All in the Family: Filial Favours and Making a Killing in Wartime

Bush's Uncle Makes $450K Off Iraq War

Democracy Now!

F24, '05

william "bucky" bush

The war in Iraq has helped President Bush's uncle make at least $450,000 in war-related profits. This according to a report in the Los Angeles Times. William Bush - who is known to the president as Uncle Bucky - sits on the board of the St. Louis-based defense contractor Engineered Support Systems.

The company supplies armor and other materials to U.S. troops. The company's stock prices have soared to record heights since the invasion, in part because it received no-bid contracts to rapidly refit fleets of military vehicles with extra armor.

Last month William Bush exercised options on over 8,000 shares of company stock. He made around $450,000 on the deal. William Bush joined the company's board in 2000 before his nephew was elected and claims he hasn't used his family's connections to help win contracts. But a spokesperson to the company admitted to the Los Angeles Times "Having a Bush doesn't hurt." William Bush's older brother is the former President George H.W. Bush. The company has been openly admitted that the country's ongoing wars has helped business. In its quarterly earnings report a year ago, the company's Vice Chairman and Chief Executive said: "The increasing likelihood for a prolonged military involvement in Southwest Asia by U.S. forces well into 2006 has created a fertile environment for the type of support ... products and services that we offer."