Bush Warns Rising ‘Who Cares What Happens Overseas’ Attitude Betrays the Lessons of 9/11

Former President George W. Bush and his ex-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke about their experience on September 11th, 2001, during an event hosted at Bush’s library this week to mark the 25th anniversary of the terror attacks.

During the discussion, they recalled the chaos of that day, including both believing for about ten minutes that the U.S. military had shot down Flight 93 over Pennsylvania.

Rice eventually turned the conversation to foreign policy. “You really started out, of course, making the case about Afghanistan and the plight of women,” Rice said as Bush agreed, “Absolutely.”

Rice added, “Or did you make that case, or did somebody else?”

Bush replied, “Well, I was trying to give a radio address, and Laura elbowed me out of the way, and she gave a radio address that spoke to the Afghan women. And it had a huge impact, by the way.”

“Do you think that we are falling away from that understanding, that part of the challenge that we faced on September 11th still is with us, and that there are free and unfree? Are we falling away from that?” followed up Rice.

“Yeah, absolutely, it seems to me. You know, our nation occasionally goes through isolationist periods where the attitude is, we’ve got too many problems at home, therefore who cares what happens overseas. Which really means, to me, they just don’t pay attention to the lesson of 9/11, because what happens overseas matters to our national security at home,” Bush replied, adding:

And yes, I’m afraid so. And, uh, to the extent that people are struggling against tyranny, it makes sense — we don’t have to send troops, but we ought to at least stand with them and stand beside them, because this is what we went through 250 years ago. And again, it’s a belief that everybody wants to be free. And we saw that in Afghanistan.

People say, well, they don’t want to be free, they don’t know the difference. Of course they know the difference. Young girls going to school for the first time in their lives knew the difference. Women becoming doctors and professors know the difference between a free society and a tyrannical society. And sadly, those women who began to realize their full potential no longer have a chance to realize their full potential.

Bush has previously shaded President Donald Trump’s reshaping of the GOP and warned against embracing populist nativism. When asked in April of 2021 for his take on the current state of the party, Bush replied, “I would describe it as isolationist, protectionist, and to a certain extent nativist.” Bush, however, has largely avoided politics since leaving office and explicitly argued he does not believe it’s the place of former presidents to publicly criticize the current one.

Watch the clip above via C-SPAN.

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