[Paleopsych] Bush's real motive

[Hannes Eisler]

There has been quite a discussion about Bush's true incentives to  
start the war in Iraq. I am surprised that what I consider his real  
main motive has never been mentioned, as far as I know. It is that he  
wanted to surpass his father who did not dare to invade Iraq. As a  
European I have sometimes wondered about US motives being family  
reasons, intending to please parents or wives or boost the pride of  
children, rather than the objective ones. In American literature I  
remember my astonishment about two examples : the policeman or  
superintendent trying to stop the fight between the two groups of  
hooligans in "West side story," stating some private motive, and an  
officer at the landing in Normandy at the end of WW2 in Irwin Shaw*s  
" The young lions" who,  armed with a private gun with ivory handle,  
bragged about which impression he will make on his wife (or was it  
his parents?).
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Prof. Hannes Eisler
Department of Psychology
Stockholm University
S-106 91 Stockholm
Sweden

e-mail:   he at psychology.su.se
fax   :   +46-8-15 93 42
phone :   +46-8-163967 (university)
           +46-8-6409982 (home)
internet: http://www.psychology.su.se/staff/he
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