wisdom of the father

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-22-2003
wisdom of the father
1
Fri, 08-06-2004 - 1:32pm
In his memoirs, "A World Transformed," written five years ago, George Bush Sr. wrote the following to explain why he didn't go after Saddam Hussein at the end of the Gulf War.

"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 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 coul d conceivably still be an occupying power

in a bitterly hostile land."

If only his son could read.







iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Fri, 08-06-2004 - 4:06pm

The best advice is more often than not ignored. Children generally have to learn from their own mistakes. It's too bad this willful child's actions have exacted such a

 


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