Bush on genocide
George W. Bush marked the tenth anniversary of the Rwandan genocide by urging all states to bring the perpetrators of the genocide to justice. This is a painless gesture for Bush, whose cronies presumably don’t include any Rwandan genocidists, or indeed any Rwandans.
You might think that this means Bush and the Republicans want to bring all genocide perpetrators to justice, but you’d be wrong. There is a long history of Republican involvement with Nazi war criminals, including a high-ranking member of George H. W. Bush’s 1988 campaign who was let go when his fascist connections were exposed. For G. W. Bush to claim that he wants to bring international criminals to justice, is deepest hypocrisy.
Having said that, there’s one complaint about the Bush family that is not justified. George H. W. Bush is widely misquoted as having said “Lets forgive the Nazi war criminals.” According to the New York Times article from April 14, 1990, usually used as a citation for the quote, the elder Bush actually said that the German people should be forgiven for the Holocaust.
Invoking the spirit of Good Friday and Easter, President Bush said today that people “ought to forgive” Germans for the Holocaust but should not forget history’s lessons.“I’m one who believes in forgiveness,” Mr. Bush said aboard Air Force One….
“Most of the teachings have ample room for forgiveness and moving on,” he said, adding that people should “not forget, necessarily, because I think you learn from history, learn what not to do wrong.”
“But,” he sid, “I think, I’m a Christian and I think forgiveness is something that I feel very strongly about.”
He may indeed favor amnesty for his Nazi associates, but he wasn’t foolish enough to say it in public.