George W. Bush Jr.: An Elitist War Criminal

By David Starr

 

Due to the degree of democracy (although it is not enough) in the United States, critics of those in power are not usually burdened with the consequences.  But it has depended and still depends on factors of race, class, gender and political affiliation.

 

Regarding consequences, there are U.S. citizens who have pushed for and committed atrocities in the U.S. and especially worldwide in poor countries. Outrageously, these individuals have been and are exempt from being prosecuted in the International Criminal Court (ICC). This is derived from the history of U.S. exceptionalism and the perverted compulsion of the powerful and their supporters having a superiority complex. 

 

One individual whose words and actions have resulted in war crimes is George W. Bush Jr., but he is apparently exempted from any punishment for the crimes. Having a dignified life in the U.S., Bush Jr. does not seriously take the blame for U.S. crimes in Iraq, of which his regime and supporters pushed an illegal war against that nation. Both Republicans and Democrats in Congress voted to go to war based on lies. 

 

Among the lies were: the accusation that Iraq received aluminum tubes used to enrich uranium to build bombs; the claim that Saddam Hussein was involved in 9/11; trying to make a connection to Hussein and Al Qaeda although both were rivals; and that Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. The Bush Jr. regime pushed these lies on the U.S. public with the media contributing to the propaganda. And some Democrats went along with it. 

 

Because of the Iraq War, about one million Iraqis died. Some were tortured in the vilest sense at Abu Ghraib prison. U.S. military personnel and private contractors were not punished for their war crimes in the ICC. And, of course, Bush Jr. and other politicians got off without repercussion.

 

In an article published by Common Dreams, Jessica Corbett quoted Jeremy Scahill, writing for the Intercept, that Bush Jr., along with Dick Cheney and Henry Kissinger “should be serving substantial prison sentences for directing and orchestrating the gravest of criminal activity: war crimes.” Corbett also added that former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, again quoting Scahill, “steadfastly refused to even consider impeachment proceedings against Bush.” 

 

Pelosi made the shameful comment that “impeachment is off the table.” This is an example of a neoliberal virtually protecting a Republican criminal.

 

Corbett wrote that the “United States is notably not a party to the Rome Statute of the [ICC].” Further, “Nearly a year after 9/11, Bush signed into law the American Servicemembers’ Protection Act.” This is a guarantee that no U.S. citizen would be punished according to international law for committing crimes. Scahill is quoted again by Corbett: “The U.S. perspective is to ensure that laws will never be applied to Americans or their friends.”

 

In Truthout, Marjorie Cohen wrote that the U.S.-U.K. bombing of Baghdad was “horrific,” a product of “Shock and Awe.” “In rapid succession, ‘coalition forces’ dropped 3,000 bombs, including many that weighed 2,000 pounds.” Cohn also wrote that “U.S. forces committed many other war crimes in Iraq, including extrajudicial killings, torture and the targeting of civilians, which are prohibited by the Geneva Conventions,” among other conventions.

 

Going further, John Catalinotto wrote in Workers World that “establishment ‘news sources’ failed to mention that the ICC never indicted a single U.S. political leader for the war crimes the Pentagon committed in Iraq.” He went on to quote the Costs of War Project: “The war, in which U.S. ground presence peaked in 2007 with over 170,000 soldiers, caused massive death, destruction and political instability in Iraq.” 

 

The Costs of War Project “estimated [that] 300,000 people have died from war violence in Iraq…” But Catalinotto wrote: “Others estimate that 1 million more Iraqis died as an indirect result of the occupation and Washington’s conscious division of Iraqi society. Some 8 million Iraqis have been displaced, and the fighting left 4 million Iraqi children orphans. (New York University Prof. Sinan Antoon, an Iraqi exile, on Democracy Now!, March 20.)”     

 

In September 2021 at an event in Beverly Hills, someone did call out Bush Jr. for his involvement in the Iraq War. Iraq veteran Michael Prysner did not mince words, accusing Bush Jr. of lying and being responsible for the deaths of many in Iraq. With an air of arrogance, Bush Jr. told Prysner to “sit and behave,” as though he had no regrets about the damage he did to Iraq. Prysner told him to apologize. He continued to demand Bush Jr. apologize while being “escorted” out of the event.

 

According to Sara Haghdoosti, writing in Jacobin, there are Democratic elites who are giving Bush Jr. the benefit of the doubt since he has criticized Trump and his actions. “Today George W. Bush is the target of a perverse rehabilitation campaign, rooted in the idea that his criticism of Donald Trump’s election lies makes him some kind of savior of our democracy. Yet Bush and Trump are more alike than not–two presidents who used their power to inflict horrible harm around the world. Their similarity lays bare the ways that our governing system fails to deliver accountability for leaders who make destructive choices with the violent means at their disposal.” And Haghdoosti makes another valid point: “The lack of accountability for the lies, the needless invasion and human rights abuses in Iraq isn’t just morally reprehensible–it still mars our politics today.”

 

In recent years, the degree of democracy in the United States has been further threatened, while in the past it was violated repeatedly due to the actions within domestic and foreign policies. And the perpetrators have not been held accountable. It’s long overdue they were.