George Bush: The Unauthorized Biography - Get a Free Blog

Thornburgh to demand a special prosecutor for the hapless Neil. The signers included Pat
Schroeder, Kastenmeier of Wisconsin, Don Edwards of California, Conyers of Michigan,
Morrison of Connecticut, Larry Smith of Florida, Boucher of Virginia, Staggers of West
Virginia, and Bryant of Texas. The measure was fully justified, but it soon turned out that
the Foley leadership in the House, more of a marshmallow-stamp than a rubber stamp,
had been leaning on Democratic members to shun this initiative. This became public
when Congressman Feighan of Ohio, who had signed the letter, retracted his signature
under the pressure of Foley's Democratic leadership.
But there was no doubt that Neil Bush had been acting as an influence peddler.
Documents released by the Office of Thrift Supervision which detailed the conflict of
interest charges against Neil conveyed a very low view of the dyslexic young man's
business acumen: the regulators described him as "unqualified and untrained" to be a
director of a financial institution. An untutored squirt, his father might have said. In the
words of the OTS, "certainly he had no experience in managing a large corporation,
especially a financial institution with almost $2 billion in assets."
The swirling controversy also engulfed Bush's consort. When questioned by a journalist
several days before the Kuwait crisis erupted, Bar "flushes indignantly over the
allegations against son Neil...." "I'm not going to talk about it," snapped Mrs. Bush, but
she then did remark that it was "outrageous" that such a "wonderful, decent, honest man"
was being denigrated just because his parents "chose to get into political life." As the
interviewer noted, Mrs. Bush "smiles with maternal pride, though, when she
acknowledges a rumor that son Marvin, 33, nearly resorted to fisticuffs defending Neil's
honor and that brother Jeb, 37, was so ready to join the fray that 'we had to hold him
back.'" "We just love our children, and they know it," gushed Mrs. Bush. "Someone once
said to me that they didn't know another family where all five siblings love each other so
much. And that's true. If push comes to shove, they're all there for each other." [fn 22]
As the end of July approached, Neil Bush was becoming a severe public relations
problem for his father George. To make matters worse, economist Dan Brumbaugh, who
enjoyed a certain notoriety as the Cassandra of the S&L debacle, appeared on television
to confirm what the insiders aleady knew, that not just the S&Ls, but the entire
commercial banking system of the United States, from the Wall Street giants down
through the other money center banks, was all bankrupt. Economic reality, Bush's old
nemesis, was once against threatening his ambition to rule. Then, in the last days of July,
the White House received information that a national newsmagazine, probably
Newsweek, was planning a cover story on Neil Bush. [fn 23]
Such were the events in the political and personal life of George Bush that provided the
backdrop for Bush's precipitous and choleric decision to go to war with Iraq. This is not
to say that the decision to go to war was caused by these unpleasant developments; the
causes of the Gulf war are much more complicated than that. But it is equally clear that
Bush's bellicose enthusiasm for the first war that came along was notably facilitated by
the complex of problems which he would thus sweep off the front page.