W. "shoulda listened to his Daddy"

[StefanX]

Found this today on Digby:

Shoulda Listened to Daddy

While we hoped that popular revolt or coup would topple Saddam, neither the U.S. nor the countries of the region wished to see the breakup of the Iraqi state. We were concerned about the long-term balance of power at the head of the Gulf. 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 had been unable to find Noriega in Panama, which we knew intimately. 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, 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 U.N.'s mandate, would have destroyed the precedent of international response to aggression we hoped to establish. Had we gone the invasion route, the U.S. could conceivably still be an occupying power in a bitterly hostile land. It would have been a dramatically different -- and perhaps barren -- outcome.

"Why We Didn't Remove Saddam" -- George Bush {Sr.} and Brent Scowcroft - Time Magazine (2 March 1998)

... There are going to be many different ways to evaluate this period in our history, but the prism of the father-son relationship is perhaps the most compelling -- and maybe the most important. ...

Look at what Scowcroft and Bush Sr were saying and look at the state of Iraq today. It is breath-taking, isn't it? ...

Wonder what would happen if a reporter were to ask Junior how he felt about the fact that his father's predictions of failure in Iraq had all come true? I'd really like to see that.

-- DigbysBlog.blogspot.com, 16 August 2005

Maybe that's the Noble Cause right there - trying to outdo Daddy.

[jobycom]

1. His daddy wasn't all that smart, either, and even he saw this coming

He made a speech in England during the leadup to the invasion in which he criticized America's "rush to war." It was sad to hear a father have to use the media to get a message to his son, and it was even sadder that it got almost know air play here.

[Greeby]

2. If it was all to out-do Daddy

That's even sicker than if oil is the reason, as opposed to just a side benefit

[madeline_con]

7. Bush expressed frustration at a lifetime as an underachiever

Two years before 9/11, candidate Bush was already talking privately about attacking Iraq, according to his former ghost writer
By Russ Baker

“He was thinking about invading Iraq in 1999,” said author and journalist Mickey Herskowitz. “It was on his mind. He said to me: ‘One of the keys to being seen as a great leader is to be seen as a commander-in-chief.’ And he said, ‘My father had all this political capital built up when he drove the Iraqis out of Kuwait and he wasted it.’ He said, ‘If I have a chance to invade….if I had that much capital, I’m not going to waste it. I’m going to get everything passed that I want to get passed and I’m going to have a successful presidency.”

Herskowitz said that Bush expressed frustration at a lifetime as an underachiever in the shadow of an accomplished father.

http://www.gnn.tv/articles/article.php?id=761


In the article, DUH-bya talks about how Daddy Bush "wasted" all that clout...

[yorkiemommie1]

3. this quote needs more exposure

it gets lost; i'm glad someone in the hawaii protest put it on a sign. good idea.

sure it's a daddy thing. and remember mama telling jr. that he was the 'chosen one'? how infantile this 'man' is!!!!!!!!!!

[Mythsaje]

4. So Papa Bush isn't a PNACer?...interesting...n/t

[LoKnLoD]

5. He must not

be getting a cut of the Halliburton, et al pie

[mcctatas]

6. I think papa Bush is a "real" republican....

Sure he was a greedy fiscal and social conservative, but at least he didn't think he got his marching orders from God.

[LaPera]

8. But then he wouldn't of been able to steal all that oil, make billions for

Pappy's Carlyle Group, Cheney's Halliburton and for Bechtel, GE, Humvee, weapons makers, oil companies.

And he wouldn't of been able to build military bases in Iraq.

Not to mention, the big excuse... not have having any money left to fund education, social programs, environmental agency's, etc...

Nope Bush made the right decision for him and his fellow republicans and the corporate facsist...

So what if soldiers die and Iraqi's are killed...he will be in office for 3 1/2 more years...he doesn't give a fuck...when he leaves everything in shambles, they'll all be many times richer and we will be under a military rule that the republicans will control along with their republican owned media.

Who says Bush made the wrong decision, for whom?