Chapter –XX

The Phony War on Drugs

Tout le monde me prend pour un homme de bien; Mais la verite pure est que je ne vaux
rien.

Moliere, Le Tartuffe

An indispensable component of the mythical media profile, which George Bush has built
up over the years to buttress his electoral aspirations, has been his role as an anti-drug
fighter. His first formally scheduled prime time presidential television address to the
nation in September, 1989 was devoted to announcing his plans for measures to combat
the illegal narcotics that continued to inundate the sreets of the United States. During his
1988 election campaign, Bush pointed with astounding complacency to his record as
President Reagan's designated point man in the administration's war on drugs.

In his acceptance speech to the Republican National Convention in 1988, Bush stated: "I
want a drug-free America. Tonight, I challenge the young people of our country to shut
down the drug dealers around the world....My Administration will be telling the dealers,
"Whatever we have to do, we'll do, but your day is over. You're history.'"

Indeed, Bush has an impressive resume of bureaucratic titles to back up his claim to be
America's top anti-drug fighter. On January 28, 1982, Reagan created the South Florida
Task Force under Bush's high-profile leadership to coordinate the efforts of the various
federal agencies to stem the tide of narcotics into Bush's old family bailiwick. On March
23, 1983, Bush was placed in charge of the National Narcotics Border Interdiction
System, which was supposed to staunch the drug flow over all US borders. In August,
1986 US officials presented to their Mexican counterparts a scheme called Operation
Alliance, a new border enforcement initiative that was allegedly to do for the US-
Mexican border area what the South Florida Task Force had allegedly already done for
the southeastern states. George Bush was appointed chief of Operation Alliance, which
involved 20 federal agencies, 500 additional federal officers, and a budget of $266
million.

To crown all these efforts, Bush sought to obtain a cameo role for a brief appearance on
the television series Miami Vice. His mentor, Kissinger, who had walked through a
cameo of his own on Dynasty, perhaps inspired him. But Bush was unable to accomplish
his dream.