Pamela's Page of Stuff

WORDS OF WISDOM

(From Pamela.)

In his memoirs, "A World Transformed," written five years ago, George
Bush, Senior, 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 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."

If only his son could read.