Bush also wrote a letter to his parents in which he talked about White and Delaney: "I try to think
about it as little as possible, yet I cannot get the thought of those two out of my mind. Oh, I'm OK- Iwant to fly again and I won't be scared of it, but I know I won't be able to shake the memory of this
incident and I don't believe I want to completely." [fn 12]
As Bush himself looked back on all these events from the threshold of his genocidal assault on Iraq,
he complacently concluded that the pagan fates had preserved his life for some future purpose. Hetold Hyams:
There wasn't a sudden revelation of what I wanted to do with the rest of my life, but there was an
awakening. There's no question that underlying all that were my own religious beliefs. In my own
view there's got to be some kind of destiny and I was being spared for something on earth. [fn 13]
After having deliberately ignored the relevant dissenting views about the heroism of his patron,
Hyams chooses to conclude his book on the following disturbing note:
When flying his Avenger off the deck of the San Jac, Bush was responsible for his own fate as wellas his crewmen's. As president he is responsible for the fate of all Americans as well as that of
much of the world.
And that is precisely the problem.
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NOTES:
- For details of Bush's navy career, see Joe Hyams, Flight of the Avenger (New York, 1991),passim.
- Bush and Gold, Looking Forward, p. 36.
- Hyams, Flight of the Avenger, pp. 106-107.
- Hyams, Flight of the Avenger, p. 111.
- Nicholas King, George Bush: A Biography (New York, 1980), pp. 30-31.
- Fitzhugh Green, George Bush: An Intimate Portrait (New York, 1989), pp. 36-37.
- Richard Ben Cramer, "George Bush" How He Got Here," Espquire, June 1991.
- Allan Wolper and Al Ellenberg, "The Day Bush Bailed Out," New York Post, August 12, 1988,p. 1 ff.
- Bush and Gold, p. 36.
- Washington Post, August 7, 1988
- Hyams, p. 143.
13 bis. Bush and Gold, pp. 40-41.