Washington, December 6 (RHC)-- Friends and family of the Bush dynasty gathered at Washington National Cathedral under tight security for a funeral service honoring late former President George H.W. Bush.
Wednesday's national funeral service capped three days of remembrance of the former president. It brought together world envoys, the four remaining ex-presidents and President Donald Trump. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, King Abdullah of Jordan, and Prince Charles were among the leaders paying their respects in Washington on Wednesday.
Bush, the 41st U.S. president, died last week in Texas at the age of 94. Over the past several days, the Western media have been singing praises of George H.W. Bush, fawning over the life and times of a family dynasty that has served the wealthiest one percent at the expense of millions around the world.
Myles Hoenig, a long time U.S. social activist and member of the Green Party, wrote in Truthout that with George H.W.’s passing “we can expect to see a long list of pundits, progressive and reactionary, fawning over the life and times of Bush, much like they did over Ronald Reagan.”
Hoenig noted that the Bush family made its fortune in oil and war. Grandfather Prescott Bush was heavily involved in the re-arming and financing of the Nazi party in Germany, and was even charged with trading with the enemy. His son George, who has now just died, made his fortune in the oil industry and propelled himself into all kinds of behind the scenes adventures, wheeling and dealing, as head of the Republican National Committee and the CIA.
He is best known for some colossal failures. He is remembered for his role in the Savings and Loan disaster of the 1980’s and the beginning of the destruction of public education with his No Child Left Behind, to be followed by further deterioration under Barack Obama’s Race to the Top.
Myles Hoenig pointed out that it was George H.W. Bush's foreign policy in which he shined for the war industry. His invasion of Iraq in 1991 and the subsequent destabilization of the entire region remains with us today, with President Bill Clinton setting the stage for Bush #43 for the second invasion of Iraq and Barack Obama’s continuation of the occupation and destabilization.
George H.W. Bush was also known for the destabilization of the Americas, with his NAFTA agreement, later ratified under President Clinton. This treaty has caused enormous instability and a major factor in today’s immigration crisis, as much of Latin America has been overtaken by corporate interests, destroying local economies in the region and setting the stage for military coups, as Obama presided over the most recent one in Honduras, for which its victims are the major driving force of the asylum seekers heading towards the U.S. border today.
Bush certainly didn’t begin the corporate takeover of Central America, but definitely exacerbated the situation. Ironically, there is a familial connection between the Bushes and William Walker, who led a mercenary army in a military conquest of Nicaragua in the 1850s.
George H.W. Bush is now being credited for having a steady hand in dealing with the collapse of the Soviet Union as well as how he organized the Coalition of the Willing, or as it was also called, the Coalition of the Bribed, in its invasion of Iraq. And, Myles Hoenig concludes, the Western media continues to put a positive spin on everything Papa Bush did as president.