Bush Family and Mideast: a Tale Four Generations in the Making

The truth is finally squeezing its way out into the open. President Bush has brought some of his weapons-of-mass-destruction search experts home with the information that the WMD were destroyed several years ago. “The Barreling Bushes” by Kevin Phillips (Opinion, Jan. 11) describes the four generations of Bushes’ connections in the Mideast with illegal special interests and corruption. The “60 Minutes” interview on Sunday with former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill and writer Ron Suskind reveals the inner workings of the Bush Cabinet and management style and the real motive for going to war (with copious documents as supporting evidence).

For these and many other reasons, it is time for House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert to become president either through the impeachment process or through resignations.

Jim Purrington

Fullerton

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I applaud the report by Jeffrey Record, from the Army War College, stating that the Bush administration’s war in Iraq was “unnecessary” and a “detour” (Jan. 12), but did he really believe that Bush went there looking for Al Qaeda? Is he not aware that, for the last three generations, the mantra of the Bush dynasty has been “oil, oil, oil”? Perhaps he was just being polite.

Ernest G. Masler

Malibu

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Re “Iraq Plans Made Before 9/11, O’Neill Says,” Jan. 11: Finally! I have felt from the beginning of the discussion about Iraq that Bush had a hidden agenda and was planning to go to war long before he publicly advocated it. O’Neill has done us a great service to make public the inner workings of the White House. Bush was obviously lying to the American public during all those months when he said over and over that he had not made up his mind about whether to attack Iraq.

We have a president who is incapable of listening and considering alternatives. He makes up his mind and then charges ahead without ever considering anyone or anything that might cause him to rethink his position. This is a dangerous quality for a world leader.

Peggy Schulz

Sherman Oaks

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Thank you very much for printing Phillips’ alarming and informative expose of the intricate and lucrative bedfellow relationship that the Bush family has had with the “Sultans of Ka-Ching” for 80 years and running. Bush family members have held many of the highest offices in the land, including the highest, and they are so entrenched “in the loop” that they have not worked to defend the Constitution but rather the almighty dollar going into the right pockets, at the expense of global contentment and America’s fairest ideals.

The American people really should be aware of the culture that President Bush was raised in from birth and realize in what direction this leads us.

Blake Kamper

Los Angeles

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Phillips charges that four generations of the Bush family have embroiled the U.S. in the Middle East. He concludes that this suggests a conflict of interest that deserves to be part of the 2004 political debate. The problem with Phillips’ position is that it is long on innuendo. President Roosevelt, during World War ll, expanded diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia. He was followed notably in this effort by presidents Eisenhower, Nixon and Reagan. The article does not state how the tentacles of this Bush “conspiracy” manipulated these men.

What Phillips wants us to believe is that the first Gulf War, the World Trade Center attack, the present war and Islamic radicalism are the result of the Bush dynasty, and now that they have achieved these results they are able to profit from them. This is, at best, a dry well.

Robert C. Gusman

Calabasas

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Re “Today It’s the War on Terror, Stupid,” Commentary, Jan. 9: John Ellis asserts of his cousin’s administration, “Whatever one thinks of Bush’s counterterrorism strategy, it does have the advantage of being grounded in reality.”

Al Qaeda’s threat is undiminished; Iraq is neither stable nor safe; Afghanistan remains in the hands of warlords. Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction and threat to the world remain theoretical. We have embraced as allies authoritarian regimes that sold nuclear secrets to our enemies, that taught and funded the terrorists who attacked us on 9/11 and that continue to thwart efforts to track Al Qaeda’s members and funding. We have alienated democratic regimes and longtime allies that cooperated in closing down Al Qaeda’s money laundering and that continue to investigate and break up terrorist cells.

From the facts, it would appear that Bush’s strategy is based upon wishful thinking and fear-mongering, not reality.

Christopher Plourde

Venice