26 June 2004

Wisdom, or the lack thereof

Thanks to Encino Man for sending this along.

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


If only his son could do a lot of things. When I was a young man, I thought I knew more than my father, but by the time I was in my thirties, I figured out that he spoke from experience and took his counsel. Now, in my mid-forties, I regularly think back to his admonitions and realize just how right he was on many things. As I always say, the older I get, the smarter my parents get. It's known as wisdom. Unfortunately, the moron running this country doesn't know the meaning of the word, nor would he know wisdom if it bit him on the ass.

No comments: