. . . no matter how stupid they are. USA Today reports this morning that George H.W. Bush is defending his son, George W. Bush, and the Iraq war. George H.W. was the 41st President of the United States. George W. is number 43. W's fortunes have tanked over the Iraq war. He can blame his own father for the mess.

According to USA Today:

Former president George H.W. Bush forcefully defended his son's handling of the Iraq war Thursday, saying critics of the current president have forgotten the "extraordinary brutality" of deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. "Do they want to bring back Saddam Hussein, these critics?" the elder Bush told USA TODAY in a rare interview. "Do they want to go back to the status quo ante? I don't know what they are talking about here. Do they think life would be better in the Middle East if Saddam were still there?"

Coming from Johnny Citizen, a question like this might be appropriate. Coming from George H.W. Bush, a question like this is preposterous. When George H.W. Bush was Vice President under Ronald Reagan and then President from 1989 through 1993, the U.S. enjoyed warm and pleasant relations with Saddam's Iraq, at least until Saddam invaded Kuwait in August 1990. But Saddam did not just wake up that morning and decide to weak havoc. He was our bastard for years and years even as he gassed and tortured his own people and generally was out of his goddamned mind. So what the hell is George H.W. Bush talking about?

I wrote about the Reagan/Bush administration's scandalous relationship with Saddam Hussein here. An excellent summary of the Reagan/Bush relationship with Saddam Hussein is here. Another good summary is here. This is still "lost" history in that most people don't know that Saddam was our friend and that we loved him very much. Isn't it time that we started calling Bush Sr. on his past entanglements with Saddam? Huh?