Why would Osama bin Laden want to kill Dubya, his former business partner?

By James Hatfield

Editor's note: In light of last week's horrific events and the Bush administration's reaction to them, we are reprising the following from the last column Jim Hatfield wrote for Online Journal prior to his tragic death on July 18:

July 3, 2001—There may be fireworks in Genoa, Italy, this month, too.

A plot by Saudi master terrorist, Osama bin Laden, to assassinate Dubya during the July 20 economic summit of world leaders, was uncovered after dozens of suspected Islamic militants linked to bin Laden's international terror network were arrested in Frankfurt, Germany, and Milan, Italy, in April.

German intelligence services have stated that bin Laden is covertly financing neo-Nazi skinhead groups throughout Europe to launch another terrorist attack at a high-profile American target—his first since the bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen last October.

According to counter-terrorism experts quoted in Germany's largest newspaper, the attack on Dubya might be a James Bond-like aerial strike in the form of remote-controlled airplanes packed with plastic explosives.

Why would Osama bi Laden want to kill, Dubya, his former business partner?

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Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush is not apologizing for an off-color remark he made about a New York Times reporter.

Talking to running mate Dick Cheney before a Labor Day speech Monday in Naperville, Ill. — in which he talked about the need for “plainspoken Americans in the White House” — Bush was pretty blunt himself. The Texas governor used an expletive when referring to the New York Times’ Adam Clymer, one of the reporters who has been covering his campaign.

Unaware he was speaking into an open microphone, Bush leaned over to Cheney and said, “There’s Adam Clymer, major-league a------ from the New York Times.”

Cheney responded, “Oh yeah, he is, big time.”

The two candidates for the highest offices in the land did not know their remarks were being broadcast to members of the audience and to the press corps. The comment has been replayed on network, cable and local news shows.

But when Bush was asked later on Monday if he would apologize for the comment, he said only, “I regret that it made it to the airwaves.”

How Jeb Bush Schooled the Florida Press

He’s always aimed to win and doesn’t like anyone getting in his way—especially the media.

By S.V. Dáte
Politico Mag, 04/22/15, 09:34 PM EDT

By the end, Jeb Bush thought I was a jerk. Also that I was the least fair journalist in all of Tallahassee. I only did “hit” pieces designed to “screw” him, he wrote an economist who had talked to me about Bush’s crackdown on gasoline price-gouging. And no, Bush emailed me, he absolutely would not be interviewed for the biography I was writing of him. And just to be clear: It wasn’t because he was simply too busy. He was choosing not to spend time being interviewed: “Please don’t mark me down as neutral regarding the eight hours or any hours. No can do.”

On the plus side, in spite of my “evil ways,” he said in that same note, he liked my “spunk”—so at least I had that going for me.

This was the John Ellis Bush I had known and covered for 10 long years: a man who viewed politics as combat but who, in the end, respected those who could give as good as they got. Bush liked those reporters who came to him prepared; too many didn’t, and he ate up people like
that.

Of course, it wasn’t all late-night nastygrams and unceremonious no’s. On less tense occasions, we had in-the-weeds discussions about tax and budget policy, as well as a tutorial about the VeggieTales characters. As Florida governor, he was accessible enough to exchange emails directly with the general public, other reporters—even me.

I had come to Tallahassee after covering NASA for four years, and I spent all of Bush’s eight years as governor covering his administration for the Palm Beach Post, from his winning 1998 campaign through the January afternoon in 2007 when he left office. I watched, listened and asked some questions he was happy to answer—and many more he didn’t have any use for. Over that time, I read thousands of email messages and government records and observed hundreds of hours of Bush answering thousands of questions in formal and informal settings.

The word “relentless” doesn’t begin to explain this Bush. I’ve yet to encounter any other politician as smart, as driven, as self-disciplined, as organized, as single-minded about his goals—or as certain about his views.

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http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/04/jeb-bush-reporters-florida-schooled-the-press-117004