Did Bush know that the war on terror shit was all just made up and lied about [as some other redditors suggest whenever W is brought up]?

The most charitable defense you can give of George W. Bush is that his administration was seriously rocked by 9/11 and was notoriously insular as a result. There was that interview with Kimmel he did the other day where he said he never watched TV while in office—that was telling. He was operating in his own echo chamber, and he put too much trust in his advisers (specifically Rove, Cheney and Rumsfeld) because they all had tenure in his father's and Reagan's circle. He was in over his head, and the weight that he felt from 9/11 clouded his vision and lead him to put his faith in the wrong people.

I'm of the opinion that he's a decent man who surrounded himself with horrible people who had ulterior motives, and as a result he was a pretty terrible president. Had 9/11 not happened he would have likely been a mediocre president. He ran on domestic policy/"compassionate conservatism" and wasn't totally heartless when it came to social issues (PEPFAR for example is probably his most redeeming policy).

Again, this is the most charitable defense of him and it gives him a lot of benefit of the doubt. Others can provide you with a more critical view of him that definitely has merit.