(re-release) Schwarzkopf & Gates on why we DIDN'T invade Baghdad in '91.

[Mugsy]

Run time: 01:39 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfQG0I9eTWk   Posted on YouTube: June 07, 2008 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: June 07, 2008 By DU Member: Mugsy Views on DU: 1076

 
From the 1997 PBS documentary "The Gulf War", an interview with former Commander of U.S. forces in the first Gulf War, General H. Norman Schwarzkopf and former Assistant National Security Adviser (turned Secretary of Defense under Bush-43) Robert Gates, defending the decision not to go on into Baghdad and remove Saddam Hussein from power after the first Gulf War in 1991.

An ominous and prescient warning totally ignored by the Neo-Cons in the Bush II Administration.

This is a re-release of my earlier video with the same title because YouTube kept cutting Gates off at the end.

Please bump & vote.

[psychmommy]

1. oh my gosh.

this should be in commercials from 527's and the dnc, this is absolutely pricelss material and just sad as hell. the smart folks knew not to go in there and the dummies in the bush administration said who listens to eggheads anyway.

[ChristianDemocrat1]

2. Al Gore & many Democrats derided Bush Sr. for not "finishing the job" --> goading Jr. to do it

Ok, this is going to piss some (many?) of you off now.

After the Gulf War I finished up, and a few years went by of Saddam making fools of us by moving mechanized units to the borders with Kuwait from time to time, causing the US to alarm and mount a reaction, jerking us around and around, many lamented the action of Bush Sr. to cease hostilities once the 4 Objectives were met that the Coalition had rallied around.

Over the course of time, different Monday morning quarterback types would step forward to second guess that decision to cease hostilities saying, "We should have gone all the way to Bagdad and taken out Saddam Hussein and the Bathist regime." If I recall correctly, I have a distinct memory of even Al Gore making such statements. And Hillary Clinton as well. So bad was the goading by Democrats in later years that Bush Sr. came to express open regret for not doing so, for not "going all the way to Bagdad and taking out Saddam and the Bathist regime -- to finishing the job." To be honest, I hold many Democratics & their leaders responsible for beating down Bush Sr. on this matter so much that it became a matter of restoring family pride for Bush Jr. to "finish the job" as Democratic hecklers would say. The seed to do Iraq was planted within Bush Jr. during the Clinton years -- by derisive democrats Monday morning quarterbacking Gulf War I and heckling Bush Sr. for his "failure to finish the job." Now, maybe that wasn't you saying such things but I sure recall a good number of those less educated, working-class whites that Hillary attracted saying such things --- to deride the Repubs. Repubs answered with Bush & Cheney's invasion of Iraq at first opportunity.

So, if you want to hear my gut-honest opinion about this whole thing, (and many of you won't):
I consider the bulk of Democratic leadership just as responsible for the present mess in Iraq as anybody else, including the Bush & Cheneys of the world.

THIS is why Barack Obama stands head & shoulders above all these guys. Obama and Byrd and those few others who stood up against giving authorization to Bush Jr. to rape Iraq are the only one's free from responsibility on the matter.

I'll just go ahead and aggravate some more, while I'm on the subject, just to piss off whoever is stll not offended by the post:
We cannot just pull out of Iraq. We raped her, now we got to marry her. Its bad enough that we raped Iraq as we have, but to go ahead and just leave the crime scene, just leave her there writhing in the street, now is even worse. Nah, Uncle Sam raped Iraq, so now he's got her, whether she's a bitch or not. Just like Colin Powell used to say about why, during Gulf War I, they wanted to limit the action, "Well, there is like the Pottery Barn rule: 'You break it, you buy it.' "

There is probably not a family in Iraq that has not been traumatized for a generation or more as a result of our, America's, actions. There is probably not a family in Iraq that has not lost a mother or father or sister or brother or girlfriend or husband; or an eye or a foot; or a family home or a career or a job or a hospital or a school; or has someone who has lost their mind or soul. And who can count the families that are now dysfunctional for a generation or more due to post-traumatic stress disorder? Or children growing up in such an environment we are responsible for creating?

You raped her,
now you got to marry her,
bitch or not.

America has an obligation to Iraq that may take a generation or more to fulfill;
like the 50+ years in the Philippines, Germany, Japan, Korea, etc.

So, though Barack wisely dodged guilt by opposing the raping of Iraq from the start,
Barack would unwisely heap guilt upon himself by having America just walk away.


"We must be as careful to leave Iraq as we were reckless to enter her." ~ Barack Obama

A careful, and caring, withdrawal from Iraq may take a long, long, expensive time -- kind of like a divorce: child care payments, alimony, assets, etc., etc.