Something was unmentionable in the polite company gathered to dedicate former US president George W. Bush’s presidential library on Thursday: the Iraq war.
However, memories of the US invasion in 2003 lingered anyway like an uninvited guest as living former US presidents came to Dallas, Texas, to honor one of their own.
The gathering of the powerful clan was hardly the place to re-argue one of the most divisive issues yet in 21st-century US politics.
However, the silence was palpable nonetheless because the Iraq war may be the defining political moment for Bush and for US President Barack Obama.
Barring a democratic turnaround that becomes an example in the Middle East, Iraq threatens to stain Bush’s legacy after he failed to find the weapons of mass destruction he used to justify war.
By contrast, Obama built his 2008 campaign on fierce opposition to what he blasted as a “dumb” war and at the end of 2011 fulfilled his promise to bring US troops home.
As the party went ahead in Texas, new fears of sectarian war stalked Iraq, where 4,400 Americans and tens of thousands of civilians died in a violent decade after 2003.
Bush said in interviews before the ceremony that he remained “comfortable” with his decisions on Iraq and his museum makes the case that he had no option but to use force after former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein refused to bend to UN resolutions.
In his speech, Bush made an impassioned case that his actions abroad were based on the cause of expanding “freedom.”
Freedom is what Bush and top aides say they provided to the Iraqi people, despite botched US management of the post-war period that sparked an insurgency.
“We liberated nations from dictatorship,” Bush said, as he honored service members who laid down their lives to keep the US safe “and to make other nations free.”
Obama, who had to praise Bush while skipping over their disagreements, chose to focus on his predecessor’s role after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the US.
The closest he got to Iraq was a gentle reference to their differences over the war and Bush’s empathy for those he sent into battle.
Other guests also had a case of “don’t mention the war.”
Former US president Jimmy Carter, who once called the war “unnecessary,” chose to praise Bush for fighting HIV and AIDS in Africa.
Bush was not the only one with a tricky Iraq legacy in Dallas.
His old comrade-in-arms, former British prime minister Tony Blair, sat in a place of honor — his popularity in the US in contrast to the fury over his war record in the UK.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was