Bush's Father Foresaw Costs of Iraq War

[southernleftylady]

WASHINGTON - Not many people foresaw the postwar difficulties the administration has endured in Iraq (news - web sites). Of the few who did, two stand out, both lions of the Republican Part
One was President George H.W. Bush. The other was his secretary of state, James A. Baker.

"Incalculable human and political costs" would have been the result, the senior Bush has said, if his administration had pushed all the way to Baghdad and sought to overthrow Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) after the U.S.-led coalition ousted the Iraqi army from Kuwait during the Persian Gulf war in 1991.

"We would have been forced to occupy Baghdad and, in effect rule Iraq," Bush wrote. "The coalition would have instantly collapsed. ... Going in and thus unilaterally exceeding the United Nations (news - web sites) mandate would have destroyed the precedent of international response to aggression we hoped to establish.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=544&ncid=693&e=1&u=/ap/20040825/ap_on_go_pr_wh/iraq_bush_s_warning

[krkaufman]

1. Always good to have HW's view on Iraq published...

... but a *LOT* of people predicted the quagmire that would be a Saddam-less Iraq. And it's just getting warmed-up.

[ClintonTyree]

2. Dubya............

wouldn't listen to Daddy. Daddy was a pussy. Daddy didn't finish the job. Dumbya would gain favor with Mommy if he did a better job than Daddy. It's that old Oedipal thing. I think Dumbya wants to do his Mom.

[southernleftylady]

3. kick