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"Trying to eliminate Saddam would have incurred incalculable human and political costs.Apprehending him was probably impossible. We would have been forced to occupy Baghdad and, in effect, rule Iraq. Going in and occupying Iraq, thus unilaterally exceeding the United Nations' mandate, would have destroyed the precedent of international response to agression 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." George H. W. Bush and Brent Scowcroft, in "A World Transformed," explaining why they ended the first Gulf War without removing Saddam from power.
Hmmm. Wonder if Shrub-boy listens to Poppy...unless Poppy is too busy off on the golf course to pay attention to Junior....
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