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George H.W. Bush in ICU for Pneumonia | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Former US President George H.W. Bush (L) and his wife Barbara, pictured in 2009, are both hospitalized in Houston (AFP Photo/Paul J. Richards)


Washington – Former president George H.W. Bush was admitted to an intensive care unit on Wednesday suffering from pneumonia.

Family spokesman Jim McGrath said that Bush suffered from an acute respiratory problem stemming from pneumonia.

“Doctors performed a procedure to protect and clear his airway that required sedation,” McGrath said in a statement.

President Bush, 92, was admitted to the intensive care unit at Houston Methodist Hospital.

Bush’s health situation was not revealed directly, while media outlets in Texas reported family sources that the former suffered from shortness of breath and general health problems due to old age.

The former president’s office chief of staff said he is in a stable condition and “doing fine” and is expected to go home in a couple of days.

George Herbert Walker Bush was born on 12 June 1924, in Milton, Massachusetts, to a wealthy family. His father was a congressman. He studied at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts.

He received his commission on June 9, 1943, becoming the youngest naval aviator of the time.

In 1945, he married his wife Barbara, who was 16 at the time. During World War II, Bush flew torpedo bombers, completing 58 missions.

In 1966 he was elected to the House of Representatives. Bush attempted to run as the republican candidate in the 1980 election, but he didn’t win the nomination. Instead, he was chosen as Ronald Reagan’s vice president.

In 1989, Bush became the president, and he ran for re-election in 1992 but was defeated

Gulf war occurred between Iraq and Kuwait during his presidency.

His Chief of Staff John Sununu, of Arab descents, was a powerful man and was known for his corruption, but no one had the courage to ask him to quit. It was then when George Jr. came to visit his father when he heard about Sununu’s corruption and confronted him asking the latter to quit before he gets fired.

Bush Jr’s courage was the reason the Republican Party began grooming him for the president’s position instead of his brother Jeb.

Bush’s office announced earlier this month that he and his wife of more than 70 years, Barbara, would not attend Donald Trump’s inauguration due to the former president’s age and health.