Ah, Memories...

In his memoir A World Transformed (1998), George Bush, Senior, wrote the following:

"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 UN’s mandate, would have destroyed the precedent of international response to aggression that we hoped to establish. Had we gone the invasion route, (we) could conceivably still be an occupying power in a bitterly hostile land."

George Bush Sr. is hardly mentioned anymore. For historical purposes, it is as if he never existed. But his statement in the memoir stands as a stark reminder that Bush Jr. fucked it all up in the worst way.