself was president and it is he who is responsible.
All this is my opinion, but I wasn't the one who said these things. It was George [H.W.] Bush, 41st president of the United States, speaking about his son's administration. [His thoughts] are found in the book "Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush" by Jon Meacham, winner of the Booker Prize.
I requested a copy of the book from the publisher, but before I received it, I found a few dozen reviews of the it and commentary in American newspapers. So I'm relying on those today, but I may return to the whole book after reading them.
Congress is honoring a man that Bush [Sr.], who worked with the man and knew him, considered an extremist and a hard-liner. Congress might be the only governing institution in the United States that has always been less liked than the presidency, even under George W. Bush, the 43rd president.
Consider some of the figures in the Bush, Jr. administration:
- Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz
- Undersecretary of Defense Douglas Feith
- Scooter Libby, chief of staff to the vice president
- Richard Perle, chairman of the Defense Policy Board, which advises the president
- U.N. Ambassador John Bolton
All of these people are neoconservative figures; some have received judicial sentencing; all of them sought war in Iraq, resulting in the deaths of about 1 million Arabs and Muslims. Ahmed Chalabi, who recently died, was their partner. He offered intentionally falsified evidence linking Saddam Hussein with al-Qaida and claiming that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction.
If that's not enough, the Bush, Jr. administration made Paul Bremer the administrator of the Coalition Provisional Authority of Iraq. Bremer was a diplomat with no experience in our country. His first order was to expel all Ba'ath Party members from government positions in Iraq. His second order was to disband the Iraqi army.
Today, there is American intelligence saying the revolution against the American occupation was led by former officers and soldiers in the Iraqi army who lost their jobs, and that the entire leadership of the Islamic State is comprised of former officers in the Iraqi army and intelligence services.
The United States has reaped what it sowed. Around 7,000 Americans have been killed in Iraq; tens of thousands have been injured, and some of them are still recovering from psychological trauma. The war has ended up costing around 1 trillion dollars, with payments still being made to veterans and those wounded.
At last, Cheney left office with an approval rating of only 13 percent — a record low. Congress is honoring him because they are just like him. All I can say is, Arabs, beware.
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