Bush Isn't Funny

https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2022/5/22/george-w-bush-is-not-funny

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEg6Ht2pNH0

For several years – but certainly for the past few months we have been subjected to media expressions of moral outrage and disgust over Putin's actions and his invasion of Ukraine. And it goes beyond the media – celebrities, the public sector, corporations and the like have all jumped on this bandwagon. Even a regional Russian Festival was canceled as it was deemed inappropriate to celebrate Russian culture at this time – which ironically it must be noted that about half of the music and dances in the event were... you guessed it, Ukrainian.

People are disgusted with Russia and Putin and while they know there are people in Russia who don't approve, it's almost as if they're tangentially to blame because they don't rise up.

And then in the midst of this George Bush gives a speech – a talk that's actually part of this larger anti-Russian campaign.

But he has a slip of the tongue. Nothing new for Bush, but his reaction to his Freudian slip, his confusion of the unjustified invasion of Ukraine with 'Iraq' was telling and the fact that it was then turned into a joke – should actually be an outrage. Do they want Putin in the ICC? That's fine. He deserves to be there. And yet unless George W Bush is tried for his countless war crimes, it would be a farce. Attorney General Garland was just in Ukraine to set up an apparatus to go after the Russians for war crimes. He said war criminals cannot hide anywhere.

Except in the United States of course. Here they've long been welcome and more likely than not they'll build monuments to you and name things after you. George Bush is one of the greatest living war criminals but he walks free and is honoured and we are forced to acknowledge that Merrick Garland is ridiculous and farcical. US leadership in this field is nothing more than a travesty.

As the Al Jazeera commentator rightly points out – Bush is not funny. Personally I want to vomit when I hear Evangelicals reminisce about Bush and how much they miss him and the good old days. He is a monster and the fact that his actions were to some degree intertwined with Christian claims, ethics, and narratives – makes them all the worse.

The Evangelical community venerated this man. I remember the father who confronted me in a local mall back in early 2012. He had lost his son in Iraq and was one of those parents tapped to visit Bush in the White House. Rather than acknowledge that his son took up the sword and died by it and that he had died for nothing, for lies, and was killed as an invader of another country and thus was justly killed – instead this Evangelical man was recalcitrant. He would not repent. He wouldn't acknowledge the truth and thus he put his son above the truth and above Christ. He hated me because I rejected his narrative and told him so. He confessed he wanted to punch me in the face. I pointed out that I had been minding my own business. It was he that had come up to me and harassed me with his sham gospel tract that somehow wove together the cheap grace Decisionalist message with his son's participation in the Iraq invasion and his subsequent death. He conflated his son's 'worthy sacrifice' or something to that end with that of Christ and the whole bit about laying down his life. It was blasphemous nonsense.

It was a strange encounter and I think of him when I drive over a bridge about twenty-miles south of where I live – one bridge among many named after a local veteran killed in action. This one was named after his son. He campaigned for it and I still see his name on occasion in the local paper appearing as a speaker at graduations and church events – some of which are set up as send-offs for young people joining the legions. It's repugnant on many levels.  But I will always remember the way he teared up when talking about Bush and meeting him. For him it was a religious experience akin to how some Catholics react when meeting the pope. I don't mean that with any kind of cynicism. This guy was deeply moved and affected. How sad that he wants to punch me in the face and yet he venerates the man who effectively killed his son and then went on over subsequent years to joke about the justifications for the war and their collapse – the failure to find WMD and the like.

A million people have died as a result of Bush's wars and their spin-offs and yet people are still laughing along with Bush. He's not funny and he will give an account for what he's done. Putin may have the blood of Ukraine on his hands, but Bush is a monster, a butcher who started wars, had people assassinated, kidnapped, tortured and the like. On that day, men like the Evangelical father I met will have their eyes opened and finally understand the truth.