President George W Bush on the telephone from the National Archive

‘Bush No Better’ Than Trump: Gold Star Mom Cindy Sheehan Decries Whitewashing of Warmonger

One of the most recognizable Iraq War critics of the Bush era weighed in this week on President Donald Trump's widely-criticized interactions with Gold Star families in recent days—arguing that while Trump's attacks on statements made by the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson were "so insensitive," President George W. Bush's own legacy should not be sanitized.

October 24, 2017 | Source: Common Dreams | by Julia Conley

“Where is the movement to oppose U.S. wars, instead of liberal handwringing over botched messages of condolence?”

One of the most recognizable Iraq War critics of the Bush era weighed in this week on President Donald Trump’s widely-criticized interactions with Gold Star families in recent days—arguing that while Trump’s attacks on statements made by the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson were “so insensitive,” President George W. Bush’s own legacy should not be sanitized.

Cindy Sheehan, the mother of Army soldier Casey Sheehan, who was killed in action in 2004, argued in an interview with the Daily Beast that Bush’s military policies were just as harmful as Trump’s, if not more so.

“Trump has proven himself to be a loose cannon who doesn’t seem to have very many social graces,” Sheehan said. “But Bush was no better. I wish the conversation was about the barbarism of war and, in this instance, why are there special ops forces in Niger? Where is the movement to oppose U.S. wars, instead of liberal handwringing over botched messages of condolence?”

Her comments come as Bush’s record of initiating wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, in which hundreds of thousands of people were killed, has been whitewashed by many who have favorably contrasted Bush with Trump.