english.daralhayat.com 2008/10/08 11:08 GMT

Ayoon wa Azan (History Repeats Itself)

Jihad Al Khazen Al-Hayat 2004/03/16

When I mention the Bush family, I usually speak of George Bush Sr., George Bush Jr., Barbara Bush, or perhaps Governor Jeb Bush. However, I found myself in front of four generations of this family in a new Book by Kevin Phillips under the title "American Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune, and Politics of Deceit in the House of Bush." Phillips is a prominent critic, American writer and an expert on the Republican Party.

The book does not only talk about the 41st and 43rd U.S. presidents; it starts with the dynasty of Samuel Bush and George Walker and the rising influence of the Bush family in the early 20^th century. Samuel brought Prescott Bush to life, and George Walker had Dorothy, and the result of the marriage between these two (Prescott and Dorothy) was George Herbert Walker Bush. George Hebert Walker Bush married Barbara Pierce and she gave birth to George Walker Bush, John Elise (Jeff) Bush and two other sons and two daughters, one of which died when she was a baby.

Dwight Eisenhower, in his farewell presidential speech (1961), warned of the dangers of influence of the coalition between the industry and the military and the book "American Dynasty" links the Bush family throughout its history with industry, military, intelligence, and oil. The book destroys the family's reputation should the reader believe half of the information - not to say all.

Samuel Bush and George Walker rose to prominence in the beginning of the last century, especially in the 1920s. They had businesses dealing with finance, railway construction, iron, steel and overseas shipping with Germany and Russia. Between the two world wars, George Walker Bush worked in the American International Company, whose main function was to administer investments and gather intelligence information.

Prescott Bush, George Sr.'s father, a senator from Connecticut, used to work for Dreiser, which manufactured incendiary bombs. Later, his son George was a manager of one of its branches in the petroleum services. The fact is that the relationship between the Bush family and the oil industry goes back a 100 years; the two founders did business with John Rockefeller and his company, Standard Oil. George Bush had a role in habilitating the Soviet oil industry in the 1920s.

The relationship between the oil industry and intelligence remained with George Bush Sr.; he owned a part of Zapata Oil and worked on oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico prior to the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961. It is said that Zapata Oil was a front for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) at the time. George Bush Sr. later became director of the CIA. George Bush Jr. worked in the oil industry in Texas. However, he was not that successful and his family relations and contacts saved him from bankruptcy. He was more profitable when selling the Texans Rangers baseball team. He exploited 9/11 to increase the intelligence apparatuses' budget, and create the Department of Homeland Security.

I found that the author had certain "digressions" despite his abilities and reputation. He seems to be fascinated with English history; now and again, he correlates between the return of George W. Bush after eight years of Clinton's administration to the return of the monarchy and Charles II in Britain. The author predicts a presidential race between Hilary Clinton and Jeb Bush, which he compares to the York and Lancaster families' struggle for power in Britain. He does not forget to stress that the Bush family has ties with the British Royal family.

The author seems to be more credible when he talks about his area of expertise; America. He presents a documented illustration and claims that George W. Bush is responsible for the relationship with the Christian Right. During George Sr.'s campaign in 1988, Jr. was in the southern states and made alliances with the leaders of the Christian Right, and he returned with some of them to the headquarters of his father's elections campaign. The result was that Sr. won 70 percent of the votes from the Christian missionaries in the south. Jr. had better success with them (he did not get more than 48 percent of votes of the total population in the 2000 presidential elections) getting 84 percent of their votes. Perhaps, their support for him would increase in the upcoming elections.

Has the reader ever head of something called "October surprise"? There are pages in this book that explains this story in an eloquent manner. The story goes back to the Iran-Contra scandal and the American hostages in Tehran. There were rumors in Washington that Carter's administration arranged for their release in October 1980, so that Jimmy Carter would guarantee a win for a second presidential term the following month. Elections experts agreed that the release of the hostages would give six to ten percent of the votes to the person responsible for this achievement, which ultimately, means victory.

We know today that the hostages were released 444 days later, in the beginning of Reagan's administration, and the continuation of their detainment was the main reason Carter lost his elections. The story of the American hostages inside the American embassy in Tehran started on 4 November 1979, the first anniversary of detainment was 4 November 1980, which is the day of elections in the U.S., and all the Americans were sympathetic with their detained citizens in Tehran.

Kevin Phillips confirms what was said ever since; members of the Bush campaign contacted the Iranians to delay their release until after Ronald Reagan wins the elections. Israeli writer Ari Ben-Menashe said it in his book "Profits of War." Yitzhak Shamir validated it. A 1993 Duma report spoke of a meeting in Paris between Bill Casey, Reagan's campaign manager, and George Bush Sr. (running as vice president at the time) and representatives of Ayatollah Khomeini, during which the Americans requested a delay in the hostage release. Abu Hassan Bani-Sadr, the Iranian president at the time, issued a similar confirmation. Yasser Arafat told Jimmy Carter in Gaza in 1996 that the Republicans asked him to work on this issue in return for an arms deal.

History repeats itself. Senator John Kerry, who looks to be the Democratic candidate for the American presidency to run against George W. Bush, was the head of a Senate subcommittee that investigated the "October surprise." No doubt, he is going to bring it up again when the current elections campaign starts to intensify.

<h1>Ayoon wa Azan (History Repeats Itself)</h1><h4>Jihad Al Khazen     Al-Hayat     2004/03/16</h4>When I mention the Bush family, I usually speak of George Bush Sr., George Bush Jr., Barbara Bush, or perhaps Governor Jeb Bush. However, I found myself in front of four generations of this family in a new Book by Kevin Phillips under the title "American Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune, and Politics of Deceit in the House of Bush." Phillips is a prominent critic, American writer and an expert on the Republican Party.The book does not only talk about the 41st and 43rd U.S. presidents; it starts with the dynasty of Samuel Bush and George Walker and the rising influence of the Bush family in the early 20th century. Samuel brought Prescott Bush to life, and George Walker had Dorothy, and the result of the marriage between these two (Prescott and Dorothy) was George Herbert Walker Bush. George Hebert Walker Bush married Barbara Pierce and she gave birth to George Walker Bush, John Elise (Jeff) Bush and two other sons and two daughters, one of which died when she was a baby.Dwight Eisenhower, in his farewell presidential speech (1961), warned of the dangers of influence of the coalition between the industry and the military and the book "American Dynasty" links the Bush family throughout its history with industry, military, intelligence, and oil. The book destroys the family's reputation should the reader believe half of the information - not to say all.Samuel Bush and George Walker rose to prominence in the beginning of the last century, especially in the 1920s. They had businesses dealing with finance, railway construction, iron, steel and overseas shipping with Germany and Russia. Between the two world wars, George Walker Bush worked in the American International Company, whose main function was to administer investments and gather intelligence information.Prescott Bush, George Sr.'s father, a senator from Connecticut, used to work for Dreiser, which manufactured incendiary bombs. Later, his son George was a manager of one of its branches in the petroleum services. The fact is that the relationship between the Bush family and the oil industry goes back a 100 years; the two founders did business with John Rockefeller and his company, Standard Oil. George Bush had a role in habilitating the Soviet oil industry in the 1920s.The relationship between the oil industry and intelligence remained with George Bush Sr.; he owned a part of Zapata Oil and worked on oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico prior to the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961. It is said that Zapata Oil was a front for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) at the time. George Bush Sr. later became director of the CIA. George Bush Jr. worked in the oil industry in Texas. However, he was not that successful and his family relations and contacts saved him from bankruptcy. He was more profitable when selling the Texans Rangers baseball team. He exploited 9/11 to increase the intelligence apparatuses' budget, and create the Department of Homeland Security.I found that the author had certain "digressions" despite his abilities and reputation. He seems to be fascinated with English history; now and again, he correlates between the return of George W. Bush after eight years of Clinton's administration to the return of the monarchy and Charles II in Britain. The author predicts a presidential race between Hilary Clinton and Jeb Bush, which he compares to the York and Lancaster families' struggle for power in Britain. He does not forget to stress that the Bush family has ties with the British Royal family.The author seems to be more credible when he talks about his area of expertise; America. He presents a documented illustration and claims that George W. Bush is responsible for the relationship with the Christian Right. During George Sr.'s campaign in 1988, Jr. was in the southern states and made alliances with the leaders of the Christian Right, and he returned with some of them to the headquarters of his father's elections campaign. The result was that Sr. won 70 percent of the votes from the Christian missionaries in the south. Jr. had better success with them (he did not get more than 48 percent of votes of the total population in the 2000 presidential elections) getting 84 percent of their votes. Perhaps, their support for him would increase in the upcoming elections.Has the reader ever head of something called "October surprise"? There are pages in this book that explains this story in an eloquent manner. The story goes back to the Iran-Contra scandal and the American hostages in Tehran. There were rumors in Washington that Carter's administration arranged for their release in October 1980, so that Jimmy Carter would guarantee a win for a second presidential term the following month. Elections experts agreed that the release of the hostages would give six to ten percent of the votes to the person responsible for this achievement, which ultimately, means victory.We know today that the hostages were released 444 days later, in the beginning of Reagan's administration, and the continuation of their detainment was the main reason Carter lost his elections. The story of the American hostages inside the American embassy in Tehran started on 4 November 1979, the first anniversary of detainment was 4 November 1980, which is the day of elections in the U.S., and all the Americans were sympathetic with their detained citizens in Tehran.Kevin Phillips confirms what was said ever since; members of the Bush campaign contacted the Iranians to delay their release until after Ronald Reagan wins the elections. Israeli writer Ari Ben-Menashe said it in his book "Profits of War." Yitzhak Shamir validated it. A 1993 Duma report spoke of a meeting in Paris between Bill Casey, Reagan's campaign manager, and George Bush Sr. (running as vice president at the time) and representatives of Ayatollah Khomeini, during which the Americans requested a delay in the hostage release. Abu Hassan Bani-Sadr, the Iranian president at the time, issued a similar confirmation. Yasser Arafat told Jimmy Carter in Gaza in 1996 that the Republicans asked him to work on this issue in return for an arms deal.History repeats itself. Senator John Kerry, who looks to be the Democratic candidate for the American presidency to run against George W. Bush, was the head of a Senate subcommittee that investigated the "October surprise." No doubt, he is going to bring it up again when the current elections campaign starts to intensify.