Bush: Well, you obviously...what was the question? End run?
Q: Yes. That is considered an end run, that people that still want to find a peaceful
solution seem to be running into a brick wall.
Bush: Oh, excuse me. The world is united, I think, in seeing that these United Nations
resolutions are fulfilled [...]
Bush was sensitive, as he always was, to any hint that the conflict was what it seemed to
be, a war of the west against the Arabs. In a long monologue, he claimed that "we want to
be the healers, we want to do what we can to facilitate what I might optimistically call a
new world order. But the new world order should, should have a conciliatory component
to it." Even Jordan, which was threatened with dismemberment over the short run might
"continue to be a tremendously important country in this new world order," Bush
claimed. [fn 83] Bush was buoyed by the poll reports alleging that his war was now
supported by 76% of the US population.
Day after day, Iraq military and above all civilian targets were subjected to a hail of
bombs. The centerpiece of Bush's personal self-jusitification remained the equation
Saddam=Hitler. "was it moral for us in 1939 to not stop Hitler from going into Poland?"
Bush asked a group of Republican officials. One party worker described Bush as "a man
obsessed and possessed by his mission" in the Gulf war. During those days, Bush was
preparing his State of the Union address. At a press conference to introduce his new
secretary of agriculture, GOP Illinois Congressman Edward Madigan, Bush made
pugnacious statements that he was proceeding with business as usual despite the war.
"We are not going to screech everything to a halt in terms of our domestic agenda. We're
not going to screech everything to a halt in terms of the recreational activities...and I am
not going to screech my life to a halt out of some fear about Saddam Hussein," said Bush.
After making these remarks, he introduced Madigan as his new secretary of education.
The reporters looked so perplexed that Bush realized his gaffe and corrected himself;
Madigan would be his new "secretary of agriculture," he said. [fn 84] In White House
briefing sessions to prepare the domestic policy sections of the State of the Union
address, Bush was described as "frankly, bored;" "you could almost see his mind
wandering to the Gulf."
There are indications that after a week to ten days of bombing, Bush was surprised and
disappointed that all Iraqi resistance had not already collapsed. This is what some of his
advisors were rumored in Washington to have promised him.
The 1991 State of the Union was supposed to be the apotheosis of Bush as a warrior
emperor. One of his themes was the "next American century," borrowed from Stimson
and Luce. The apotheosis was somewhat dimmed by the economic difficulties the Gulf
was had done nothing to assuage. Bush portrayed these problems as a mere ripple in "the
largest peacetime economic expansion in history." "We will soon get this recession
behind us," Bush promised. He conjured up "the long-held promise of a new world order-
- where brutality will go unrewarded, and aggression will meet collective resistance." He