“And yet, more than 20 years after the fact, Bush and his associates have never faced any serious penalties for their invasion of Iraq, or for the litany of human rights abuses they committed in the process. Bush himself continues to be treated as a respectable figure in mainstream American politics, often compared favorably to the more vulgar and erratic Trump. This year, Bush has written an op-ed for Bari Weiss’s Free Press in honor of America’s 250th anniversary, and is expected to attend the opening of Barack Obama’s presidential library in June. And because he never saw the inside of a tribunal courtroom, a standard of impunity was created. Whatever international law might say on paper, the de facto rule became that American presidents can invade Middle Eastern countries when it suits them, even commit blatant acts of torture, and get away with it. And so, just a few decades later, Trump has walked through the door that Bush left wide-open, secure in the expectation that he, too, is unlikely to ever face real consequences.”
— We’re at War with Iran Because We Never Punished Bush for Iraq
