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A Daily Chronicle of Bush Administration Distortion October 1, 2003
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Bush Jr.'s Failure to Heed Advice of Bush Sr. Traps U. S. Forces in Iraq for Foreseeable Future



On Tuesday members of the Iraqi Governing Council contradicted Secretary of State Colin Powell's optimistic timetable for self-government, saying it could take up to 18 months to ratify a constitution,1 thus extending the U. S. occupation into 2005. This is far longer than senior administration members suggested just last week2 but is exactly what President Bush's father warned might happen.

Writing five years ago about his own decision to contain Saddam Hussein in the Gulf War of 1991 rather than remove him from power, the senior Bush explained:

"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." 3

In the same writing, authored with former National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft, President Bush's father also had cautioned:

"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."

On Tuesday the administration of the junior Bush, having failed to gain U. N. approval for the invasion and having failed to gain any U. N. post-war assistance, continued to lobby Congress to pay a total of $150-$160 billion for his policy in Iraq.

Sources:
1. "More Guard Call-Ups Foreseen," Washington Post, 9/26/03, p. A6.
2. Iraqis Say New Constitution in Six Months Is Unlikely, New York Times, 9/30/03.
3. A World Transformed, George Bush and Brent Scowcroft, 1998, p. 489


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