'Hypocritical BS': Critics Slam Establishment's
Applause for 'War Criminal' George W. Bush
"The Iraq War was worse than anything Donald Trump
has done (so far)."
By Jake Johnson
October 20,
2017 "Information
Clearing House"
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While media outlets and
television talking heads
were quick to applaud former President George W.
Bush's implicit rebuke of Trumpism in a rare
political address delivered in New York on Thursday,
many critics dissented from the chorus of applause,
calling the speech "hypocritical
bullshit" and
highlighting Bush's long list of offenses that
includes wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Patriot
Act, an overseas torture regime, and "heinous"
treatment of Muslims at home and abroad.
Bush
delivered his remarks before a conference hosted by
his foundation, which he convened "to support
democracy," in the
words of the
New York Times.
During the
course of his 16-minute address, the former
president lamented that "our discourse" has been
"degraded by casual cruelty," and that "we've seen
nationalism distorted into nativism."
Bush also
turned his attention to foreign affairs, noting:
"We've seen the return of isolationist sentiments,
forgetting that American security is directly
threatened by the chaos and despair of distant
places."
"Bullying
and prejudice in our public life sets a national
tone and provides permission for cruelty and
bigotry," Bush said. "The only way to pass along
civic values is to first live up to them."
The
former president's remarks were largely greeted with
positive press, and
many echoed pundit Chris Cilizza's
celebration of the
Bush's "major smackdown" of Trumpism.
Others, however, saw Bush's speech as nothing more
than "hollow
words," given his
long record of human rights abuses.
In a
piece for Vice News, Eve Peyser
argued that the
"racist and authoritarian" policies of the Bush
administration paved the way for Donald Trump's
ascent to the White House.
While
"Bush never verbalized his Islamophobia," Peyser
notes, his "administration detained
more than 1,200 people—most
of whom were Muslims or of Middle Eastern
descent—without charge, instead holding them as
'material witnesses.'"
Bush
may now be denouncing the "conspiracy theories and
outright fabrication" of the present moment, but
"the war in Iraq, which destabilized the region,
killed
hundreds of thousands,
and
helped give rise to ISIS
was predicted on intelligence that Bush's
administration
misrepresented to the American people,"
Peyser observes.
The Trump
administration is now simply building upon the
bigoted policies put into place by the Bush White
House and ignoring the former president's
"platitudes," Peyser concluded.
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Others
similarly criticized the media's largely positive
treatment of Bush's brief emergence from retirement,
arguing that such favorable press amounts to
"rehabilitation" of a "war criminal" who helped
intensify the bigotry and war-mongering he now
claims to oppose.
Some
commentators from major networks also sounded off.
MSNBC's
Chris Hayes
concluded simply:
"The Iraq War was worse than anything Donald Trump
has done (so far)."
This
article was originally published by
Common
Dreams
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