George H.W. Bush on invading Iraq

[SOS]

President George H.W. Bush wrote a memoir entitled "A World Transformed", published in 1998. (It was written with Brent Scowcroft.) The following is an excerpt on why he did not invade Iraq in 1991:

"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.... 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."

A concise argument against the invasion. Didn't Junior bother to read his father's book?
For more see Jonathan Schells column in this weeks Nation.

[kentuck]

1. Obviously Jr didn't read Poppy's book...

It seems Poppy was a little brighter than the Dim Son...

[LittleDannySlowhorse]

2. He must not have read it

But in fairness, I'm pretty sure he can't read.

[Section_43]

3. That book

doesn't have any pictures.