I don't think you understand much about psychology, or you are purposefully simplifying the situation to make your point. It is a lot more complicated than your post would make it seem.
Here is a little commentary about the psychology of George Bush that I found on the net. Whether you believe it is accurate, it will give you a better idea of what people are talking about when they discuss how Bush's motives for taking out Saddam have to do with his father.
H.W. Bush didn't take Saddam out mostly because he knew there would be chaos in Iraq if he did, and to most presidents it is better to have a strong-arm dictator in place than a huge, lawless country with lots of uncontrolled and dangerous factions.
Commentary
Questions raised about Bush's mental and physical health
By Bev Conover
Online Journal Editor & Publisher
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October 30, 2004—Are there no decent Republicans in Washington who will publicly state, before next Tuesday's presidential election, what has been conveyed in late night phone calls, whispered about in the halls of power and hinted at to reporters: that George W. Bush is mentally unstable?
Say what you will about George W. Bush as occupant of the White House, but pity the man because he is a mental mess.
And it is from that standpoint that Justin A. Frank, a prominent Washington psychiatrist and the author of "Bush on the Couch," provides insight into what drives Bush.
Bush's problems, according to Frank, go beyond being an untreated alcoholic who has switched addictions from the bottle to a fundamentalist brand of religion, which now leads him to believe he is a direct instrument of God and, as such, is under divine orders to rid the world of "evil." Frank points out that the substitution of religion for alcohol is not uncommon among untreated alcoholics, also known as dry drunks.
In this state of mind, he has donned a cloak of infallibility that brooks no questions or dissent. Hence, his reliance on his "gut," "instincts" and "prayer."
Bush's much heralded "affability" is a defensive mechanism to hide his perceived shortcomings and inner demons—both of which he tries to rid himself of by projecting them on to others, Frank says. And the affability isn't very affable at all, because there often are vicious comments in his jokes about others. Yet, this seeming "affability" served him well as the class clown throughout his years at Andover, Yale and Harvard.
To understand Bush's paranoia and psychosis, you have to look at his family: the father who was absent more than he was present and the mother who was cold and indifferent.
Frank provides a chilling picture of George Herbert Walker Bush and Barbara Pierce Bush in the way they dealt with their first daughter's leukemia and death.
Young George was 6 years old when his sister Robin, 3, was diagnosed with leukemia in the spring of 1953, which set in motion a flurry of extended trips his parents took with her in search of treatment. Yet, while George was close to his sister, they never told him of her illness or the reason for their absences. Instead, on the occasions she was home, he was told not to play with her.
"Robin died in New York in October 1953; her parents spent the next day golfing in Rye, attending a small memorial service the following day before flying back to Texas. George learned of his sister's illness only after her death, when his parents returned to Texas, where the family remained while the child's body was buried in a Connecticut family plot. There was no funeral," Frank wrote.
One can only imagine how traumatic that must have been for 6-year old George. What must have gone through his mind. But there was no one to comfort him. Instead, it was back to business as usual for his father and his mother slipped into a deep depression, totally ignoring the needs of her son. It was young George who adopted the roll of affable clown in an attempt to rescue her from her depression, to gain her notice and approval.
But Barbara Bush was known to be a hard taskmaster and a stern disciplinarian. It was she who coined the family motto: "You are either with us or against us."
Young George also craved the attention and approval of his father. But that wasn't forthcoming, either. Is it any wonder then that he got his jollies by sticking firecrackers into frogs and watching them blow up or that to this day, to the detriment and peril of the world, that he is still in a rivalry with the elder Bush?
All the signs that something had gone dreadfully wrong with young George were ignored, according to Frank. After all, the Bushes had a position to maintain. How could they admit their son had problems and seek treatment for them? Even the question of whether Bush has a form of dyslexia went unanswered or whether, as Mark Crispin Miller, author of "The Bush Dyslexicon" and "Cruel and Unusual: Bush/Cheney?s New World Order," has pointed out that George W. is only tongue-tied when he is forced to say something he doesn't believe.
Perhaps. But, in a recent Atlantic Monthly article, editor James Fallows observed that "through his forties Bush was perfectly articulate," so "there must be some organic basis" for his "peculiar mode of speech, a learning disability, a reading problem, dyslexia or some other disorder." That led Joseph M. Price, a Carsonville, Michigan, physician, to suggest, in a letter to editor of the Atlantic Monthly, that Bush may be suffering from pre-senile dementia.
Dr. Price noted that Bush's problems can't be a learning disability or dyslexia, "because patients with those problems have always had them." He went on to say, ""Slowly developing cognitive deficits, as demonstrated so clearly by the President [sic], can represent only one diagnosis, and that is 'presenile dementia'! Presenile dementia is best described to nonmedical persons as a fairly typical Alzheimer's situation that develops significantly earlier in life, well before what is usually considered old age."
Whatever ails Bush, be it physical or mental, goes beyond the religious fanatics and neocons he has surrounded himself with. Contrary to what some think, he is not a stupid man. He may just be a lazy man—a rich, frat playboy—but playing at being president doesn't cut it.
There are suggestions that he may have suffered a seizure or a mild stroke, which would explain the infamous pretzel incident and possibly the tumbles from his mountain bike, which the corporate media dismissed as macho recklessness.
After watching the third debate, Dallas physician W. Kendall Tongier, an anesthesiologist, wrote the Dallas Morning News, "I am highly concerned with what I saw. The drooping left side of the President's [sic] face, his mouth and nasolabial fold (the crease in the face running from the nostril to the side of mouth) may be indicative of a recent stroke, TIA (transient ischemic attack)) or, possibly botox injections. I sincerely hope this was nothing more than botox injections."
Why has Bush postponed his annual physical, which is usually done in August, until after the election? The official White House story is it would have interfered with his campaign's heavy travel schedule. That has fueled speculation that Bush might be suffering from atrial fibrillation, as his father does, and might have been wearing a LifeVest, a device containing an external defibrillator, thusly explaining the odd bugle under his jacket during the first debate.
Some will dismiss this as the ravings of "conspiracy theorists." But, with the election just three days away, the American people have a right to know if Bush is suffering from a mental or physical problem. Imagine what will happen if Bush is the victor on Tuesday, then his health forces him to resign or, worst case scenario, he dies in office. Cheney then becomes president and gets to choose a new vice president. If Cheney's failing health results in his resignation or death, his vice president become president and gets to choose a vice president.
Where there is smoke, there is fire. Bush's irrational behavior—whether caused by perceived inner demons or an organic problem—has caused needless death and destruction, and gained the enmity of the world. Couple that with a possible serious physical problem and shudder at the thought. The American people deserve better. The world deserves better.
Additional Reading:
White House Insiders Say Bush Is Out of Control by Mike Hersh (Online Journal, Sept. 12, 2002)
Aspartame, Anti-depressants and Bush by Jerry Mazza (Online Journal, Aug. 6, 2004)
Physician Sees 'Pre-Senile Dementia' in Bush?s Faltering Speech by Jerry Mazza (Online Journal, Sept. 18, 2004)
The Big Picture Shows Bush in Big Mental Trouble by Jerry Mazza (Online Journal, Oct. 14, 2004)
Without a Doubt by Ron Suskind (The New York Times, Oct. 17, 2004)
Has Bush Lost His Reason? by Andrew Stephan (The Observer, Oct. 17, 2004)
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