The Lies, Foibles, and Misrepresentations of George W Bush

... The President must mourn every loss in an intensely private way, because he does not reach out to the families of the soldiers lost in the war he was so eager to start. Breaking with long tradition, he does not attend funerals and has rarely spoken to bereaved families who might be comforted by a few words from their President.

Indeed, the Bush Administration has little use for the ceremonial traditions surrounding the dead of war. For example, a Pentagon directive to US military bases banned arrival ceremonies or media coverage of coffins arriving home from the war.

And the wounded also are hidden from view.

While the President speaks of sacrifice and resolve, the wounded soldiers who have been the instruments of that resolve are brought home under cover of darkness as if they were objects of shame.

Just as the President's staff protected him from exposure to a "politically perilous fray," so does the Bush Administration protect the public from exposure to truths that might shake their support of his administration, and his war.

On a day after 19 soldiers died, President Bush said, "America will never run."

He speaks bravely for someone who lacks the moral courage to confront the price paid for his decisions.

This is a pack of untruths, misrepresentations of fact and deliberately inflammatory rhetoric. There is no "... long tradition" of presidents attending the funerals of soldiers fallen in our wars. Every administration has sought to avoid media exploitation of our war dead and wounded in every conflict we have fought. I submit that Pdiddie is no fit judge of the president's moral courage or the lack thereof.

Lyndon Baines Johnson - According to the Johnson Library, LBJ attended two funerals for soldiers who died during the Vietnam War. The first funeral was for Captain Albert Smith, son of White House correspondent Merriman Smith, which was held February 28, 1966. The second was for Major General Keith R. Ware, held September 17, 1968. LBJ had met Ware while visiting Vietnam.

Richard Nixon - Nixon awarded posthumous Medals of Honor to the families of several soldiers on April 22, 1971 and on several other occasions. On April 16, 1972, he met with the family of John Paul Vann in the Oval Office following his funeral at Arlington National Cemetery. (Vann's experience in Vietnam was the subject of a book, later made into a film, named "A Bright Shining Lie", written by Neil Sheehan.) In 1973 he met with the family of Col. William Nolde after he was buried in Arlington. Colonel Nolde was killed on January 27th, the night before the cease-fire went into effect.

Jimmy Carter - attended a memorial service for the soldiers killed in the failed rescue of America hostages in Iran in 1980.

Ronald Reagan - attended memorial services on several occasions for American soldiers. In 1983 he attended a service at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, in connection with the bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut, which cost the lives of 241 people. In 1987 he attended a service at Mayport Naval Station in Florida for the sailors killed on the USS Stark.

George H.W. Bush - President George Herbert Walker Bush does not appear to have attended any funerals for American soldiers. (The NYT, citing Marlin Fitzwater as a source, indicated that the president did attend several such funerals. But no details were provided.)

Bill Clinton - attended a service in October 2000 in memory of the 17 sailors killed in the attack on the USS Cole.

georgeob1 wrote:

This is a pack of untruths, misrepresentations of fact and deliberately inflammatory rhetoric. There is no "... long tradition" of presidents attending the funerals of soldiers fallen in our wars. Every administration has sought to avoid media exploitation of our war dead and wounded in every conflict we have fought. I submit that Pdiddie is no fit judge of the president's moral courage or the lack thereof.

Well, george, I submit that, as usual, you are poorly informed, misguided, and rude.

According to the History News Network:

Quote:

Lyndon Baines Johnson - According to the Johnson Library, LBJ attended two funerals for soldiers who died during the Vietnam War. The first funeral was for Captain Albert Smith, son of White House correspondent Merriman Smith, which was held February 28, 1966. The second was for Major General Keith R. Ware, held September 17, 1968. LBJ had met Ware while visiting Vietnam.

Richard Nixon - Nixon awarded posthumous Medals of Honor to the families of several soldiers on April 22, 1971 and on several other occasions. On April 16, 1972, he met with the family of John Paul Vann in the Oval Office following his funeral at Arlington National Cemetery. (Vann's experience in Vietnam was the subject of a book, later made into a film, named "A Bright Shining Lie", written by Neil Sheehan.) In 1973 he met with the family of Col. William Nolde after he was buried in Arlington. Colonel Nolde was killed on January 27th, the night before the cease-fire went into effect.

Jimmy Carter - attended a memorial service for the soldiers killed in the failed rescue of America hostages in Iran in 1980.

Ronald Reagan - attended memorial services on several occasions for American soldiers. In 1983 he attended a service at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, in connection with the bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut, which cost the lives of 241 people. In 1987 he attended a service at Mayport Naval Station in Florida for the sailors killed on the USS Stark.

George H.W. Bush - President George Herbert Walker Bush does not appear to have attended any funerals for American soldiers. (The NYT, citing Marlin Fitzwater as a source, indicated that the president did attend several such funerals. But no details were provided.)

Bill Clinton - attended a service in October 2000 in memory of the 17 sailors killed in the attack on the USS Cole.

Bush is a fake, a phony; he poses in soldier uniforms and with real soldiers in order to capture some of the moxie of real heroes. A cheap facade hiding a shallow, cowardly fool.

His meeting with families (on his recent trip to London) of some of the 53 British servicemen killed in Iraq was "billed as one of the centerpieces of his state visit to wartime ally Britain," Reuters reported, and in pre-trip interviews the President "stressed his plans to meet the [British] families" and to "tell them their loved ones did not die in vain."

How nice. The same American commander-in-chief who has declined to attend funerals for any of the more than 400 American soldiers killed in Iraq?

Instead, he has occupied his time with more than 75 fundraising trips.

President Bush has had no shortage of opportunities to honor the men who have died for his lies, as in a few short months the war death toll has already exceeded that of the first three years of the Vietnam War.

Yet he has declined to send even a single White House official to a single serviceman's funeral. He has banned ceremony and news coverage for returning coffins -- they are to be shipped in furtively, guiltily, and not in body bags but "transfer tubes ." His Pentagon has formally stated that journalists' microphones "are not permitted... anywhere near the grave site" at honor-guard Arlington funerals.

"Bush and his people sent them out to get killed and now you can't get one of them in Washington to mention these dead," notes Newsday columnist Jimmy Breslin. "Your government would prefer that night falls and the dead are buried in darkness. We must keep them remote, names on a list, and concentrate on things like patriotism, exporting democracy and shipping freedom ..."

Breslin's column concludes: "Here is your war so far this week," followed by a shockingly long list of one week's casualties. Or check out The Washington Post's "Faces of the Fallen",which tells about each American to die in the line of Iraq duty.

Remember, these are Americans your President -- on the basis of crass political calculation -- refuses to honor.

Instead, on the basis of an equally crass calculation, he focus-grouped the funeral/grief vision thing with British extras. If Karl Rove thinks it'll work, it'll be campaign season footage; if it bombs like the "Mission Accomplished" banner, it'll drop to the cutting-room floor. Apparently, it went limp, as we have heard nothing about it since his return from the UK.

Life goes cheerfully on for the "I travel in somewhat of a bubble" President.

And his apologists.

george now concedes the point that there is, indeed, a 40-year-tradition (broken only by two Bushes) of attending services for fallen soldiers

Bush Comforts Families Of War Dead, Cheered By Marines
At a military base hard hit by combat deaths, President Bush shed tears Thursday with relatives of Marines killed in Iraq [..] Bush and his wife Laura met in a chapel annex with about 20 family members of five Camp Lejeune-based Marines killed in Iraq. [..] Bush talked with the families after a speech to troops [..] Some 12,000 camouflage-clad Marines and 8,000 more family members and friends spilled out from a temporary stadium into a green field named in honor of Marines who have died. The field was ringed with tanks, allowing several Marines to climb higher for a better view.

Bush pays respects to sacrifices in Iraq and elsewhere
On a day when two U.S. soldiers were killed in Iraq, President Bush used a Columbus Day speech to pay tribute to Americans who have died in that war and others. [..] Bush recalled a meeting at Fort Stewart, Georgia, a month ago with relatives of soldiers killed in Iraq. "I've hugged and cried with, and talked to a room full of families, of loved ones, and I did the best I could do to console them in their grief. And I owe that to those who have suffered," Bush said.

Of course, the question begs to be asked: Why won't the leader of the free world -- the main man in our war on terrorism -- pay his respects to those who sacrificed all for our country?

The answer is enough to worry even the most pro-Bush patriots.

Bush and his handlers (Karl Rove and the Republican National Committee) don't want the press, and, moreover, the Democrats, to get any images of Bush next to a flag-draped coffin.

I can hear the Bush re-election machine chirping, "As long as the president doesn't attend any funerals -- as long as he isn't pictured next to a soldier's casket or consoling a grieving widow -- then it's America's war, not his."

That's it in a nutshell; Bush doesn't go to service members' funerals because it's not good for his re-election campaign.

Even Bill Clinton, the draft-dodging pariah of the neocons, went to Fort Benning after the Somalia disaster to pay his respects to the men he sent into battle to die for our country.

Sometimes, the right thing to do isn't always the most politically expedient decision. But it's time Bush puts re-election worries aside and assumes his title of commander in chief and everything that goes with that title.

I'm the one who linked the HNN article, nimh.

And good people (that's you and me) are gonna have to disagree on this one.

This sums it up for me (at least as far as why Bush will never be attending any services):

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That's it in a nutshell; Bush doesn't go to service members' funerals because it's not good for his re-election campaign.

Even Bill Clinton, the draft-dodging pariah of the neocons, went to Fort Benning after the Somalia disaster to pay his respects to the men he sent into battle to die for our country.

Bush's absence at funerals unacceptable

President Bush's opponents say he is trying to keep the spotlight off the fatalities in Iraq. "This administration manipulates information and takes great care to manage events, and sometimes that goes too far," said Joe Lockhart, who as White House press secretary joined President Bill Clinton at several ceremonies for returning remains. "For them to sit there and make a political decision because this hurts them politically -- I'm outraged."

But in early 1991, at the time of the Persian Gulf War, the Pentagon said there would be no more media coverage of coffins returning to Dover, the main arrival point; a year earlier, Bush was angered when television networks showed him giving a news briefing on a split screen with caskets arriving.

But the photos of coffins arriving at Andrews and elsewhere continued to appear through the Clinton administration. In 1996, Dover made an exception to allow filming of Clinton's visit to welcome the 33 caskets with remains from Commerce Secretary Ronald H. Brown's plane crash. In 1998, Clinton went to Andrews to see the coffins of Americans killed in the terrorist bombing in Nairobi. Dover also allowed public distribution of photos of the homecoming caskets after the terrorist attack on the USS Cole in 2000.