LETTER FROM
THE EDITOR
HUFFINGTON
06.16.13
Second
Life
N THIS WEEK’S issue,
Jon Ward tags along
with George W. Bush
on the former president’s annual mountain bike ride
at his Crawford, Texas, ranch.
Bush invites military veterans
to join him on the three-day ride,
known as Warrior 100K. Seventyfive riders, including 13 veterans,
participated this year, trailing
the man who initiated the wars
that left many of them physically
and psychologically wounded.
As Ward writes, “It’s a ritual of
thanks and bonding that might
seem fraught from the outside,
but that everyone who takes part
seems to enjoy.”
The story, in many ways, provides a familiar glimpse of Bush.
There’s the same competitive spirit
ART STREIBER
I
(“he takes great pleasure in smoking riders who think they can hang
with him”), and the penchant for
doling out nicknames. Yet we also
see a more reflective side. “I don’t
long for [fame],” he says. “Nor do
I long for power. I’ve come to realize that power can be corrosive if
you’ve had it for too long.”
As he rides through his 1,500acre ranch — along winding trails,
beside ridges overlooking deep
gorges — with some of the men
he ordered into combat, does he
feel responsible for their injuries?
Does he second-guess the decisions that led to the war in Iraq?
“Every one of these men were
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