Introduction To George W. Bush

George W. Bush

Dear Mr. President


Bush before his presidency

Bush is the oldest son of former President George H. W. Bush and his wife Barbara Bush (née Pierce), born in New Haven, Connecticut. Bush's family has been in the country since the colonial period, and he is a descendant of the Fairbanks family. His family moved to Texas when he was two years of age and he identifies himself as a native Texan. He was raised in Midland, and Houston, Texas with his siblings Jeb, Neil, Marvin, and Dorothy. Another younger sister, Robin, died in 1953 at age three from leukemia.

Following family tradition, he attended prep school in New England, at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, the same school his father attended. Bush then enrolled at Yale University, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in History in 1968. As a senior, Bush was a member of the secretive Skull and Bones society, as was his father. In May 1968, at the height of the Vietnam War, he entered the Texas Air National Guard. He trained in the guard for two years, where he was among the last to learn to fly the F-102, a plane not used in Vietnam and due to be retired. Bush was promoted to First Lieutenant in November 1970 at the recommendation of his commander Lt. Col. Jerry B. Killian. He served as an F-102 pilot until 1972.


Skull And Bones


In 1974, he obtained permission to end his six-year service obligation six months early in order to attend Harvard Business School, where he earned his Master of Business Administration (MBA) in 1975; he is the first U.S. president to hold an MBA. After graduation, Bush returned to Texas to enter the oil business. Two years later, he married Laura Welch, a school librarian originally from Midland, Texas. Their twin daughters Barbara and Jenna Bush were born in 1981. Bush is the only U.S. president to father twins.

Early in his professional life, Bush ran, or was a partner in a number of oil companies, including Arbusto Energy, Spectrum 7, and the Harken Energy Corporation. Bush started his political career assisting his father's failed 1964 and 1970 campaigns for the U.S. Senate. He then served as political director for an Alabama senate campaign. In 1978, Bush ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. House of Representatives. After working on his father's winning 1988 presidential campaign, Bush purchased a share in the Texas Rangers baseball franchise, in April 1989, where he served as managing general partner of the Rangers for five years. He was active in the team's media relations and in securing the construction of a new stadium, which opened in 1994 as The Ballpark in Arlington. Bush's prominent role with the Rangers gave him valuable goodwill and recognition throughout Texas.

Among his family, he acquired the nickname "W" (for his middle initial; later Dubya, a literal spelling of a colloquial pronunciation of the letter), which later became a common public nickname, used both affectionately and pejoratively.


Alcohol and drug abuse

On September 4, 1976, near his family's summer home in Kennebunkport, Maine, police arrested Bush for driving under the influence of alcohol, having been drinking with former Australian world number one tennis player John Newcombe and his former advisor Raphael Rosenast. He pled guilty, was fined $150, and had his driver's license suspended for 30 days within Maine. News of the arrest was published five days before the 2000 presidential election. Bush has described his days before his religious conversion in his 40s as his "nomadic" period of "irresponsible youth" and admitted to drinking "too much" in those years. He says he changed to a sober lifestyle shortly after waking up with a hangover after his 40th birthday celebration in July 1986, attributing the change partly to a "seed" planted by Reverend Billy Graham in 1985. A video of Bush drinking at a 1992 wedding was later released. Slurring his words, he criticized others for not drinking and smoking more.


Bush has been accused on several occasions of using illegal drugs in the past, including cocaine. Although he has never denied the accusations, he has stated that he hasn't used any illegal drugs since 1974. In taped recordings, Bush explained his refusal to answer questions about whether he had used marijuana at some time in his past. “I wouldn’t answer the marijuana questions,” Bush says. “You know why? Because I don’t want some little kid doing what I tried.” When reminded that he had publicly denied using cocaine, Bush replied, "I haven't denied anything."

In February 2004, Eric Boehlert in Salon magazine claimed that Bush's cessation of flying in April, 1972 and his subsequent refusal to take a physical exam came at the same time the Air Force announced its Medical Service Drug Abuse Testing Program, which was officially launched April 21. Boehlert said "according to Maj. Jeff Washburn, the chief of the National Guard's substance abuse program, a random drug-testing program was born out of that regulation and administered to guardsmen such as Bush. The random tests were unrelated to the scheduled annual physical exams, such as the one that Bush failed to take in 1972, a failure that resulted in his grounding." Boehlert remarks that the drug testing took years to implement, but "as of April 1972, Air National guardsmen knew random drug testing was going to be implemented".


Bush in Uniform

Bush joined the Air National Guard in May, 1968 and was sent to Georgia for training. There, he began a total of 80 weeks of training, including six weeks of basic training, 53 weeks of flight training, and 21 weeks of fighter-interceptor training.

After training, he was assigned to duty in Houston, flying Convair F-102s out of Ellington Air Force Base. As he did, he accumulated points toward his National Guard service requirements. At the time, guardsmen were required to accumulate a minimum of 50 points to meet their yearly obligation, where a full day of training is worth two points. From May 1968 to May 1969, Bush accumulated 253 points, from 1969-1970, he accumulated 340, 137 from 1970-1971, 112 from 1971-1972, and 56 from 1972-1973 though he did not fly during that period.

Bush received glowing evaluations from his squadron commander, Colonel Jerry Killian. Killian said Bush was "an exceptionally fine young officer and pilot" who "performed in an outstanding manner."

In April 1972 Bush made his last flight. He then refused to take his required annual physical and was subsequently grounded. In May 1972, Bush left for Alabama and left the Guard. He showed up for no drills for the next five months, and, contrary to White House statements, he never made up these missed drills. Bush returned to Texas in late 1972, but in May 1973 his superior officers in Houston refused to rate Bush, saying he "has not been observed at this unit" for the past 12 months. However, official payroll records show that Bush was getting paid for attending drills during this period. Bush is credited for the wrong kind of attendance on some dates, he's given the wrong number of points for others, and weekday duty is frequently confused with weekend duty. Bush's attendance still didn't meet minimum National Guard standards. In October 1973 Bush was discharged from the Texas ANG and moved to Boston to attend Harvard Business School. Although the Bush campaign said in 1999 that Bush transferred to a unit in Boston to finish up his service, they now admit that isn't true. Bush never signed up with a unit in Boston and never again attended drills.

Bush's military service record has been a point of controversy, especially during the 2004 presidential election. During the 2004 presidential campaign, various partisan groups such as Texans for Truth called adverse attention to Bush's military service history. Additionally, specific and harsh criticisms on this topic were made by such notable Democrats as then Democratic National Committee Chairman Terence R. McAuliffe. Bush's service requirements ended when he was honorably discharged at the end of 1974.

1978 Congressional Candidacy in Texas

In 1978, Bush faced off against Democrat Kent Hance in Texas' 19th Congressional District. The 19th represented Midland and much of West Texas. Bush stressed his energy credentials and conservative values in the campaign. Hance was also a conservative, opposing gun control and excessive regulation. Bush made a series of gaffes that would ultimately lead to his defeat. While campaigning in a rural part of the 19th, he said, "Today is the first time I've been on a real farm." Kent Hance also successfully portrayed Bush as out of touch with rural Texans. A Hance radio ad highlighted the differences in the two candidates' educations:

In 1961, when Kent Hance graduated from Dimmitt High School in the 19th congressional district, his opponent George W. Bush was attending Andover Academy in Massachusetts. In 1965, when Kent Hance graduated from Texas Tech, his opponent was at Yale University. And while Kent Hance graduated from University of Texas Law School, his opponent -- get this, folks -- was attending Harvard[citation needed].

Bush went door to door and was an effective fundraiser, but lost by a slim 53-47 margin. Hance later became a Republican, and donated money to Bush's campaign for Governor of Texas in 1993.


Governor of Texas

In 1993, Bush and his brother Jeb Bush both decided to run for governor in Texas and Florida, respectively. Although his brother was unsuccessful, George Bush ended up defeating popular incumbent Ann Richards on 1994-11-08, to become Governor of Texas. That same year, he and his partners sold the Texas Rangers with the governor realizing a profit of nearly $15 million. In 1998 Bush went on to win re-election in a landslide victory with nearly 69% of the vote, becoming the first Texas governor to be elected for two consecutive four-year terms (before 1975, the gubernatorial term of office was two years. During Bush's governorship, he undertook significant legislative changes in criminal justice, tort law, and school financing.


Religious beliefs and practices

A 1985 meeting with evangelist Billy Graham ultimately led Bush to give up alcohol and devote himself to a more serious practice of Christianity. During this period, he left the Bush family's Episcopalian faith to join his wife's United Methodist Church.

Bush attends services at St. John's Episcopal Church on a semi-regular basis. This is apparently a matter of convenience for chief executives, as the church is situated immediately across from the White House, off Lafayette square. Every president since Madison has attended services there.

In the televised Republican presidential debate held in Des Moines, Iowa on December 13, 1999, all of the participating candidates were asked: "What political philosopher or thinker do you most identify with and why?" Unlike the other candidates, who cited former presidents and other political figures, Bush responded "Christ, because he changed my heart." His decision to name a religious figure generated some criticism, including among some neoconservatives such as Alan Keyes and Bill Kristol.

During his Presidency, Bush has also hosted celebrations at the White House for non-Christian holidays such as Ramadan. He also took a stand to retain the White House's main "Christmas Tree."

Bush's appeal to religious values is believed to have aided his election, as those who said they "attend church weekly" gave him 56% of their vote in 2000 and 63% of their vote in 2004.

Presidential campaigns

2000 campaign

For Bush, 2000 seemed the right time to run for president. He had more than enough money, and the Republicans lacked any single strong candidate. Before Bush had even committed to the race, he was the clear favorite in the polls, and contributions abounded from political donors. Bush declared himself a "compassionate conservative", a term coined by University of Texas professor Marvin Olasky, and his political campaign promised to "restore honor and dignity to the White House." Bush proposed lowering taxes in response to a projected surplus, supported participation of religious charities in federally funded programs, and promoted education vouchers, oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a balanced budget, and structural changes to the United States armed forces. Bush's foreign policy campaign platform supported a stronger economic and political relationship with Latin America, especially Mexico, and reduced involvement in "nation-building" and other minor military engagements indirectly related to U.S. interests.

Bush lost the New Hampshire primary to Senator John McCain of Arizona, but rebounded to capture 9 of 13 Super Tuesday states, effectively clinching the nomination. Bush then chose Dick Cheney, a former U.S. Representative and Secretary of Defense for Bush's father, as his running mate in July of 2000.

On November 7, 2000 (Election Day), television networks initially called the state of Florida for his opponent, Vice President Al Gore, then withdrew that projection and later called the state for Bush along with the entire election, and finally declared that it was too close to call. Sometime after the networks reported that Bush had won Florida, Gore conceded the election and then rescinded that concession less than one hour later. Though Bush had 47.9% of the popular vote and Gore had 48.4%, the electoral votes were less clear.

The Florida vote count, which favored Bush in preliminary tallies, was contested over allegations of irregularities in the voting and tabulation processes. Allegations included confusing ballots, defective voting machines, faulty absentee ballots from the military, and the illegal barring of some voters. Because of Florida state law, a state-wide machine recount was triggered and completed. Although it narrowed the gap, the recount still left Bush in the lead. Eventually, four counties in Florida which had large numbers of presidential undervotes began a manual hand recount of ballots. A legal battle ensued between the Bush and Gore campaigns over these recounts. On December 8, the Florida Supreme Court ruled that every county with a large number of undervotes would perform a hand recount. On December 9, in the Bush v. Gore Supreme Court case, the Court stopped the statewide hand recount and upheld the machine recount due to time constraints. The machine recount showed that Bush had won the Florida vote, giving him 271 electoral votes to Gore's 266; Bush carried 30 of the 50 states. Several months later, a group of newspapers commissioned a study of what would have happened had the hand recount continued. The researchers conducting the study concluded that, under the standard for assessing ballots in use during the actual count, Bush still would have won. However, other possible counting methods would have given the victory to Bush in four cases and Gore in four others. However, most of the methods that would have given victory to Gore relied on counting overvotes -- which is against election law, as it takes a ballot with two votes on it and assigns it arbitrarily to one candidate. Since the Supreme Court did not allow the recount to continue, no one knows what standard might have been prescribed by it, or by a lower court at its direction, had the recount been reinstated. In the final official count, Bush had won Florida by only 537 votes (2,912,790 for Bush to 2,912,253 for Gore to 97,488 for Nader) earning the needed 25 electoral votes and the presidency. Bush was inaugurated January 20, 2001.

Not since the 1888 election had a winner failed to receive a plurality of the popular vote. It was the first since the 1876 election in which the Supreme Court affected the decision.


2004 campaign

In the 2004 election, Bush was able to win re-election against John Kerry, the Democratic candidate and Senator from Massachusetts. Despite the fact that Kerry was a decorated naval officer in the Vietnam War, polls showed that Bush had convinced the people he and his administration would be better able to protect the nation from another terrorist attack. Bush carried 31 of 50 states for 286 Electoral College votes and collected the most popular votes ever (62,040,610 votes/50.7%), thanks to the highest voter turnout since 1968. This was the first time since 1988 that a president had received a popular majority. However, Bush's victory margin, in terms of absolute number of popular votes, was the smallest of any sitting president since Harry S. Truman in 1948 and, percentage-wise, the closest popular margin of victory ever for a sitting president.

Senator John Kerry carried 19 states and the District of Columbia, earning him 251 Electoral College votes (59,028,111 votes/48.3%). A faithless elector, pledged to Kerry, voted for Democratic vice presidential running mate, John Edwards, giving him one Electoral College vote. No other candidate won College votes. Notable third-party candidates included Independent Ralph Nader (463,653 votes / 0.4%), and Libertarian Michael Badnarik (397,265 votes/0.3%). Congress debated potential election irregularities, including allegations of voting irregularities in Ohio and electronic voting machine fraud. A Congressional challenge to the Ohio election was rejected by a vote of 1-74 by the Senate and 31-267 in the House.

Bush was inaugurated for his second term on January 20, 2005. The oath of office was administered by Chief Justice William Rehnquist. Bush's inaugural address centered mainly on a theme of spreading freedom and democracy around the world.


Presidency

First term

His most controversial appointment was John Ashcroft as Attorney General. Democrats vigorously opposed Ashcroft, citing socially conservative positions on issues, such as abortion and capital punishment, though he was eventually confirmed. On his first day in office, Bush moved to block federal aid to foreign groups that offered counseling or any other assistance to women in obtaining abortions. Days later, he announced his commitment to channeling more federal aid to faith-based service organizations that critics feared would dissolve the traditional separation of church and state.

Republicans lost control of the Senate in June, when Vermont's James Jeffords quit the Republican party to become an independent, but not before five Senate Democrats crossed party lines to approve Bush's $1.35 trillion tax cut. Less than three months later, however, the administration released budget projections that showed the projected budget surplus decreasing to nothing over the years to come.

Second term


President Bush's second term has been characterized by misfortune both political and natural. Following his fifth State of the Union, the president pushed for Social Security reform, a measure which was initially supported by the president's party but was unable to pass the congress after bipartisan opposition arose. During a visit to the Republic of Georgia on May 10, 2005 there was an attempt to assassinate Bush by Vladimir Arutiunian, whose grenade failed to detonate. This information was initially stifled by Georgian authorities. Ramifications of special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald's investigation into the Valerie Plame leak case caused loss of public faith in the Office of the President, and preempted the resignation of high level White House staff. The federal response to Hurricane Katrina and question of cronyism in August 2005 proved to be difficult for the president. Sandra Day O'Connor's resignation and the death of Chief Justice William Rehnquist allowed for the nomination and appointment of two new justices. President Bush initially nominated John Roberts to replace Justice O'Connor, but on the death of Justice Rehnquist asked the Senate to confirm Roberts as Chief Justice. Harriet Miers was the president's second choice to fill the vacancy of Justice O'Connor, but after the withdrawal of Miers nomination decided upon Samuel Alito, who was successfully appointed to the Supreme Court. Currently a debate on the legality of President Bush's domestic surveillance program has led to public debate on the limits of executive privilege and some fractions within his own party.


Political ideology


During the 2000 election campaign Bush started to use the phrase compassionate conservatism to describe his beliefs. Some conservatives have questioned Bush's commitment to traditional conservative ideals because of his willingness to incur large budget deficits by permitting substantial spending increases. Democrats and liberals have claimed that the prefixing of the word "conservative" with the adjective "compassionate" was less a new ideology and more a way of making conservatism seem palatable to independent and swing voters. In his 2005 inaugural address he outlined his vision of foreign policy and plan for democracy promotion.

An important element of Bush's presidency is its emphasis on the importance of executive powers and privileges. According to Bush and his supporters, the War on Terrorism requires a very strong executive with the ability to take various kinds of otherwise illegal covert actions against terrorists. For example, Bush repeatedly argued that the limits imposed by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act over-restrict its ability to monitor terrorists electronically, and has pushed for statutory exemptions to those restrictions, including certain parts of the USA PATRIOT Act. The Bush administration threatened to veto two defense bills that included amendments by Senator John McCain that would limit the ability of the executive to authorize cruel inhuman and degrading treatment; Bush and his supporters argued that harsh treatment of detainees believed to be terrorists can be necessary to obtain information that would prevent terrorist attacks. Administration lawyers like John Yoo have argued that the president has inherent authority to wage war as he sees fit, regardless of laws and treaties that may restrict that power. Bush's Chief Justice of the United States appointee, John Roberts, considers the executive's power to be quite broad as well; in his decision in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, he wrote that Common Article III of the Geneva Conventions did not apply to people detained in the War on Terrorism, thus authorizing secret military tribunals for suspected terrorists if Bush chose to use them. The administration has classified previously public information about the executive and written executive orders to block Freedom of Information Act requests and to keep old documents classified beyond their normal expiration date. Bush's critics argue that executive power that is not reviewable risks abuse for political purposes, undermines civil liberties and that they are anti-democratic, immoral, and likely to cause resentment, as in the world's response to prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib. Bush's supporters respond that broad powers in the War on Terrorism are necessary to prevent major attacks against the United States and that the president has not abused these powers.


Administration

Bush places a high value on personal loyalty and, as a result, his administration has high message discipline. Critics allege that Bush is willing to overlook mistakes and that he has surrounded himself with "yes men".

Bush's presidency has been characterized by a vigorous defense of executive privilege. Some commentators have claimed that deference to executive privilege was one of the principal considerations Bush's administration considered when he proposed his three nominations for the Supreme Court, and appointed John R. Bolton to the United Nations.

Bush has performed many of his presidential duties from his ranch in Crawford, Texas, dubbed "the Western White House". As of August 2, 2000, Bush had visited the ranch 49 times during his time as president, accruing 319 days away from the White House and nearly reaching Reagan's eight-year record of 335 days in 5.5 years. The administration has supported this policy as helping the president get a different perspective from Beltway thinking and that he is still working (the administration noted that Bush's longest visit to Crawford, in August 2005, included only one week of actual respite in the five-week visit.)


Foreign policy

Main article: Foreign policy of the George W. Bush administration
His foreign policy includes such events as the plans to create a missile defense system and rejection of the Kyoto Protocol. Days after taking office, Bush stated "I am going to go forward with... plans for a missile defense system." To accomplish this deployment, Bush announced on May 1, 2001 his desire to withdraw from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and deploy a missile defense system with the ability to shield against a limited attack by a rogue state. The American Physical Society criticized this policy change, citing doubts about the system's effectiveness. Bush argued this was justified as the treaty's Cold War benefits were no longer relevant. The official notification of withdrawal from the treaty was announced on December 13, 2001, citing the need to protect against terrorism. While there is past precedent for a president to cancel a treaty, most past cases have involved Congressional authorization. Terrorism was Bush's main topic at the 2002 NATO Summit in Prague, calling for restructuring the organization from a Cold War focus and prepare it for new threats. During his first presidential visit to Europe in June 2001, European leaders criticized of Bush for rejecting of the Kyoto Protocol. In 2002, Bush rejected the treaty as harmful to economic growth in the United States, stating: "My approach recognizes that economic growth is the solution, not the problem." The administration also disputed the scientific basis of the treaty. In November 2004, Russia ratified the treaty, meeting the quota of nations required to enforce it without ratification by the United States.

While continuing American policy of support for Israel, he also endorced the creation of a Palestinian state.

International leaders also criticized Bush for withdrawing support for the International Criminal Court soon after he assumed the presidency. Bush made the following comment: "I wouldn't join the International Criminal Court. It's a body based in Hague where unaccountable judges and prosecution can pull our troops or diplomats for trial."

Probably his most significant foreign policy action was, however, the launch of the War on Terrorism. However, there is some question as to whether the stepped-up policing and surveillance constitutes an actual war in the legal sense, and if so, the extent to which such action requires the war powers of the unitary executive.

Commentators such as the previous administration's last Secretary of State Madeleine Albright have been quite critical of Bush's foreign policy.



Skull and Bones society:

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know, But Were Afraid to Ask

The story begins at Yale, where three threads of American social history -- espionage, drug smuggling and secret societies -- intertwine into one. ParaScope is pleased to present this treatise on the Order of Skull and Bones, whose initiates fill the ranks of the global elite. Is Skull and Bones the American branch of the Illuminati? Are national and global events manipulated as part of a grand Hegellian equation, thesis and anti-thesis yielding a New World Order synthesis? The evidence and events surrounding the Order of Skull and Bones will shock you. Read on.

It all began at Yale...


Bush Approved Torture Techniques

FBI E-Mail Refers to Presidential Order Authorizing Inhumane Interrogation Techniques

Bush Advisor Says President Has Legal Power to Torture Children

Bush On Wiretapping

On wiretapping, Bush isn't listening to the Constitution
By Edward M. Kennedy

Gore Says Bush Wiretapping Could Be Impeachable Offense

George W. Bush as the New Richard M. Nixon: Both Wiretapped Illegally, and Impeachably;
Both Claimed That a President May Violate Congress' Laws to Protect National Security
By John W. Dean

Conservative Scholars Argue Bush’s Wiretapping Is An Impeachable Offense

NPR: Bush Defends Wiretapping Program

"Bring Them On"

September 11th And The Bush Administration

Bush-Blair Iraq war memo revealed

President Bush's "Bring Them On" Picture Album

Lets Not Forget: Bush Planned Iraq 'Regime Change' Before Becoming President


A Nazi in the (pocket) is worth four in the Bush (family)

What is interesting about the history of the Bush family are the connections; Avril Harriman, Allen Dulles, the Rockefellers (the start of the oil connection), James Baker III, Gulf Oil, Pennzoil, Osama bin Laden…on and on it goes.

Part 1
Part 2


Bush Lets U.S. Spy on Callers Without Courts

By JAMES RISEN and ERIC LICHTBLAU

WASHINGTON, Dec. 15 - Months after the Sept. 11 attacks, President Bush secretly authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on Americans and others inside the United States to search for evidence of terrorist activity without the court-approved warrants ordinarily required for domestic spying, according to government officials.

Under a presidential order signed in 2002, the intelligence agency has monitored the international telephone calls and international e-mail messages of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people inside the United States without warrants over the past three years in an effort to track possible "dirty numbers" linked to Al Qaeda, the officials said. The agency, they said, still seeks warrants to monitor entirely domestic communications. Read More...


Bush's mixed signals


Arab News - 17/04/2006


By William Fisher

Last month, the US Muslim World Advisory Committee of the United States Institute of Peace sat down for a talk with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy Karen Hughes. This is the kind of meetings Arab-American and other Muslim-American groups have been having throughout the country with US officials at various levels of government since soon after Sept. 11.

These meetings usually end with oh-so-diplomatic remarks about the "full and frank exchanges of views" and praiseworthy statements from each about each. Yet, though Arab-American and other Muslim organisations are reluctant to discuss the issue for the record, they tell this writer privately that they are worried the Bush administration is sending dangerously mixed signals precisely to those whose "hearts and minds" it claims to be trying to win.

Consider the following: President George W. Bush continues to assert that Arabs and other Muslims are valued and contributing members of American society. He denies that his global war on terrorism is a war against Islam. Rice and Hughes spend substantial time with Arab-American and other Muslim advocacy groups, reasserting their "mission" to reach out to these communities.

The FBI, the CIA, the departments of homeland security, defence, state, and other US government agencies spend millions to recruit members of these communities to apply for jobs, then deny them security clearances because they have relatives in the Middle East. Then Hughes takes off on another of her "listening tours" of the Middle East, promising to reach out to "Muslim moms".

At the same time, the FBI and the Department of Home Security continue to practise racial profiling and to harass and prosecute Arabs and other Muslims here, at home. The FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Forces work with local law enforcement to snoop on Arab and Muslim communities and wiretap mosques. We tell the Arabs we don't want them running our ports. And legitimate Muslim charities can't raise a nickel without fear of being put on the government's "support for terrorists" list.

"Which of these contradictory messages do you think resonates most loudly in the US? Just take a look at the myriad of polls that measure the degree of pervasive insecurity among these constituencies at home, and attitudes of other Americans towards these minorities! The common denominator is fear, one of the other. And fear breeds intolerance and even violence."

Why should we care what Arab- and Muslim-Americans think and what we, their neighbours, think of them? For one thing, they're Americans. They live here, among us. They are business and labour leaders, clergymen, sports figures, engineers, mathematicians and physicists, teachers, doctors and nurses, ordinary working citizens, even members of Congress.

Second, their ties to family and friends in other countries can provide us with important bridges of understanding. They might just be capable of helping Hughes to explain US policies to parts of the world we desperately need on "our side". Or to better understand how the "other side" sees us.

Third, Arab- and Muslim-Americans vote. And that, if nothing else, ought to capture the attention of our elected officials. Finally, how our government acts towards these sizeable minorities helps shape how the rest of us act.

Jingoism has no good consequences, for anyone. No one ever said that balancing these competing interests would be easy. Terrorists in our midst must be identified and prosecuted. So must so-called charities that illegally use their organisations as fronts for laundering material support for those who would harm us and our allies.

At the same time, there is no evidence whatsoever that Arab- and Muslim-Americans are anything but loyal to our country, and just as horrified as the rest of us by the attacks of Sept. 11. Thousands of these hyphenated Americans are now serving in the US armed forces, many of them in Iraq and Afghanistan. And how many terror-related convictions resulted from the mass roundups of Arab and Muslim men in the weeks following Sept. 11? None.

Yet, there appears to be no consistent effort anywhere in the upper reaches of the Bush administration to engage these communities or to explain or coordinate what much seem to them as grossly contradictory and conflicting efforts. Which should make us wonder whether this is about ideology ? the "clash of civilisations ? or about creating smoke screens ? blaming the media for not reporting all the "good news" from Iraq ? or about more of the unbelievably uncoordinated incompetence that gave us the Katrina disaster, or about the political tone-deafness that resulted in Harriet Myers?

Maybe a bit of all. What is clear is that this is an issue on which Bush has shown a somnambulistic failure of leadership. It is not enough for the president from time to time to tell Arab-Americans and other Muslim minorities ? and the rest us ? that he values our citizenship. It is not enough for him intermittently to reassure Muslims, and attempt to assure the rest of us, that we are not at war with Islam.

At the very least, there needs to be high-level, visible and transparent interest in worrying about the mixed signals we're sending. It can't be left to Hughes alone. There is only one person who can get this done: the president.

Here are two modest but doable suggestions: first, the president should appoint a permanent high-level advisory body to keep the administration informed about what Arab- and other Muslim-Americans are thinking, feeling and doing about what they see as problems between their communities and government, and how other Americans see the same picture. This body should advise him about perceptions and misperceptions and how to address both with honesty and clarity. It should include thoughtful representatives of these communities, clergy of all faiths, private sector representatives, members of both political parties, and senior members of the departments of state, homeland security, defence, justice, and the FBI and CIA.

But without the machinery to act on its findings and recommendations, this will be just another of thousands of government advisory bodies. It needs teeth. Talented people who know how to do implementation.

Notwithstanding the fact that the government is historically a notoriously flunked communicator, the president is surrounded by some very smart people and could have some of the world's most adept professional communicators at his service instantly. These experts should convince him to take Arab-American alienation very seriously and to mobilise whatever public and private sector resources he needs to craft honest messages and make sure they get heard.

Without Bush's leadership, these steps will be ? and be seen to be ? little more than cosmetics. Only he can make them important. He needs to reach out in a powerful and consistent way to explain to Arab-Americans and other Muslims ? and to their neighbours, and the rest of us ? the contributions made by these populations over many years. If not, his silence will only metastasize the uninformed and unreasoning Islamophobia that is rapidly becoming implanted in our national genetics. And, at the same time, he needs to tell the Arab- and Muslim-Americans, and our population at large, why it is important for law enforcement to do what it does to protect us (hopefully, while reining in their overzealousness to prosecute).

This dialogue is partly about policy, but it is equally about better coordination within government, about better public-private partnerships, to actually carry out a sustained programme of thoughtful, grown-up, no-spin communication.

There's a lot Bush can do about that. As long as he thinks it is important and as long as he is prepared to listen.

The writer has managed economic development projects in the Middle East and in many other areas for the US State Department and the US Agency for International Development. He served in the international affairs area in the Kennedy administration. He contributed this article to The Jordan Times.


"Bring 'em on."

Excerpt:

But Bush's tough talk was criticized by Democratic presidential candidate Dick Gephardt who said the president should stop with the "phony, macho rhetoric."

GEORGE W. BUSH:
asked about cocaine use in college, while campaigning in 2000