Bush League

The Bush League or Bush Buddies or Texas Taliban is a name used by opponents of President George Walker Bush (GWB) to emphasize his family's long history of association with unscrupulous foreign dictators including Nazis, the oil industry, the CIA and corporate executives linked to any of these.

It refers simultaneously to the Bush family (including GWB's brothers: Florida Governor Jeb Bush and Neil Mallon Bush; father George Herbert Walker Bush; and grandfather Prescott Sheldon Bush) and a baseball "bush league" - rank amateurs unfit to play in the major leagues. It also exploits resonance with the phrase "in league with the Devil", and the meaning of "league" as a conspiracy or secret society.

Note: the oil industry is so central to world politics, and the CIA involved in so many global intrigues during the Cold War, that it is necessary to note that anyone involved in US foreign policy or Mideast oil might appear to have a long history of questionable associations.

Accordingly this characterization may appear unduly damning. Even to list those purported to be involved may be inflammatory - the use of the term "League" is intended to deliberately trigger such suspicions. The wikipedia does not intend to imply connections other than those admitted by the individuals involved, and will refer to accusations as "reputed":

• Prescott Sheldon Bush had businesses confiscated during World War II for dealing useful war materiel to Nazi Germany - and was investigated for treason.
• George Herbert Walker Bush was head of the Central Intelligence Agency in 1976-77, an agency reputed to still include at that time Cold War era operatives recruited from the Nazis in order to oppose the Soviet Union - in which the Nazis had an extensive spy network.
• Ayatollah Khomeini, who Republican Party operatives dealt with to establish the Iran-Contra dealings and October Surprise, on behalf of U.S. Presidential candidate Ronald Reagan.
• Oliver North, who admitted arranging the deal on his own account, lying to the US Congress and later ran for Senator from Virginia on the Republican ticket.
• Ronald Reagan himself, who was first opposed by Bush Sr. (who called his program "voodoo economics") but then named him his Vice-Presidential candidate in 1980, triggering suspicions that Bush had proven his usefulness in some way.
• William Casey, head of the CIA under Reagan, a secretive man who flew all over the world and had many meetings with the USSR's opponents including:
• John Paul II, who played a key role in the fall of the Warsaw Pact nations and the USSR.
• Saddam Hussein, who was provided with weapons and funding during the First Gulf War between Iran and Iraq in the 1980s, during the Reagan administration, and was at that time considered a US ally.
• Osama bin Laden, then a minor Mujahedeen leader in Afghanistan, who is reputed to have been a CIA agent there, and certainly exploited the CIA resources and US-funded propaganda sent to bolster the morale of radical Islamists after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
• Richard Cheney, Bush Sr.'s Defense Secretary, and Bush Jr's. Vice-President, former President of Halliburton Company, involved in several oil development projects in Mideast countries.
• The Carlyle Group, an investment group including members of both the Bush family and bin Laden family (one of the richest in Saudi Arabia and a major player in construction).
• Afghanistan Taliban figures who came to Texas to discuss an oil pipeline in 1997.

With such figures documented to have had military and economic dealings in the past, it is quite difficult to refute any claims of a conspiracy.

In particular, given the secret nature of their prior dealings, and the proven violent capacities of most of the individuals, it is quite clear that the capacity to plan almost any heinous act, and carry it out in secret, exists in this group. This would include acts of treason, terrorism and assassination, well-documented as taking place as part of CIA covert operations, particularly before 1976 when such actions were banned by US Presidential order, necessitating the use of proxies for such actions.

The variety and nature of the claims of conspiracy made against the above figures makes it difficult or impossible to discuss them in the context of a neutral encyclopedia article, without appearing to give them credence. As noted above, even the implication of association seems to be damning. However, this article reports only well known associations and circumstantial accusations that have never been clearly refuted by the individuals involved.

Only one conspiracy claim has been widely discussed in the press, that being that "Bush knew" about the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack and may have been involved in planning them directly. The New York Post and Georgia Representative Cynthia McKinney have both called for a full investigation of the ties of the Bush family to the various figures involved, and those who stand to benefit from the U.S. control of Afghanistan and Iraq, both major oil producing basins.

See also: Dubya Dubya Three, October Surprise