Father Knows Best
George Dubya apparently didn't read his dad's memoir, "A World Transformed", or if he did, he didn't follow Dad's advice. The following is a quote from George the first's memoir wherein he describes why he didn't send his Desert Stormers on to Baghdad:
"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."
It's worth repeating that last sentence: "Had we gone the invasion route, the United States could conceivably still be an occupying power in a bitterly hostile land." Well, Dad, sadly your son did go that route and indeed we are still an occupying power in a bitterly hostile land.
