For the first time ever, former President George H.W. Bush has publicly lashed out at two top officials from his son's presidential administration: former Vice President Dick Cheney and former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
In an upcoming biography, 91-year-old Bush said he believes Cheney and Rumsfeld reacted to 9/11 poorly, ultimately pushing his son to pursue a more hawkish foreign policy that tarnished America's reputation, reported The New York Times.
Of Cheney, who served as Bush's own defense secretary during his time in the White House, Bush said he "just became very hard-line and very different from the Dick Cheney I knew and worked with."
"The reaction [to 9/11], what to do about the Middle East. Just iron-ass. His seeming knuckling under to the real hard-charging guys who want to fight about everything, use force to get our way in the Middle East."
Bush continued: "The big mistake that was made was letting Cheney bring in kind of his own State Department," adding that it appears as if he "had his own empire there and marched to his own drummer."
He acknowledged that it wasn't entirely Cheney's fault, though, even laying some of the blame on his son. "I do worry about some of the rhetoric that was out there - some of it his, maybe, and some of it the people around him."
Cheney responded to the criticism by saying he takes it as a compliment. "I took it as a mark of pride," he said, reported The Guardian. "The attack on 9/11 was worse than Pearl Harbor, in terms of the number people killed, and the amount of damage done. I think a lot of people believed then, and still believe to this day that I was aggressive in defending, in carrying out what I thought were the right policies."
The book, "Destiny And Power: The American Odyssey Of George Herbert Walker Bush," contains even stronger, more personal criticism for Rumsfeld.
The 41st president charged that Rumsfeld "served the president badly" and was an "arrogant fellow."
"I don't like what he did, and I think it hurt the president. I've never been that close to him anyway. There's a lack of humility, a lack of seeing what the other guy thinks. He's more kick ass and take names, take numbers. I think he paid a price for that. Rumsfeld was an arrogant fellow..."
Rumsfeld also responded, saying in a statement to NBC News, "Bush 41 is getting up in years and misjudges Bush 43, who I found made his own decisions."
Former President George W. Bush issued a statement Thursday, saying: "I am proud to have served with Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld. Dick Cheney did a superb job as Vice President, and I was fortunate to have him by my side throughout my presidency. Don Rumsfeld ably led the Pentagon and was an effective Secretary of Defense. I am grateful to both men for their good advice, selfless service to our country, and friendship," according to Fox News.
The elder Bush's other son, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, also got in on the action, saying Thursday that his father was attempting to "create a different narrative" by blaming Cheney and Rumsfeld.
"My brother is a big boy, his administration was shaped by his thinking, his reaction to the attack on 9/11. I think my dad, like a lot of people that love George [W. Bush], want to try to create a different narrative, perhaps, just because that's natural to do," Jeb Bush told NBC News.
"But George would say, 'This was under my watch, I was commander in chief, I was the leader. And I accept personal responsibility for what happened, both the good and the bad,'" Jeb Bush added.
