WI: Dubya is killed in Tbilisi, Georgia?

Isaac Beach

Banned
So I just learned yesterday that an assassination attempt on George W. Bush (and presumably Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili) was very nearly successful; whilst giving a speech in Tbilisi a would-be assassin, Vladimir Arutyunian, pulled on the pin on a Soviet-era grenade and threw it at the podium that the two presidents were standing on. However, due to Arutyunian's unusually keen knot tying skills the handkerchief wrapped around the grenade kept the safety lever from lifting after the pin was pulled.

Now what if Arutyunian had not so tightly wound the handkerchief and the grenade did detonate, killing Bush and Saakashvili? What would that mean for American and Georgian politics, and more broadly for international affairs? I know literally nothing about this era as I was a child at the time, so if someone could enlighten me that'd be very handy.

I just find it very fascinating, because of the many attempted assassinations of US presidents (very dangerous job that) this is one that, to me, has the highest probability of actually succeeding, and it was only two presidents ago.
 
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Cheney as POTUS? Things will be a lot, LOT
worse. For one thing, I wonder(& this is not
something I say lightly since for one thing I
think saying such-&- such contemporary political figure is just like Hitler is a state-
ment that should always be avoided) if Cheney would have proceeded to declare martial law in the US & then postpone if not out & out canceled the next POTUS election. I know this sounds crazy. But Cheney, during
Bush’s Presidency, impressed me as some-
one who did not value the Bill of Rights &
civil liberties in the least. In fact he seemed
to hold them in contempt. Elevate him to the
Oval Office & I quite frankly shudder @ what
he would do in that exalted position.
 
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Dick Cheney is pretty crazy, but not that bad, he wouldn'thave cancelled the election. His politics would have been unpleasant though.
 
Cheney will be President. He'll preside over Hurricane Katrina, the ongoing Iraq War, the 2008 economic crisis. He probably will not run for reelection and I think he'd mostly be a lame duck for most of his administration.
 
Cheney will be President. He'll preside over Hurricane Katrina, the ongoing Iraq War, the 2008 economic crisis. He probably will not run for reelection and I think he'd mostly be a lame duck for most of his administration.
Surely he wouldn't have considered running in 2008 because of the health issues due to continuing heart problems?
 

Anchises

Banned
That would basically give Cheney the keys to the kingdom and another national trauma on top of that.

It would be pretty easy to weave a narrative that justifies doubling down on the War on Terror.

9/11 and then a few years later the POTUS gets blown up with a grenade in some post-Soviet backwater?! A man like Cheney could and would use that.
 
According to Wikipedia,

When Bush began speaking, Arutyunian threw a RGD-5 hand grenade wrapped in a red plaid handkerchief toward the podium where Bush stood as he addressed the crowd. The grenade landed 18.6 metres (61 ft) from the podium, near where Saakashvili, his wife Sandra E. Roelofs, Laura Bush, and other officials were seated.

An RGD-5 grenade has a lethal radius of 3 meters, wounding radius of 25, so Bush will be injured but not killed, and perhaps Saakashvili and Laura Bush are killed.

The Russo-Georgian war probably begins 3 years early, with direct U.S. involvement.
 
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