so, now that Iraq is again in the board, i´ll post a few lines of the book. (spanish version) George Bush Sr. wrote and was published, it goes...
"Tratar de eliminar a Saddam (...) hubiese incurrido en costos humanos y políticos incalculables. Capturarlo hubiese sido prácticamente imposible. Habríamos sido forzados a ocupar Bagdad y, en efecto, a gobernar Irak (...)
"No vislumbrábamos ninguna `estrategia exitosa' viable, lo que violaba otro de nuestros principios. Además, habíamos estado conscientemente intentando instaurar una norma para controlar la agresión en el mundo en la era post Guerra Fría. Invadiendo y ocupando Irak unilateralmente, excediendo el mandato de las Naciones Unidas, se hubiese destruido el precedente de una respuesta internacional a la agresión que esperábamos establecer. Si hubiésemos optado por la ruta de la invasión, EE.UU. podría estar aún ostentando el poder en un país amargamente hostil."
translating back to the original language, (since i dont know where in the internet could i find this extract of the book)
"To try to eliminate Saddam.... would have caused incalculable human and political costs. To Capture him would have been practically imposible. We would have been forced to ocupy Baghdad and thus, to govern Iraq....
We could not foresee any feasible succesful strategy, which violates another of of principles"... "Also, we were consciously trying to make a norm to control the aggresion in the post Cold-War World. Invading and occupying Iraq unilaterally, exceding the UN sanction, would have destroyed the base for an international response to the aggresion, which we expected to establish. If we would have chosen the path of invasion, the USA could have been still dealing with the power in a bitterly hostile country".
I wonder i GWB ever read that book.
"Tratar de eliminar a Saddam (...) hubiese incurrido en costos humanos y políticos incalculables. Capturarlo hubiese sido prácticamente imposible. Habríamos sido forzados a ocupar Bagdad y, en efecto, a gobernar Irak (...)
"No vislumbrábamos ninguna `estrategia exitosa' viable, lo que violaba otro de nuestros principios. Además, habíamos estado conscientemente intentando instaurar una norma para controlar la agresión en el mundo en la era post Guerra Fría. Invadiendo y ocupando Irak unilateralmente, excediendo el mandato de las Naciones Unidas, se hubiese destruido el precedente de una respuesta internacional a la agresión que esperábamos establecer. Si hubiésemos optado por la ruta de la invasión, EE.UU. podría estar aún ostentando el poder en un país amargamente hostil."
translating back to the original language, (since i dont know where in the internet could i find this extract of the book)
"To try to eliminate Saddam.... would have caused incalculable human and political costs. To Capture him would have been practically imposible. We would have been forced to ocupy Baghdad and thus, to govern Iraq....
We could not foresee any feasible succesful strategy, which violates another of of principles"... "Also, we were consciously trying to make a norm to control the aggresion in the post Cold-War World. Invading and occupying Iraq unilaterally, exceding the UN sanction, would have destroyed the base for an international response to the aggresion, which we expected to establish. If we would have chosen the path of invasion, the USA could have been still dealing with the power in a bitterly hostile country".
I wonder i GWB ever read that book.