Quote Originally Posted by Thorne View Post
I have to disagree with you here, Oz. While I agree it would have been nice for Bush Sr. to finish him off, the UN mandate for the war was to push him out of Kuwait. Once that was done the job was done. If we'd tried to go further chances are we would have alienated the meager support from those Arab countries which were supporting us. We would have been virtually alone in the attacks and with no supply base or local air bases for support.

That was certainly the reasoning and the rationalization at that time... and it was short sighted. Hussein continued to persecute shiites, kurds, and anyone in Iraq who vocally objected to his methods. He cheated on the oil for food agreements he made with the UN. And he almost certainly used that money to support terrorism worldwide under the presumption that creating chaos was to his advantage.

It amazingly paralleled the apeasement policies that allowed Hitler to rearm Germany in the 1930's... but that's certainly debatable.

If Iraq had been subdued then, everything would have been different... maybe worse, but more likely better.

It's even possible that Iran, which remained neutral and out of the way while Iraq was pummeled, may have sent troops across the border to prevent us from getting to Baghdad. It could have been a disaster.
At the time, Iraq and Iran were beligerents, enemies. Iran would have welcomed Hussein's elimination, and they did when it finally happened. Iran (supporting insurgents) presumably stepped into vacuum we left by not getting the occupation right in the first place.

The Wehrmacht took Yugoslavia with a minimal force and couldn't control the population with 400,000 troops. Those who ignore the mistakes of history are doomed to repeat them. Personally, I rolled my eyes when Bush claimed victory on that aircraft carrier.