George Bush: The Unauthorized Biography

(Frankie) #1

During the 1980's, Graham had run crusades in the Soviet bloc, something that is hard to do withoutintelligence connections. In May, 1982, he had created a furore with remarks that he had seen no
evidence of religious repression in the USSR. "I am not a communist and have not joined the
Communist party and was never asked to join the Communist Party," Graham had told reporters
upon his arrival in New York. [fn 78]
Now, during the week that Bush unleashed war and genocide, Graham became a fixture in the
White House, where he was Bush's overnight houseguest. "George Bush has the highest moral
standards of almost anyone I know," Graham told reporters. "Bush is the best friend I have in the
world outside my immediate staff." Some noted that Graham had often abounded with fulsome
praise for presidents, including Carter; power and godliness, for Graham, went together. The line herecited several days later at the National Prayer Breakfast was standard Bush boiler plate: "There
come times in history when nations have to stand against some monstrous evil, like Nazism." On
January 28, Bush would proclaim a virtual crusade against Arab Iraq: according to Bush, his war
had "everything to do with what religion embodies, good versus evil, right versus wrong, human
dignity and freedom versus tyranny and oppreAmerican people, armed with a trust in God." [fn 79] ssion. We will prevail because of the support of the


But surely all was not spiritual that weekend in Camp David. One sign is that First Lady Barbara
Bush came back with a broken leg. What had happened? A few weeks earlier, George and Bar had


granted a joint interview to two fawning and sycophantic reporters from People weekly. During thisinterview, Bush was asked, "Mr. President, this is an understandably tough period. How do you deal (^)
with the stress?" Bush answered: "Well, I have this dog named Ranger and this wife named Barbara
and a couple of grandchildren." At this point, Barbara Bush broke in to say "Thought you were
gonna say, 'I kick the dog, kick the wife.'" [fn 80] Had Barbara Bush suffered the fate of a battered
woman during that pre-war weekend in Camp David? The official story was that she had slid downan icy slope on a saucer sled and hit a tree, producing a "non-displaced fracture of the fibula bone in (^)
the left leg." According to Mrs. Bush's press secretary, Anna Perez, George had yelled "Bail out!
Bail out!" as Mrs. Bush accelerated toward the tree, but she had not heeded his advice. The incident
had allegedly occurred during a sledding party after church on Sunday, January 13, in the presence
four of tchairman of the President's Council on Physcial Fitness. Bush's daughter Dorothy LeBlond and hishe Bush's grandchildren (ages 6,4,4, and 1), and Bush loyalist Arnold Schwarzenegger, the
daughter in law Margaret, may have been present or nearby, as may Schwarzenegger's wife Maria
Shriver of NBC, and her infant daughter. But only the First Lady's press secretary spoke in public of
the incident, which has therefore remained somewhat obscure. When the presidential party returned
by helicopter to the White House that evening, Mrs. Bush was carried indoors in a wheelchair. [fn81]
On that same day, Soviet troops acting in the name of a self-styled "National Salvation Committee"
massacred more than a dozen Lithuanian patriots. Bush's response was in the mildest and most
craven of terms, saying that there was "no justification for the use of force," but taking absolutelyno steps to bring that message home to Moscow; the New World Order was exposed once again as (^)
the law of the strong over the weak.
According to the official account, Bush signed the National Security Directive ordering the attack
against Iraq at in the White House Oval Office at 10:30 AM on Tuesday morning, January 15,1991. On Wednesday morning in Washington, when it was early evening in Baghdad, Bush ordered (^)
Scowcroft to call Cheney with a further instruction to implement the attack plan. The US air attack
on Iraq accordingly took place between 6 and 7 PM on Wednesday, January 16. The bombs began
to fall during the first night in Baghdad after the expiration of Bush's deadline. [fn 82] Within 24
hours, Iraq retaliated with Scud missles against Israel and against US bases in Saudi Arabia. One

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