War Criminal
Bush to Unveil Portraits of 'War on Terror' US
Veterans
By
Karim LEBHOUR
February
25, 2017 "Information
Clearing House"
- "AFP"
-
Washington
(AFP) - Former US president George W. Bush has
kept a low profile since leaving the White House
in 2009. But he is set to reveal some of the
fruits of his second career on Tuesday in a book
called "Portraits of Courage."
A
collection of paintings of military veterans
subtitled "A Commander in Chief's Tribute to
America's Warriors," it features 66 portraits of
wounded or traumatized personnel he has met who
served in the US Army in Iraq or Afghanistan
following the attacks on September 11, 2001.
Although
the 43rd president has never voiced regret over
launching the US-led wars in Afghanistan (in
2001) and Iraq (in 2003), which caused hundreds
of thousands of civilian casualties, his book
showcases his efforts to help some of the
"remarkable men and women who were injured
carrying out my orders," as he wrote on his
Instagram account.
"I think
about them on #VeteransDay and every day," he
added in the post showing a photo of him
painting one of his impressionistic portraits,
which will be on exhibit at the George W. Bush
Presidential Center in Dallas, Texas, from
Thursday through October 1.
Bush will
donate his profits from the book to the
nonprofit center, whose Military Service
Initiative "works to ensure that post-9/11
veterans and their families make successful
transitions to civilian life with a focus on
gaining meaningful employment and overcoming the
invisible wounds of war," the publisher Crown
Publishing Group said in a statement.
Each
portrait is accompanied by the veteran's story,
written by Bush, who wanted to "honor the
sacrifice and courage of America's military
veterans," his presidential center said on its
website.
All-but-retired from public life, Bush spends
most of his time at his Texas ranch, where he
first picked up a paintbrush in 2012.
In 2014,
he unveiled 30 stylized portraits of heads of
state he knew as president, including former
British prime minister Tony Blair, Russian
President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor
Angela Merkel and former French president
Nicolas Sarkozy.
The
distorted and sometimes only vaguely
recognizable faces attracted some withering
criticism from art critics who panned his
"naive" or "clumsy" style.
Others
praised what they saw as the "high amateur" work
of someone who, although not formally trained,
had clearly studied some art history and
painting techniques.
The new
portraits of veterans, clearly more accomplished
works, show greater mastery over the art.
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For Profit - For Global Justice - Since 2001
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However,
the main interest in Bush's paintings will be
what the artist reveals of his feelings about
the conflicts he launched and the veterans who
bore the consequences of his decision to go to
war.
Some 2.5
million US military personnel have served in
Afghanistan or Iraq since 2001. Of those, 6,896
service members were killed and more than 50,000
injured, according to a compilation of Defense
Department data.
