Page 29 - Aruba Today
P. 29
PEOPLE & ARTS A29
Friday 6 November 2015
Elder Bush criticizes Cheney, Rumsfeld in new biography
In his statement, George W. Emails to Cheney fam-
Bush did not respond to his ily contacts seeking com-
father’s critical comments ment were not immediate-
about the strong rhetoric. ly returned.q
In this Friday, Dec. 15, 2006, file photo, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, left, pauses as
President George W. Bush, and Vice President Dick Cheney participate in Rumsfeld’s farewell
ceremony at the Pentagon in Washington.
Associated Press
NANCY BENAC “And he served as vice Talking about Rumsfeld, the
Associated Press president, he served my elder Bush used stronger,
WASHINGTON (AP) — In a brother really well. Different more personal criticism, the
blistering critique, former eras. Different times.” Times reported.
President George H.W. George W. Bush, in a state- “I think he served the presi-
Bush says onetime Penta- ment issued by his office, dent badly. I don’t like
gon chief Donald Rumsfeld said he was “proud to have what he did, and I think it
“served the president bad- served with Dick Cheney hurt the president having
ly” when his son George W. and Don Rumsfeld. Dick his iron-ass view of every-
Bush was in the White House Cheney did a superb job thing,” Bush said.
and that former Vice Presi- as vice president, and I Rumsfeld, in a statement,
dent Dick Cheney “built his was fortunate to have him responded: “Bush 41 is
own empire” and asserted by my side throughout my getting up in years and
too much “hard-line” influ- presidency. Don Rumsfeld misjudges Bush 43, who I
ence. ably led the Pentagon and found made his own deci-
The critical assessments was an effective secretary sions. There are hundreds of
of Rumsfeld and Cheney of defense.” memos on www.rumsfeld.
— key players in the U.S.- The book, “Destiny and com that represent advice
led war in Iraq — are con- Power: The American Od- DoD gave the president.”
tained in a biography of yssey of George Herbert Dod is shorthand for the
the nation’s 41st president Walker Bush,” also contains Defense Department.
to be published next week. the elder Bush’s rumina- The elder Bush did not sug-
A copy was obtained by tions about his son, whom gest in the book that he dis-
The New York Times. he praised but also called agreed with his son about
In interviews with biogra- responsible for empower- the invasion of Iraq.
pher Jon Meacham, Bush, ing Cheney and Rumsfeld. Iraqi dictator Saddam Hus-
now 91, said that Cheney, Of Cheney, Bush said, “He sein “is gone, and with him
who also served in the elder just became very hard-line went a lot of brutality and
Bush’s Cabinet, acted too and very different from the nastiness and awfulness,”
independently and assert- Dick Cheney I knew and Bush said.
ed too much “hard-line” worked with.” He said he worried that the
influence within George W. Bush said he thinks the younger Bush used rhetoric
Bush’s administration, espe- Sept. 11, 2001 attacks that was at times too strong,
cially after the Sept. 11 at- against the U.S. changed citing as an example the
tacks. the vice president, making 43rd president’s 2002 State
Jeb Bush, who is running for him more hawkish about of the Union address, dur-
the Republican presidential the use of U.S. military force ing which he described an
nomination, said on Thurs- abroad. “axis of evil” including Iraq,
day that he had not read “His seeming knuckling Iran and North Korea.
the book. “My thought was under to the real hard- “You go back to the ‘axis of
that Dick Cheney served charging guys who want to evil’ and these things and I
my dad really well,” Bush fight about everything, use think that might be histori-
said in an Associated Press force to get our way in the cally proved to be not ben-
interview in New Hamshire. Middle East,” Bush said. efiting anything,” he said.
