Um, George Bush's pappy George Bush said this?

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Our 41st president George H.W. Bush was right when he wrote this passage in his 1998 book A World Transformed:

"We should not march into Baghdad. To occupy Iraq would instantly shatter our coalition, turning the whole Arab world against us and make a broken tyrant into a latter-day Arab hero. Assigning young soldiers to a fruitless hunt for a securely entrenched dictator and condemning them to fight in what would be an unwinable urban guerilla war, it could only plunge that part of the world into ever greater instability."

Very prescient words from such a lousy president, I'd say.

Too bad his dumbfuck of a kid isn't as smart.

― Harry Blotter, Friday, 21 March 2003 03:49 (twenty-three years ago)

In Texas someone's tongue is probably perforated by now.

― Amateurist (amateurist), Friday, 21 March 2003 04:23 (twenty-three years ago)

Goddamn!

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 21 March 2003 04:24 (twenty-three years ago)

"That's it, you're out of my will!"

― Nate Patrin (Nate Patrin), Friday, 21 March 2003 04:34 (twenty-three years ago)

http://home.twcny.rr.com/felicity/nostradamus.jpg

― Scaredy Cat, Friday, 21 March 2003 04:40 (twenty-three years ago)

Nostradomus quotes: dud
Fake Nostradomus quotes: even more dud
That picture: CLASSIC x1000

― Nate Patrin (Nate Patrin), Friday, 21 March 2003 04:46 (twenty-three years ago)

I know jack shit about Nostradumbass, nor do I believe in it, so I had no clue it was a fake.

I thought this was pretty well done, but I'm not sure Bush should be the leader here:

http://home.twcny.rr.com/felicity/threestooges.jpg

― Scaredy Cat, Friday, 21 March 2003 04:49 (twenty-three years ago)

shhh. if y'all keep this up, the highways of the internet WILL become more few!

― Aaron A., Friday, 21 March 2003 04:56 (twenty-three years ago)

http://www.obeygiant.com/2003-posters/lrg/03-13-fearbush01.gif

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 21 March 2003 04:57 (twenty-three years ago)

you guys didn't know 41 is against all this? Everyone from that era thinks it's a bad idea.

41= Nixonite multilat realist.
43's cru (Cheney, Wolfowitz, Perle, Rumsfeld)= resurrected EVANGELICAL REAGANITES.

― g.cannon (gcannon), Friday, 21 March 2003 05:40 (twenty-three years ago)

(and Alex that poster is vile)

― g.cannon (gcannon), Friday, 21 March 2003 05:42 (twenty-three years ago)

Blame Shephard Fairey

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 21 March 2003 05:49 (twenty-three years ago)

....whom I normally like/respect, but the slogan (WAR:EVERYONE WANTS IT...EXCEPT SMART PEOPLE & THE UN) just isn't especially clever or inspired.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 21 March 2003 05:50 (twenty-three years ago)

Can we knock it off with the nazi shit for once? Just put some fucking devil horns on him and be done with it.

― g.cannon (gcannon), Friday, 21 March 2003 06:09 (twenty-three years ago)

(good coloring tho)

― g.cannon (gcannon), Friday, 21 March 2003 06:10 (twenty-three years ago)

On the radio this morning there was some US general describing the battle plan as Blitz warfare as if he'd just thought that up as a clever amagamation of the british word for massive boming raids and warfare.

My god there are some idiots in charge.

― Ed (dali), Friday, 21 March 2003 08:56 (twenty-three years ago)

Too bad someone doesn't recognize that minor events like 9/11 tend to change things in a small amount of time.

― donut bitch (donut), Friday, 21 March 2003 19:00 (twenty-three years ago)

(Harry, nice Poster Children ref btw)

― donut bitch (donut), Friday, 21 March 2003 19:05 (twenty-three years ago)

"you guys didn't know 41 is against all this?"

g, is there any press on this, that you know of? I'd love to send my dad the link. Thanks.

― Paula G., Friday, 21 March 2003 19:18 (twenty-three years ago)

Bear in mind that Bush the First was constantly criticized for not having taken out Hussein in 1991; the paragraph quoted here was probably written to address those critics.

― j.lu (j.lu), Friday, 21 March 2003 20:08 (twenty-three years ago)

Paula: y'know I'd have to dig around for it. Obviously he's not giving any press conferences. But there were several, let's say, "voices of caution" coming from the right (and I don't mean the racist Buchanan set) about the war and they were people in 41's orbit (Schwartzkopf, notably). Not against "war" obv, or even a war against Iraq, but the raw belligerence toward Euro allies, the UN, etc etc. 41 was all about system, 43 is all about blasting any protocol, precedent, or standard of etiquette if it's a hindrance to policy goals (which are much wierder and loftier than 41's on top of it.)

― g--ff c-nn-n (gcannon), Friday, 21 March 2003 20:29 (twenty-three years ago)

There's evidence that Bush Sr. is against this war too.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/articles/2002/national/nr121032003.html

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Friday, 21 March 2003 20:31 (twenty-three years ago)

Thanks g, thanks Tracer. That Nigeria Vanguard story is wierdly anachronistic (published today yet concludes on a hopeful note with "signs that Bush senior's message may be getting through"). A little Googling turned up the story in only two other places, the Daily Times Pakistan and Business Week. Apparently the Bush Sr. speech occurred on Feb. 26 at Tufts University. Here's the Business Week link. http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/mar2003/nf20030310_2978_db015.htm

― Paula G., Friday, 21 March 2003 21:21 (twenty-three years ago)

twelve years pass...

Jon Meacham's interview on All Things Considered yesterday really made me want to read his new Poppy Bush bio.

― phở intellectual (WilliamC), Saturday, 7 November 2015 20:03 (ten years ago)

From 2003:

Too bad someone doesn't recognize that minor events like 9/11 tend to change things in a small amount of time.

9/11 made the Iraq invasion far more palatable to the American public and allowed GB43 to assemble a very truncated coalition when compared to the coalition GB41 assembled, but 9/11 didn't make Iraq any less of an unwinnable guerilla war that plunged the region into even greater instability, so I'd say the main point GB41 made stood up pretty well in the event.

really made me want to read his new Poppy Bush bio.

When viewed against the madhouse political climate that's emerged since 1994, Poppy Bush starts to look more and more admirable for sure, but that's due more to the backdrop than to the inherent excellence of the subject.

― Aimless, Saturday, 7 November 2015 20:22 (ten years ago)

we won't get the full bio until the CIA declassifies his records

― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 7 November 2015 21:19 (ten years ago)

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