Former Republican president George W. Bush took immense flak for comments made on the eve of the 25th anniversary of the horrific Islamic terrorist attacks on September 11th, 2001. The comments came as Bush sat on stage with his former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at a forum titled ‘Reflections on Terrorist Attacks And War On Terror’ in which he said he had worried about the backlash Muslims in the country would face as the reality of attacks on the American homeland set in.
For context, just six days after the attacks of September 11th took place, the president visited the Islamic Center of Washington to denounce what he feared was a rise of anti-Muslim bigotry that the supposed harrassment of Muslims who Americans might blame for the attacks. At his visit, he famously said: “The face of terror is not the true faith of Islam. Islam is peace” while meeting with Islamic leaders.
While many Americans either forgot or never knew those comments were made, it was refreshed when the aging Bush recalled his response in the days immediately following the attacks that killed roughly 3,000 Americans and have left to this day an estimated 400,000 with long-term effects
“I want you to talk about a couple of those events. You talked about going to the Islamic Center and trying to make sure that our Muslim American citizens knew that we didn’t blame them for what had happened,” Rice prefaced in a short clip that aired on September 9th, 2026.
Bush was terse in his reply, but maintained the same energy he did twenty-five years ago in his denunciation of the bigotry he imagined was on the rise. “I also made it clear that Islam was a religion of peace, not a religion of war, and that these people subverted their religion,” he reiterated.
He added later in the conversation the motivating factor was stories he was hearing about ‘women in coverings’ facing harassment while at malls. “This decision, shortly thereafter, was to go to a mosque. I did so because I was deeply concerned about stories of women in coverings being harassed at shopping centers, particularly in Michigan,” he added.
Watch Bush’s comments below:
The comments by Bush call to mind a vintage tweet from the late Canadian comedian Norm MacDonald. In a viral 2016 post, he basically captured Bush’s mood with a hilarious joke that is funny precisely because of its truth. “What terrifies me is if ISIS were to detonate a nuclear device and kill 50 million Americans. Imagine the backlash against peaceful Muslims?” he wrote a decade ago.
Reacting to the Bush messaging aired on C-SPAN’s X account, many wrote comments that are simply unprintable. The ones that are summarize the majority sentiment, albeit in less aggressive tones. “What a scumbag traitor,” one user wrote. “Wtf?” posted another. “I never knew he said that. Holy F,” a third replied.
“This guy is a fool,” another used posted beneath the video. “No words! What world does he live in?” yet another chimed in. “Utter rubbish,” succinctly wrote a sixth user on the Elon Musk-owned social media behemoth.