RIP George H.W. Bush, 1924-2018

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Did he do anything worthy of remembrance?

Bart Simpson cartoon/ SNL skits are it?

Yes his public persona was classy, the complete opposite of Trump, and he did not weasel out of military. So his death does nostalgically remind me of a time gone by and not coming back.

BUT, I highly suspect he knew about and let happen 9/11 and got away with it. While I usually follow the rule of not speaking ill of people even people I think are really bad people in the immediate aftermath of their death this is something I just can’t get over and will be a lingering sore spot until the time of my own death.

What!! ! ! ! President George Herbert Walker Bush allowed 9/11 to happen? Considering that his Presidency ended on January 20, 1993 and the attack on the World Trade Center was on September 11, 2001, how could he have possibly allowed the terrorists to attack the World Trade Center? Did he have some advance notice of plans by Al Queda to attack the World Trade Center prior to January 20, 1993 and did nothing about it? Or are you saying that as a private citizen he should have somehow stopped the attack years after the end of his Presidency?

It would be ludicrous enough to claim that President George Walker Bush knew about the attack in advance. That's the kind of paranoid conspiracy theory for which there is no evidence at all. But to blame it on George Herbert Walker Bush is beyond belief.

Edit: After thinking about it for a few minutes, I suspect that you are confusing the father and son. Even then, there is no rational reason to believe that President George W Bush had any knowledge about plans to attack the World Trade Center.

ON the day Osama bin Laden's men attacked America, Shafiq bin Laden, described as an estranged brother of the terrorist, was at an investment conference in Washington, DC, along with two people who are close to President George Bush: his father, the first President Bush, and James Baker, the former secretary of state who masterminded the legal campaign that secured Dubya's move to the White House. The conference was hosted by the Carlyle Group, a private equity firm that manages billions of dollars, including, at the time, some bin Laden family wealth. It also employs Messrs Bush and Baker.

In the immediate aftermath of the attacks, when no one was being allowed in or out of the United States, many members of the bin Laden family in America were spirited home to Saudi Arabia. The revival of defence spending that followed greatly increased the value of the Carlyle Group's investments in defence companies.

While some former presidents are happy to play golf, others may feel they can still earn a decent living. What rules should govern the commercial activities of former President Bush; or, for that matter, former British prime minister, John Major; or former South Korean prime minister, Park Tae-joon—all of whom have taken the Carlyle nickel? Mr Bush senior receives private intelligence briefings that are not available to ordinary investors. Does his inside knowledge of, and possible influence over, the administration's political strategy towards, say, North Korea and Saudi Arabia directly benefit Carlyle? If so, does that constitute an unacceptable conflict of interest?

Perhaps there would be less reason to worry about Carlyle if there were rival clubs of ex-political heavyweights competing within the iron triangle. Alas, this firm seems to be an aspiring monopolist, hoovering up former public officials from across the political divide and, increasingly, from across the world. It is becoming more ambitious in Europe, and keenly eyeing China. Perhaps there would be less reason to worry if Carlyle's activities were more open—but as a private equity firm, it has largely escaped America's recent efforts to improve the governance and transparency of companies, which is unfortunate.

For 14 years now, with almost no publicity, the company has been signing up an impressive list of former politicians - including the first President Bush and his secretary of state, James Baker; John Major; one-time World Bank treasurer Afsaneh Masheyekhi and several south-east Asian powerbrokers - and using their contacts and influence to promote the group. Among the companies Carlyle owns are those which make equipment, vehicles and munitions for the US military, and its celebrity employees have long served an ingenious dual purpose, helping encourage investments from the very wealthy while also smoothing the path for Carlyle's defence

Carlyle has become the thread which indirectly links American military policy in Afghanistan to the personal financial fortunes of its celebrity employees, not least the current president's father. And, until earlier this month, Carlyle provided another curious link to the Afghan crisis: among the firm's multi-million-dollar investors were members of the family of Osama bin Laden.

Last year, George Bush Sr and John Major travelled to Riyadh to talk with senior Saudi businessmen. In September 2000, Carlyle hired speakers including Colin Powell and AOL Time Warner chair Steve Case to address an extravagant party at Washington's Monarch Hotel. Months later, Major joined James Baker for a function at the Lanesborough Hotel in London, to explain the Florida election controversy to the wealthy attendees.

Carlyle partners, who include Baker and the firm's chairman, Frank Carlucci - Ronald Reagan's defence secretary and a former deputy director of the CIA - own stakes that would be worth $180m each if each partner owned an equal slice. As in many areas of its work, though, Carlyle is not obliged to reveal the details, and chooses not to.

But what sets Carlyle apart is the way it has exploited its political contacts. When Carlucci arrived there in 1989, he brought with him a phalanx of former subordinates from the CIA and the Pentagon, and an awareness of the scale of business a company like Carlyle could do in the corridors and steak-houses of Washington. In a decade and a half, the firm has been able to realise a 34% rate of return on its investments, and now claims to be the largest private equity firm in the world. Success brought more investors, including the international financier George Soros and, in 1995, the wealthy Saudi Binladin family, who insist they long ago severed all links with their notorious relative. The first president Bush is understood to have visited the Binladins in Saudi Arabia twice on the firm's behalf.

Poplar Bluff, Mo.: Mr. Coll, Your book sounds interesting and I am planning on reading it. My question is did the Bin Laden family really invest in George Bush's oil business during the 1970's and 1980's? If so, is anyone but Michael Moore planning on asking him about the relationship and its records?

Steve Coll: The Bin Ladens and George W. Bush had a common business partner during the 1970s. That partner invested money into Bush's oil partnerships but has said in the past that the money he invested was his own and did not come from the Bin Ladens or other Arab investors. (He declined to talk to me about it.) No document or testimony has yet surfaced to contradict him

At IPO in 1997, Securacom listed among its clients Washington Dulles International Airport, Hewlett-Packard, EDS, United Airlines, Gillette, MCI, the World Trade Center, and other facilities including hospitals, prisons, corporations, utilities, universities.

Marvin Bush, son of former US president George H.W. Bush, and brother to former US president George W. Bush, served on the board of directors from 1993 to June 2000.

No grief police decide what I can say either. Just waiting for Kissinger to kick the bucket I ain't holding back. Dying doesn't let people off being responsible for the deaths and suffering of others across the world.

"A file photo that was taken in 1944 of Navy pilot Lt. j.g. George H. W. Bush in his Grumman TBF Avenger torpedo bomber. (U.S. Navy photo courtesy of the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum)"

https://strategypage.com/military_photo ... 02030.aspx

I remember when Jerry Falwell died, Christopher Hitchens was on CNN trashing the POS to this disdain of the other guests. He was fearless!


It's going to a long week listening to the press and the phony liberals heap praise over a man they despised while he was alive. It's one thing to offer condolences to his family, but another thing all together to be hypocrites by praising him.

Again people please knock it off with the mud-slinging! It has gotten out-of-control and if you need to vent, take it elsewhere.

Again people please knock it off with the mud-slinging! It has gotten out-of-control and if you need to vent, take it elsewhere.