Irish Alzheimer's

I have run into a spate of forgive/forget stories about the various George Bush people who have been president. David Brooks, particularly, went out of his way to praise the senior Bush recently.

Well, no. The senior Bush, after all, has Panama as a visible but rarely mentioned stain on it's otherwise whitewashed record.

The invasion of Panama in late 1989, which resulted in the deaths of some 20-30 U.S. troops, and 3,000 to 4,000 Panamanians, took place with essentially no rationale. There was something about "tension", and something -- which I remember clearly -- about the wife of a Marine captain who was insulted on the street, and something about the president of Panama being involved in drug traffic. Bang, bang. Noriega in prison. And, that incredible 100-1 ratio of dead. Yipes. How did that happen????

The elder Bush bears the guilt -- he has the blood of those thousands on his hands. Doesn't seem to be too repentant, does he? Apparently part of the genetic makeup of these folks it to murder and maim large numbers of people who are of darker skin than they are.

But, even better, there is some pretty good evidence that the Panama massacre -- what else can you call that 100-1 ratio? -- was the result of the elder Bush's hyperthyroid condition, which was finally diagnosed and treated shortly after the murders began. The younger Bush has no such excuse, and must live with having no medical reason for mass murders. Hyperthyroid results in overactivity and impulsive functioning, among other problems.

The old joke is that Irish Alzheimer's is forgetting everything but the grudges. Sometimes I think that Panama is completely forgotten by everyone else -- hell, sometimes I think Iraq is completely forgotten by everyone else. But I am continually astounded that we allow these people to go outside, to talk with others, to seem to live pretty well. Why don't they have to pay? Why is it forgotten so easily and completely? So much for the vaunted "accountability" that I hear so much about.

I don't know that I want to dig up the grudges of, say, the Spanish-American War, or the Albigensian Crusade. The Panamanians, though, are not so at peace with all this; there are marches and days of mourning every year on the anniversary of the invasion. Good thing none of them wants revenge for, say, a murdered family member. Same for those folks in Iraq and Afghanistan. Otherwise, I might be worried.