[pjw] The passing of George HW Bush

[Peace and Justice Works]

Hi
We are sometimes accused of being insensitive when past presidents 
die. PJW did a "Richard Nixon was not a hero" protest in the 1990s after 
seeing the glowing media responses.

So I will frame this essay about the passing of George HW Bush (41) in a 
positive way.

It is because of Bush I got up out of my proverbial armchair and hit the 
streets after a friend of mine was stationed in the Gulf in the leadup to 
Iraq War part 1.

Bush Sr. launched attacks on fewer countries (Panama, Iraq, Somalia) than 
Bush Jr. (Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia), and never got 
on an aircraft carrier in a flight suit to say "Mission Accomplished."

Bush Sr.'s attack on Iraq's infrastructure and war that included bombing 
the front and end of an Iraqi military convoy fleeing Kuwait did not end 
with a physical occupation of Iraq, unlike 2003's "Shock and Awe" by Jr.

The years of aerial bombings of the "no-fly zones" did not come from 
unmanned drones. Oh yeah, they weren't invented yet.

I could probably go on and on, but once again hearing about the "thousand 
points of light" which were supposed to be humanitarian acts in the US but 
always made the peace movement think of the bombs over Baghdad moved me to 
post a counterpoint. Thoughts welcome.

dan handelman
peace and justice works