[kj] bush the elder's crystal ball

fluw gathering@misera.net
Tue, 16 Sep 2003 10:29:01 -0500 (GMT-05:00)


"Trying to eliminate Saddam, extending the ground war into
an occupation of Iraq, would have violated our guideline
about not changing objectives in midstream, engaging in
???mission creep,' and 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. The coalition would instantly
have collapsed, the Arabs deserting it in anger and other
allies pulling out as well. Under those circumstances, 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-Co ld 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 would have been a dramatically
different--and perhaps barren--outcome."


George H.W. Bush (The ELDER)  A World Transformed 1998