Bush uncle cashes in on Iraq business

U.S. President George Bush's uncle has cashed in $450,000 worth of stock options from his position with defense contractor ESSI, the Los Angeles Times says. William "Bucky" Bush, the youngest brother of former President George H. Bush, took the deal with St. Louis-based Engineered Support Systems Inc., in January, exercising options on 8,438 shares of company stock Jan. 18, according to reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. William Bush is on the board of the company, which supplies the U.S. military with armor and other materials, all of which is in high demand with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The 66-year-old is a onetime St. Louis bank executive and head of an investment firm, and joined the board in 2000, eight months before his nephew won the White House. He told the newspaper he never used his family connections to help the company win contracts. "I don't make any calls to the 202 area code," he said, referring to the long-distance dialing code for Washington. [more]