By Kenneth J. Theisen, 4/24/07
President Bush sees himself as a Churchillian figure of
the21st century. He often compares
opponents of his wars as appeasers in the mold of Neville Chamberlain, while he
plays the staunch role of Churchill. In
the Oval Office of the White House, George W. Bush proudly displays a bust of
Winston Churchill.
In 2001 Bush said of Churchill, “he was one of the great
leaders in the 20th century. He was an enormous
personality. He stood on principle. He was a man of great
courage. He knew what he believed. And he really kind of
went after it in a way that seemed like a Texan to me: he wasn’t afraid of
public opinion polls; he wasn’t afraid of — he didn’t need focus groups to tell
him what was right. He charged ahead, and the world is better for
it.” In November 2003 after the invasion
of Iraq
he said, “I am an admirer. I thought Churchill was a clear thinker, I thought
he was a — the kind of guy that stood tough when you needed to stand tough; he
represented values that both countries hold dear — the value of freedom, the
belief in democracy, human dignity of every person.”
In his speeches before invading Iraq, Bush often attacked Saddam as
a leader who gassed his own people. But
apparently the president does not dislike everyone who uses poison gas. It was his hero, good old Winston, who first
introduced poison gas to the Middle East.
After the defeat of the Ottoman Empire the British created Iraq from three
previous provinces of the Empire. The
British were then given the “mandate” to rule this new country. But the new Iraqis did not wish to submit to
this colonial arrangement. Sunnis, Kurds
and Shi”ites rose up in rebellion. Then British secretary of state for war,
Winston Churchill, introduced massive bombing of villages to fight the
insurrection. He also ordered the use of
mustard gas against civilians, stating: “I do not understand the
squeamishness about the use of gas. I am
strongly in favor of using poison gas against uncivilized tribes.” He viewed the use of gas as a “scientific
expedient” arguing that it “should not be prevented by the prejudices
of those who do not think clearly”.
So the man Bush admires so much believed in “freedom,
democracy and human dignity?” Right! Churchill was a leading supporter for the
British colonial empire which kept hundreds of millions from freedom. As for human dignity, he viewed Arabs as
uncivilized humans to be used for scientific experiments on the impact of the
“terror” of poison gas. Democracy? As British Colonial Secretary Churchill
fought any expression of democracy by colonial subjects because he feared this
would lead to the dissolution of the British Empire.
This is the real Churchill that Bush admires. And now Bush himself is head of today’s
“grand empire.” Like his hero he has
unleashed aggressive war in Iraq
and elsewhere. Like his hero he “thinks
clearly” and is not bothered by any “humanitarian prejudices.” He will use any weapon at his disposal,
without being squeamish, to maintain his empire.
But Churchill’s Empire was not in the interests of the
people of the world and neither is the U.S. imperial regime of Bush. Both Churchill and Bush committed war crimes
and other crimes against humanity to maintain empires. Bush deserves to be impeached for his crimes.