look as if the loan forgiveness had been used to buy influence. Hatfield's actions were not in
violation of senate rules at the time these loans were forgiven.
Bush's war resolution passed the Senate by the narrow margin of 52-47; Sen. Cranston, who was
absent because of illness, would have come to the senate and voted against the war if this would
have changed the outcome. This vote reflects a deep ambivalence in the ruling elite about Bush's
bellicose line, which was not as popular in US ruling circles as it was in London. Busvictory was provided by a group of southern Bush Democrats (Gore, Graham, Breaux, Robb,h's margin of
Shelby). In the House, a similar Bush war resolution passed by 250 to 183. Many Congressmen
from blue-collar districts being pounded by the economic depression reflected the disillusionment
of their constituents by voting against Bush and the war. But the resistance was not enough.
Despite the extremely narrow mandate he had extorted from the Congress, Bush now appeared in a
gloating press conference: he had his blank check for war and genocide. Now Bush was careful to
create pretexts for attacking Iraq, even if Saddam were to order his forces out of Kuwait. Bush
noted that "it would be, at this date, I would say impossible to comply fully with the United Nations
resolutions," and he "would still worry about it, because it might not be in full compliance." [fn 75]UN resolution 242, calling for Israel to withdraw from the territories occupied in the 1967 war, had (^)
been flouted for almost a quarter century, and the nation of Lebanon had just been snuffed out by
Bush's friend Assad, but all of this paled into total irrelevance in comparison to the need to destroy
Iraq.
The mad dog of war was now unleashed on the world. Later, in early June, Bush would edify the
Southern Baptist Convention with a tearful and convulsive account of his long night in Camp David
as he prepared to give the order to attack. Bush's story, quite fantastic for a chief executive who had
pursued his "splendid little war" with monomaniac fury since August 3, is a reflection of the
Goebbels-like cynicism of the White House wordsmiths and propamay be safely attributed. "For me, prayer has always been important but quite personal," Bush toldganda technicians to whom it (^)
the Baptists. "You know us Episcopalians."
And, like a lot of people, I have worried a little but about shedding tears in public, or the mention of
it. But as Barbara and I prathose young men and women overseas. And the tears started down the cheeks, and our myed at Camp David before the air war began, we were thinking aboutinister
smiled back, and I no longer worried how it looked to others. [fn 76]
In delivering this fanciful account, Bush broke into tears once again, a behavior which showed more
about his unresolved, and by that time public, thryoid difficulties, than it did about his qualms inwaging war. An interesting question involves the identity of the minister mentioned by Bush. In
order to drape his genocidal war policy with the mantle of Christian morality, Bush was at pains to
keep pastors and clerics at his side during the development of the Gulf crisis. But a serious problem
emerged in this regard when, in late October, the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, the
Most Reverend Edmond L. Browning, raised public questions about the morality of goiwith Iraq. Since Bush regarded the Protestant fundamentalists of the Bible Belt as the indispensableng to war (^)
constituency for his vindictive line, he and his handlers were convinced that it would be folly to go
on the warpath without religious cover. This was provided by calling in Billy Graham, the
Methodist evangelist based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
During the Nixon Administration, Billy Graham had become the virtual chaplain of the regime.
Nixon liked to organize prayer services inside the White House, and Billy Graham was often called
in to officiate at these. Graham was also an old friend of the Bush family; just after Bush had
received the GOP vice presidential nomination in 1980, Graham had visited with George and
Barbara at Kennebunkport for a campaign photo opportunity. [fn 77]