Please read this incredible prophesy by Bush I on an Iraqi invasion.

[spotbird]

From George H.W. Bush and Brent Scowcroft, A World Transformed (1998), pp. 489-90:


"Trying to eliminate Saddam, extending the ground war into an occupation of Iraq, would have violated our guideline about not changing objectives in midstream, engaging in "mission creep," and would have incurred incalculable human and political costs. Apprehending him was probably impossible. We had been unable to find Noriega in Panama, which we knew intimately. We would have been forced to occupy Baghdad and, in effect, rule Iraq. The coalition would instantly have collapsed, the Arabs deserting it in anger and other allies pulling out as well. Under those circumstances, there was no viable "exit strategy" we could see, violating another of our principles. Furthermore, we had been self-consciously trying to set a pattern for handling aggression in the post-Cold War world. Going in and occupying Iraq, thus unilaterally exceeding the United Nations' mandate, would have destroyed the precedent of international response to aggression that we hoped to establish. Had we gone the invasion route, the United States could conceivably still be an occupying power in a bitterly hostile land. It would have been a dramatically different--and perhaps barren--outcome."

http://hnn.us/articles/631.html#bush1998



Didn’t chimp talk to his Dad?

[LightTheMatch]

1. Wow...

That confirms how much smarter his daddy was... maybe Bush I actually paid attention in class! :)

Amazing, everything he has talked about has come 100% true. I wonder what he thinks about this huge mess.

[ComerPerro]

2. That is an interesting read

He was very right.

[poskonig]

3. I'm shocked.

Perhaps I shouldn't diss Poppy so bad, though he was involved in Iran-Contra.

[AntiCoup2K4]

4. Bush Sr and Scowcroft both voiced their objections to PNAC & Junior ....

...before the invasion. So at least they're consistent. Don't forget that Wolfowitz & Perle wrote the first draft of the PNAC agenda during Poppy's administration, and he vetoed the plan. George Bush Sr may be a drug smuggling, terrorist funding bastard, but unlike his son, he's no idiot.

[Dude_CalmDown]

11. He was smart enough to know that America wasn't ready for it then but

I don't doubt that he's behind it now. It's being pulled off by all his old buddies and his son - I'm sure they all have his blessing and anything he can contribute.

[BeFree]

5. wow

Ya mean to say that forgot all that in just 5 years? It was a wise thing to do, keeping the UN members aboard and staying out of the quicksnd Iraq has become. Gawd-damn bunch of stupid warmongering theives we have at the head of this country, eh?

[Timefortruth]

6. There are other interesting quotes at the same link, from Cheney even

My favorite, these people just don't believe a thing they say. What if the public found out?

WHY DICK CHENEY OPPOSED GOING TO BAGDAD IN 1991 AT THE TIME OF THE GULF WAR (posted 10-16-02)

Dick Cheney in April 1991, then Defense Secretary, as quoted in the Slate on October 16, 2002:


If you're going to go in and try to topple Saddam Hussein,you have to go to Baghdad. Once you've got Baghdad, it's not clear what you do with it. It's not clear what kind of government you would put in place of the one that's currently there now. Is it going to be a Shia regime, a Sunni regime or a Kurdish regime? Or one that tilts toward the Baathists, or one that tilts toward the Islamic fundamentalists? How much credibility is that government going to have if it's set up by the United States military when it's there? How long does the United States military have to stay to protect the people that sign on for that government, and what happens to it once we leave?

[bloom]

8. Too bad they didn't remember themselves

- The "Scream" is appropriate, BTW.

[slor]

7. Of course he spoke...

to his dad. "Daddy, I'ma gonna git that evil man dat tried to kilt youn!"

[Demobrat]

9. Rebellious child doing the opposite of what daddy says.

And here I thought it was Poppy pulling the strings. Turns out to be the exact opposite. Live and learn.

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

10. Bush Sr. is much smarter than Bush Jr.

They are both crooks, but at least Bush Sr. isn't a drooling moron. Hopefully he's still calling the shots, but from the looks of things I'm not convinced.

[Dude_CalmDown]

13. Personally I wouldn't find any more comfort in knowing...

...that one's calling the shots over the other.

"Hopefully he's still calling the shots"

Also, I highly doubt that McChimp is calling any shots - except for the usual: "Jack Daniel’s over here, on the double!"

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

14. bwa ha ha

"I highly doubt that McChimp is calling any shots - except for the usual: "Jack Daniel’s over here, on the double!"

Okay, very good point :)

[ignatius]

12. Too bad when Poppy and Babs, the quaker oat lady,

did it there wasn't a "barren outcome." That would have saved the world a lot of grief.

[Timefortruth]

15. Do you think that at some point even they will know what happened?

Eventually even Republicans will realize that they were bamboozled. These quotes should be used at press conferences to support questions, and in campaign commercials. This is the smoking that proves they knew they couldn’t win the peace long before they started the war.