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George W Bush to publish book of military paintings

The 43rd president has been painting while maintaining a low profile following his two-term presidency

New York

Thursday 15 September 2016 15:37 BST

AP

George W Bush is set to publish his first book of oil paintings to honour veterans who have served for the US military.

The book, entitled Portraits of Courage: A Commander in Chief’s Tribute to America’s Warriors, will include 66 portraits of military veterans and those on active duty painted by the 43rd president. It is scheduled for release in February 2017.

Mr Bush began painting in solitude following his two term presidency, the legacy of which is shrouded by the spectre of the Iraq War and 2008 economic collapse. With Iraq, the former president is widely considered to have rushed into war on the false premise that then-president Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.

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By the time he left office, Mr Bush had a staggeringly low approval rating of 25 per cent, and was booed and jeered by attendees of Barack Obama’s January 2009 inauguration. He has maintained a low profile since the end of his presidency, but has made his way back into the public eye with his somber paintings.

His new book will be his first big publication of his visual work.

“This is a book about the men and women who have been tremendous national assets in the Armed Forces – and who continue to be vital to the future success of our country,” Mr Bush says in the book’s introduction. “The greatest honour of the presidency was looking them in the eye and saluting them as their Commander in Chief. And I intend to support and salute them for the rest of my life.”

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The book will cost $35 (£26.43) proceeds will go to the George W Bush Presidential Centre and its Military Service Initiative, which aids post-9/11 service-members and their families during the transition to military life.

Mr Bush's paintings were first uncovered after the notorious Romanian hacker, known as Guccifer, published images from the Bush family's email accounts in 2013. The hack revealed morose self portraits of Mr Bush in the shower.