Knowledge Tree
George H.W. Bush
Also known as: President George H.W. Bush, President Bush, George Bush
Facts (84)
Sources
The Persian Gulf TV War by Douglas Kellner (http://www.gseis.ucla ... pages.gseis.ucla.edu 69 facts
claimPrescott Bush, former Senator and father of George H.W. Bush, was a strong supporter of the military and the use of military power to advance U.S. interests.
claimJohn Tower chaired a committee that investigated the Iran/Contra scandals and, according to Douglas Kellner, likely covered up George H.W. Bush's involvement in those scandals.
claimDouglas Kellner claims that the George H.W. Bush administration's assertion that it sought a diplomatic solution to the Gulf crisis was a 'Big Lie.'
claimGeorge H.W. Bush claimed in a television speech that the Saudi government requested U.S. military assistance.
claimBob Woodward's book 'The Commanders' (1991) suggested that George H.W. Bush was the primary advocate for a military solution to the Gulf crisis.
claimThe United States pressured Saudi Arabia to allow U.S. military intervention, contradicting George H.W. Bush's claim that the Saudis requested help.
claimGeorge Bush was an oilman and his family continues to have important oil interests.
claimEleanor Clift wrote an article titled 'The "Carterization" of Bush' for Newsweek on October 22, 1990, contributing to the media narrative regarding George H.W. Bush's leadership image.
claimDouglas Kellner claims that major U.S. newspapers, news magazines, and television networks failed to criticize or debate the wisdom of the George H.W. Bush administration's decision to deploy troops to Saudi Arabia.
claimJim Hoagland assumed that Iraq planned to invade Saudi Arabia and that only a military blow from President George H.W. Bush could prevent this.
perspectiveDouglas Kellner argues that President George H.W. Bush could have prevented the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait by directly contacting Iraq or making a public statement warning Iraq of the consequences of invading its neighbor.
claimThe George H.W. Bush administration decided early in the crisis to use military force to resolve the conflict with Iraq, effectively abandoning serious consideration of a negotiated settlement.
claimDouglas Kellner asserts that mainstream media outlets, including the Washington Post and television networks, acted as conduits for the George H.W. Bush administration's disinformation campaign regarding the Gulf War.
claimThe Washington Post promoted a military option and privileged the Bush administration's perspective during the early days of the Gulf crisis.
perspectiveThe author, Douglas Kellner, suggests that Edward Herman's analysis of the Gulf War may underestimate the extent to which George H.W. Bush and his circle intentionally engineered the crisis and the war.
claimIn mid-November 1990, U.S. President George H.W. Bush interpreted the ongoing economic recession as a consequence of rising oil prices resulting from the Gulf crisis.
accountYasir Arafat delivered a letter from Saddam Hussein to a Palestinian businessman with White House contacts, addressed to George Bush, which confirmed that Iraq was ready to withdraw from Kuwait provided that its problems with Kuwait were resolved first.
accountDuring the Persian Gulf crisis, President George H.W. Bush refused to comment on Iraqi overtures while golfing, with spokesman Marlin Fitzwater dismissing the Iraqi rhetoric as repetitive.
quoteOn August 3, 1990, the New York Times editorial board stated: "The U.S. has no treaty obligation to come to Kuwait's aid. But the gulf states and most nations still look to Washington for leadership and help in organizing action. President Bush has responded with the right lead--a strong national stand and a strong push for collective diplomacy."
accountThe London-based Mideast Mirror reported that King Hussein of Jordan brought a peace proposal from Iraq to President George H.W. Bush, in which Saddam Hussein expressed willingness to negotiate a withdrawal of Iraqi troops from Kuwait, provided that U.N. sanctions were lifted and the U.S. military buildup in Saudi Arabia ended, with the exception of the restoration of the al-Sabah clan in Kuwait.
claimBob Woodward's book 'The Commanders' (1991) suggests that President George Bush was the primary force pushing for war, supported by National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft, Chief of Staff John Sununu, and Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney.
claimTime magazine named George H.W. Bush their 'Man of the Year' in 1990, characterizing him as skilled in foreign policy but incompetent in domestic policy.
claimDuring the Gulf crisis, observers speculated that George H.W. Bush's military actions were driven by a psychological need to overcome a 'wimp' image and prove his toughness.
claimGeorge H.W. Bush nominated John Tower for Secretary of Defense despite known sexual scandals and alcohol abuse stories circulating in Washington circles.
claimPierre Salinger and Eric Laurent claimed that the Bush administration actively subverted Arab attempts to reach a diplomatic solution to the Kuwait crisis in early August 1990.
perspectiveDouglas Kellner asserts that George Bush and the U.S. military-industrial establishment required a war to bolster Bush's presidency and to maintain the U.S. military budget and defense industries following the end of the Cold War.
claimDouglas Kellner asserts that the George H.W. Bush administration actively blocked or ignored diplomatic efforts aimed at avoiding war during the Gulf crisis.
claimAccording to Salinger and Laurent (1991) and Emery (1991), Iraq sought to negotiate a deal to resolve the Gulf crisis, but the Bush administration refused to negotiate.
claimDouglas Kellner claims that the George H.W. Bush administration exaggerated the number of Iraqi troops in Kuwait and the threat to Saudi Arabia to scare the Saudis into accepting U.S. troops and to justify the U.S. military buildup and eventual military action.
quoteIn an August 9, 1990 editorial titled 'The U.S. Stands Up. Who Else?', the New York Times supported President George H.W. Bush's decision to commit U.S. forces to Saudi Arabia, stating: 'President Bush has drawn a line in the sand, committing U.S. forces to face down Saddam Hussein....On balance, he has made the right choice in the right way.'
claimGeorge Bush declared on August 5, 1990, that the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait "would not stand."
claimDuring the Reagan administration, Vice-President George Bush intervened to secure over $5 billion in controversial loans to Iraq and advocated for the export of dual-use technology to Iraq that had military applications.
claimGeorge Bush was the first U.S. president in recent years to be part of both the corporate economic establishment and the National Security State.
claimThe George H.W. Bush administration used mainstream media to manufacture an Iraqi threat to Saudi Arabia, thereby legitimizing the deployment of U.S. troops in the region.
quotePresident George H.W. Bush stated: "I don't rule in or rule out the use of military force."
accountDuring the fall 1990 congressional budget debates, George H.W. Bush lost his budget battle with the Democrats and led the Republican party to defeat in the mid-term elections.
claimIn 1990, the George Bush presidency faced severe domestic economic and political problems, including a sky-rocketing deficit caused by Reagan's and Bush's defense-spending, a severe S&L, banking, and insurance crisis caused by Republican deregulation policies, and proliferating public squalor.
claimDouglas Kellner observes that Washington Post editorial writers and columnists advocated for a military attack on Baghdad prior to President George H.W. Bush's announcement of troop deployments to Saudi Arabia.
claimGeorge Bush described the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait as "naked aggression."
claimGeorge Bush chose a military intervention in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait rather than pursuing a diplomatic solution to restore Kuwaiti sovereignty.
claimGeneral Colin Powell concluded that Iraq was not bluffing about invading Kuwait and told Dick Cheney to warn President George H.W. Bush, but no action was taken.
perspectiveGeorge Bush used the Gulf War crisis to divert attention from domestic economic problems by scapegoating Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait for rising oil prices and economic instability.
claimA senior administration official predicted in September 1990 that if diplomacy yielded no results within a month, President George H.W. Bush would review military options.
accountGeorge Bush deployed thousands of troops to Saudi Arabia on August 7, 1990.
imageFigure 1.1 displays a full page of pictures of headlines and covers of newsmagazines pointing to a failing Bush Presidency, specifically highlighting the S&L crisis, the deficit, failures with Congress, declining polls, and the 'wimp factor'.
quoteNoam Chomsky (1990) criticized the U.S. media's portrayal of George Bush's reaction to Iraq's August 12, 1990, peace proposal, stating: "Television news that day was featuring a well-staged presentation of George Bush the dynamo, racing his power boat, jogging furiously, playing tennis and golf, and otherwise expending his formidable energies on important pursuits, far too busy 'recreating' (as he put it) to waste much time on the occasional fly in Arab garb that he might have to swat. As the TV news clips were careful to stress, the President's disdain for this irritant was so great that he scarcely even broke his golf stroke to express his contempt for what the anchorperson termed Hussein's 'so-called offer,' not to be regarded as 'serious.' The proposal merited one dismissive sentence in a news story on the blockade in the next day's New York Times."
claimJim Hoagland urged President George H.W. Bush to take urgent and forceful military action against Iraq to save his presidency.
accountThe New York Times published a headline on August 6, 1990, stating 'Bush, Hinting Force, Declares Gulf Impasse 'Will Not Stand'', with a subheadline regarding Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney's mission to Saudi Arabia to secure access to military installations.
accountDuring a visit to the United States on August 15, 1990, King Hussein of Jordan reportedly delivered a peace message from Saddam Hussein to President George H.W. Bush at his Kennebunkport vacation home.
perspectiveDouglas Kellner argues that George H.W. Bush's role in the Gulf War was an extension of his career serving the interests of the military, intelligence apparatus, and aggressive U.S. foreign policy.
claimNewsweek published a cover story titled 'Bush Battles the "Wimp Factor"' on October 19, 1987, which contributed to media portrayals of George H.W. Bush as a 'wimp'.
claimWeiner (1991) argued that George H.W. Bush was experiencing a 'domestic political collapse of historic proportions' and required a war to reverse his political fortunes.
claimIn a Washington Post column titled 'Bush and the Beast of Baghdad,' Mary McGrory urged President George H.W. Bush to bomb Iraq following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.
claimDuring the Reagan administration, George H.W. Bush supported the contra war against the Nicaraguan government, and there were speculations that an illegal contra supply operation was run out of his office.
claimInterpreters of the events leading up to the Persian Gulf War depict George H.W. Bush as the chief promoter of a military option to resolve the crisis.
quoteBarbara Ehrenreich observed that following the Panama invasion, President George H.W. Bush exulted in being called a 'macho man' and the press characterized his actions as an 'initiation rite' demonstrating his 'willingness to shed blood'.
perspectiveAlexander Cockburn noted that President George H.W. Bush was only interested in discussing the blockade of shipments to Iraq through the Jordanian port of Aqaba during his meeting with King Hussein of Jordan.
claimThe Bush administration dismissed Iraqi peace offers because President George H.W. Bush demanded the unconditional withdrawal of Iraq from Kuwait.
claimThomas Friedman and Patrick Tyler, writing in the New York Times on March 3, 1991, claimed that the George H.W. Bush administration decided on the path to war in September 1990, while the Times's analysis suggested that George H.W. Bush and Brent Scowcroft were pushing for the military option from the beginning.
perspectiveIn George Bush's New World Order, it would be the military power of the mighty that would settle disputes and not reason or diplomacy.
claimThe United States government, under George Bush, prioritized protecting Saudi Arabia and Israel and preventing Iraq from wielding political influence or controlling oil prices in the Middle East.
claimGeorge H.W. Bush served as head of the CIA in 1976 and identified with the National Security State, U.S. military power, and the use of force to achieve policy goals.
perspectiveCBS coverage justified President George H.W. Bush's refusal to negotiate and his militarist gestures by framing the situation as one where Bush held the strongest hand and saw no need to offer Saddam Hussein hope for a peaceful settlement.
claimBob Woodward's account portrayed General Norman Schwarzkopf as having reservations regarding the rush to war favored by President George H.W. Bush and his inner circle.
claimIn October 1989, nine months before Iraq invaded Kuwait, George Bush signed a top-secret directive ordering closer ties with Baghdad and authorizing $1 billion in loan guarantees to finance Iraq's purchase of U.S. agricultural products.
claimGeorge Bush served as a director of the CIA and consistently supported the use of military force and covert operations to promote U.S. foreign policy and interests.
perspectiveDouglas Kellner suggests that George H.W. Bush appointed John Tower as Secretary of Defense and Brent Scowcroft as National Security Adviser to keep individuals with potentially damaging knowledge about the Iran/Contra scandal within his administration.
claimJim Hoagland claimed that President Ronald Reagan's decision to bomb Libya was the correct model for President George H.W. Bush to follow regarding Iraq.
claimWilliam Safire speculated in a New York Times Op-Ed column on May 18, 1991, that George H.W. Bush's hyperthyroid condition might have influenced his decision to pursue military action in the Persian Gulf.
History of the Central Intelligence Agency - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org 5 facts
measurementDuring the tenure of George H. W. Bush as Director of Central Intelligence, the Department of Defense controlled 80% of the total United States intelligence budget.
accountPresident George H. W. Bush ordered United States troops to enter Somalia for a humanitarian mission known as Operation Restore Hope after half a million people had starved in the country.
accountFollowing the Gulf War, the Central Intelligence Agency reported that an uprising against Saddam Hussein was possible based on intelligence from exiles, but the subsequent uprisings by Shiites and Kurds were brutally crushed after President George H.W. Bush withdrew support.
accountWilliam J. Casey, a member of President Gerald Ford's Intelligence Advisory Board, successfully pressured George H. W. Bush to allow an external group, known as 'Team B', to produce Soviet military estimates.
accountGeorge H. W. Bush replaced William Colby as Director of Central Intelligence.
Steven M. Greer - Wikiquote en.wikiquote.org 4 facts
claimGeorge H.W. Bush, while serving as the Director of Central Intelligence, refused to provide information regarding the secrecy of extraterrestrial visitation to the President of the United States.
accountFifteen years after the 2001 press conference, Steven Greer opened his archives of documents and interviews, which allegedly revealed that the Director of Central Intelligence George H.W. Bush refused to provide this information to the President of the United States.
accountSteven Greer recounts a dream in which he foresaw a threat to President George H.W. Bush's life in Colombia involving shoulder-held missiles and drug cartels. He claims he advised the Secret Service on security measures, and later read a Newsweek article confirming that a $5 million contract had been placed on the President's life and that arms merchants had sold missiles to Colombian drug cartels.
accountSteven Greer recounts a personal experience where he claims to have warned a Secret Service agent about a potential assassination attempt on President George H.W. Bush in Colombia, which he later claimed was corroborated by a Newsweek article regarding a contract on the President's life and the sale of missiles to Colombian drug cartels.
The Evolution of the U.S. Intelligence Community-An Historical ... govinfo.gov 4 facts
claimIn 1991 and 1992, the U.S. Congress passed non-binding 'Sense of Congress' resolutions urging the President to declassify and make public the aggregate funding for intelligence, but President George H.W. Bush declined to do so.
claimExecutive Order 12333 remains in effect, as neither President George H.W. Bush nor President Bill Clinton issued executive orders on intelligence that superseded it.
accountPresident George H.W. Bush issued pardons to six individuals charged in the Iran-Contra affair.
accountIn 1988, following the election of President George Bush, who was a former Director of Central Intelligence, Congress received assurances that the Iran-Contra affair would not be repeated and that appropriate consultations would occur regarding future covert actions.
History of tariffs in the United States - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org 1 fact
claimDuring the Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush administrations, the Republican Party shifted away from protectionist policies, opposing quotas and supporting the GATT/WTO policy of minimal economic barriers to global trade.
[PDF] The Agency: A History of the CIA - Pima County Public Library library.pima.gov 1 fact
claimIndividuals with ties to a company were pardoned by President George H.W. Bush or had their cases dismissed.