Bush's Dog

With deep sorrow and heavy grief, former American President George Bush announced to journalists outside his home in Dallas that his dog, Miss Beazley, had died, “after a battle with lymphoma.” The Bush family further added in a statement that the dog “was a source of joy during our time in Washington and in Dallas.”

If you don’t know, Beazley was a gift given by Bush to his wife Laura on her birthday in 2005, reuniting with a terrier relative, Barney; the two became close friends. No matter what disagreements came up, nothing could disrupt their warm friendship. Bush says as much in his statement: “She was a close companion to her blood relative, Barney. And even though he received all the attention, Beazley never held a grudge against him. She was a guardian to our cats, Bob and Bernadette, who — like Laura and I — will miss her.”

If you think the drama ends here, you’re wrong. When Barney himself died a little while ago, a few members of the family suffered severe depression due to their loss. Barney was a gift from former New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman, at Bush’s first term victory in 2000. Of his “good friend” — who died at the age of 12 from lymphoma — Bush said, “Barney was by my side during our eight years in the White House … He never discussed politics and was always a faithful friend. Laura and I will miss our pal.”

Not to be too gloomy about everything, but before Barney, the Bush family mourned their cat, Willie, who died at the age of 18. Mourning her loss, the family released a statement saying that the president, his wife and daughters Barbara and Jenna were “deeply saddened” by the passing of their cat India, also known as “Willie.” The statement explained that when Barbara was nine years old, she gave Willie the name “India” after tennis player* Rubén “El Indio” Sierra, and when the girls went off to college, the cat, who was also known as “Kittie,” stayed with the president and his wife. The statement added that the cat had been a beloved member of the Bush family for almost two decades and would be missed.

The good news is that today there are two cats in George Bush’s home, Bob and Bernadette. We hope that no misfortune befalls them anytime soon, so that the former president won’t have to sadly appear before journalists and break the terrible news to us. We note, on the one hand, the White House leaders’ grief over dogs and cats, and then on the other hand, their grief over human victims, particularly the victims of American policy. The fact is, we don’t hear this tone of grief in American leaders’ statements even when their friends in leadership die, or when their allies die by friendly fire; we all remember how Bush himself only briefly remarked on the British soldiers who shot Americans dead in Iraq or Afghanistan and how the eulogies shift so quickly from talk of grief to talk of policy, terrorism and war.

Nothing compares to the sad tone American leaders take when talking about dogs and cats. This fact is hard for a lot of us to understand: Beazley, Barnie and Willie/India mean so much more to the American president and his family than the victims in Palestine who die by Israeli gunfire; or the over 100,000 martyred and injured Syrians, with millions more displaced; or the Lebanese yearning for stability in an increasingly armed region with seasonal bombings; or the Iraqis relieved of a gruesome dictator only to find themselves up against even more gruesome militias, heinous bombings and a nation that refuses to develop; or the Egyptians swaying from revolutions to dreams of a nation; or the Libyans watching their country splinter and dissolve into a bloody mess; or the petrified Tunisians; or the Algerians anticipating a “real” era which will follow the era of Bouteflika; or the famines plaguing African nations.

To the American president and his family, Beazly, Barnie and Willie/India are more important than all the Gulf nations with their oil and gas, deserts and cities, more important than whether or not democracy will take root in the region, more important than the establishment of order more conducive to popular participation and human rights, more important than these nations’ stagnation.

To the American president and his family, Beazly, Barnie and Willie/India are more important than all levels of development in the Arab world, especially in the area of health. The two dead dogs, for example, are some of the luckiest lymphoma patients, having been able to obtain treatment in order to stay alive for such a long time, plus psychological treatment so they didn’t suffer from depression. How many Arab cancer patients are there who die quickly because of lack of medical care or not knowing about the disease or not being able to afford medicine or treatment? This is not to mention what the World Health Organization has reported regarding our terrible health situation.

What’s important is that Bush loved his dog Barnie, long considered him his good friend and, most importantly, never talked about politics with him. Perhaps Barnie never discussed politics so as to avoid dying at an early age.

We hope the two cats in Bush’s house in Dallas live a very long time; that goes for any White House pet, so that we don’t have to hear such heartbreaking news — a sign of our condition, our stagnation and our primitiveness, and their dubious principles and double standards.

*Translator’s Note: Rubén “El Indio” Sierra is actually a baseball player.