When George W. Bush was a young man, of military age, there was a war in progress in Vietnam. Hundreds of thousands of America’s finest young men crossed the ocean and served in that war. Bush was of fighting age, and never gave the slightest consideration at that time that someday he might become a "War President" in his later career. But when opportunity was there to be a warrior, Bush took a different approach. He pulled a few strings and got assigned to a fraternal little group of elite non-combatants in the Air National Guard.
Years later, the record shows that Bush took time off even from his quasi-military duties. His commanding officers could not keep track of him at the time of his military "service", but somehow, someone authorized his paychecks and his honorable discharge. How many "War Presidents" in the history of this world served in the military during wartime, and cannot explain or account for their service? We know Bush cashed some checks and got himself discharged. Getting that discharge was likely his primary focus during wartime during his military career. And Bush’ current handlers cannot understand how anyone could stoop to the "gutter politics" of wanting to know more about the supposed "service" of the War President when he was young and his nation was at war. When Scott McClellan says Bush "served", what exactly constituted his service? And how exactly did he manage to get himself honorably discharged when he failed to report to his commanding officers and even failed to get a mandatory flight physical? Would Bush have gotten honorably discharged if his name had been Julio Gonzales and he had been drafted instead of placed into the cushy National Guard for Non-Warriors?
Now, in his adult prime, Bush is again at war, this time as the War President. Bush is at War with the Environment, and he is winning that war. Bush and his Administration are successfully weakening a broad range of environmental laws and regulations for the benefit of corporations and the impairment of citizens ability to breathe clean air, drink clean water, and enjoy wilderness in future generations. Bush is winning that war — causing many environmentalists to view him as a disgrace to the Presidency.
Bush is waging war on terrorism, too. The goal of the war on terrorism to to create profitable, self-perpetuating markets for war profiteering . The investors in the Carlysis Group, the big aviation contractors, the missile makers, and such folks are happy to see the promise of perpetual war. This is a war that costs the lives and treasure of the expendable non-elite. No Congressmen, for instance, have children fighting in this war. But the sons and daughters of poor immigrants and poor city-dwellers are being served up as cannon fodder for Bush’ War. The War on Terrorism cannot be won, because any tactical success against terrorists only creates more motivated terrorists. The War on Terrorism cannot be won, but it can be lost. The cost of this war is being deferred for Barbara and Jenna Bush and their future children and grandchildren to pay. No wonder the Bush daughters are disposed to take solace in distilled beverages and parties, just like their father did when he was young!
George W. Bush is the War President. His personal history is one of using war for convenience and profit and removing personal risk from the equation. When Bush flew out to the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln, he hardly even left sight of shore before he jumped out of that aircraft and swaggered as if he had piloted the most dangerous, successful mission in the history of aviation in warfare!
Bush smirks and he swaggers and he lies and he jabbers. Bush loves war, as long as the sacrifices of war are borne by others. America needs to wake up and smell the hypocrisy. George Bush wants to expand his wars and will only be too glad to do so if elected in 2004. By that time, he will have worked out a military draft so that the burden can be shared even more markedly throughout the society of the have-nots that he so despises.
