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 will show 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 Bombing in the Name of Peace" of the
Washington Post Dec. 28; and "Beyond All Rason" of the Los Angeles Times of Dec. 28.
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 oriented towards close relations with Israel, would not slavishly
appease every demand of the Israelis and the Zionist lobby in the United States, but
would take an independent position 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. Bush would be more accurately designated as a Zionist, whose
differences with an Israeli leader like Shamir are less significant than the 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, and Guinea 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.