THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, April 25, 1996 TAG: 9604250470
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DAVID REED, ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: LEXINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines
George Bush said Wednesday that the only politics he cares deeply about anymore are those involving his sons, but the former president still felt compelled to criticize Pat Buchanan's foreign policy and question President Clinton's strategy in Bosnia.
``I'm out of politics now, and I don't miss it one damn bit,'' Bush told a crowd of 3,100 at Virginia Military Institute.
One son, George Bush Jr., is governor of Texas. Another son, Jeb Bush, was the GOP candidate in the Florida governor's race in 1994, but narrowly lost to Lawton Chiles. He has returned to working in commercial real estate.
``Those are the only politics I viscerally care about, that's where my political interests lie,'' Bush said of his sons.
The former president said the United States must continue to engage in global foreign policy and must be a leader in pushing political reforms in Eastern Europe. He accused Buchanan of advocating ``blatant, selfish protectionism'' and preying on people's economic insecurities.
``As the sole remaining superpower, we have a disproportionate responsibility to lead,'' he said.
Bush said the Clinton administration handled the recent tensions between China and Taiwan reasonably well.
``I'm not sure we had to move the second carrier force there. But we must involve them in a strategic dialogue without heavy-handed intervention,'' Bush said.
When asked by a cadet after his speech about his opinion of the U.S. military presence in Bosnia, Bush said, ``I can't be particularly critical of the president. For me, the Bosnia mission was never clear.''
Bush said when he was president, the missions were clear when he sent troops to Kuwait and Somalia.
Bush said he called military advisers Dick Cheney and Colin Powell into his office in 1992 to discuss whether to intervene in the war in Bosnia.
``They asked, `What is the mission?' I said, `Ending the brutality in the camps and keeping supply lines open.' They said there was no end to that mission, no guarantee of when the troops would come home.
``The jury is still out as to the military mission in Bosnia.'' Bush said. ``I just hope and pray our troops will come home as scheduled. I'm not sure of that at all.''
However, Bush said that the Clinton administration deserves great credit for brokering the Bosnian peace accord made in Dayton, Ohio.
Wednesday afternoon, Bush reviewed a cadet parade at VMI.
Bush, who was president when the Justice Department challenged VMI's male-only admissions policy, also greeted uniformed female cadets enrolled in the state's alternative program for women - Virginia Women's Institute for Leadership - at nearby Mary Baldwin College.
Bush took no questions, and VMI Superintendent Josiah Bunting said Bush kept his opinion of the sex-discrimination lawsuit to himself.
The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to issue an opinion at the end of June whether the public school's 157-year-old male-only tradition is constitutional ILLUSTRATION: Photo
George Bush
by CNB