designed to inflict widepsread flooding and death on North Vietnamese civilians. According to
North Vietnamese statistics, more than half of the north's 20 million people lived in areas near theRed River that would be flooded if the dike system were breached. An article which appeared in a (^)
Hanoi publication had stated that at flood crest many rivers rise to "six or seve meters above the
surrounding fields" and that because of this situation "any dike break, especially in the Red River
delta, is a disaster with incalculable consequences."
Bush had never seen an opportunity for genocide he did not like. "I believe we are being set up by a
massive propaganda campaign by the North Vietnamese in the event that there is the same kind of
flooding this year--to attribute it to bombs whereas last year it happened just out of lack of
maintenance," Bush argued. "There's been a study made that I hope will be released shortly that will
clarify this whole question," he went on. The study "would be very helpful because I think it willshow what the North Vietnamese are up to in where they place strategic targets." What Bush was (^)
driving at here was an allegation that Hanoi customarily placed strategic assets near the dikes in
order to be able to accuse the US of genocide if air attacks breached the dikes and caused flooding.
Bush's military spokesmen used similar arguments diring the Gulf war, when Iraq was accused of
placing military equipment in the midst of civilian residential areas.
"I think you would have to recognize," retorted Bush, "that if there was any intention" of breaching
the dikes, "it would be very, very simple to do exactly what we are accused of-- and that is what we
are not doing." [fn 23]
The bombing of the north continued, and reached a final paroxysm at Christmas, when B-52s made
unrestricted terror bombing raids against Hanoi and other cities. The Christmas bombing was
widely condemned, even by the US press: "New Madness in Vietnam" was the headline of the St.
Louis Post-Dispatch On Dec. 19; "Terror from the Skies" that of the New York Times Dec. 22;
"Terror Bomof the Los Angeles Times of Dec. 28. bing in the Name of Peace" of the Washington Post Dec. 28; and "Beyond All Rason"
Bush'activity at the UN also coincided with Kissinger's preparation of the October, 1973 Middle
East war. During the 1980's, Bush attempted to cultivate a public image as a US politician who,
although orithe Israelis and the Zionist lobby in the United States, but would take an independent positionented towards close relations with Israel, would not slavishly appease every demand of
designed to foster US national interests. From time to time, Bush snubbed the Israelis by hinting
that they held hostages of their own, and that the Israeli annexation of Jerusalem would not be
accepted by the United States. For some, these delusions have survived even a refutation so
categoric as the events of the Kuwait crisis of 1990-91. Busas a Zionist, whose differences with an Israeli leader like Shamir are less significant than theh would be more accurately designated
differences between Shamir and other Israeli politicians. Bush's Zionist pedigree is the reflex of a
Zionist, neo-conservative network and a fanatically pro-Israeli ideological-political track record
which was already massive during the UN years.
In September 1972 Palestinian terrorists describing themselves as the "Black September"
organization attacked the quarters of the Israeli Olympic team present in Munich for the Olympic
games of that year, killing a number of the Israeli athletes. The Israeli government seized on these
events as carte blanche to launch a series of air attacks against Syria and Lebanon, arguing that
these countries could be held responsible for what had happened in Munich. Somalia, Greece, andGuinea came forward with a resolution in the Security Council which simply called for the
immediate cessation of "all military operations". The Arab states argued that the Israeli air attacks
were totally without provocation or jusitification, and killed numerous civilians who had nothing
whatever to do with the terrorist actions in Munich.