A World Transformed
A World Transformed is a 1998 book (ISBN 0-679-43248-5) by former U.S. President George H. W. Bush and Brent Scowcroft, Bush's national security advisor, documenting foreign relations during the Bush administration.[1]
They explained in 1998 why they failed to go to Baghdad and remove Saddam Hussein's government from power in 1991 during the Gulf War:[2]
While we hoped that popular revolt or coup would topple Saddam, neither the U.S. nor the countries of the region wished to see the breakup of the Iraqi state. We were concerned about the long-term balance of power at the head of the Persian Gulf. Trying to eliminate Saddam, extending the ground war into an occupation of Iraq, would have violated our guideline about not changing objectives in midstream, engaging in "mission creep," and would have incurred incalculable human and political costs. Apprehending him was probably impossible. We had been unable to find Noriega in Panama, which we knew intimately. We would have been forced to occupy Baghdad and, in effect, rule Iraq. The coalition would instantly have collapsed, the Arabs deserting it in anger and other allies pulling out as well. Under those circumstances, furthermore, we had been self-consciously trying to set a pattern for handling aggression in the post-cold war world. Going in and occupying Iraq, thus unilaterally exceeding the U.N.'s mandate, would have destroyed the precedent of international response to aggression we hoped to establish. Had we gone the invasion route, the U.S. could conceivably still be an occupying power in a bitterly hostile land. It would have been a dramatically different--and perhaps barren--outcome.
Notes
Further reading
- Hybel, Alex Roberto; Justin Matthew Kaufman (2013). The Bush Administrations and Saddam Hussein: Deciding on Conflict. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 118. ISBN 9781137357021.
- Sparrow, Bartholomew H. "Realism's Practitioner: Brent Scowcroft and the Making of the New World Order, 1989–1993." Diplomatic History 34.1 (2010): 141–175. online
- Sparrow, Bartholomew. The Strategist: Brent Scowcroft and the Call of National Security (2015).
External links
- Booknotes interview with Bush and Scowcroft on A World Transformed, October 4, 1998.
- v
- t
- e
- 41st President of the United States (1989–1993)
- 43rd Vice President of the United States (1981–1989)
- Director of Central Intelligence (1976–1977)
- U.S. ambassador to the United Nations (1971–1973)
- U.S. Representative for TX–7 (1967–1971)
(timeline)
- Transition
- Inauguration
- Timeline
- 1989
- 1990
- 1991
- 1992–93
- Vomiting incident
- Broccoli comments
- White House horseshoe pit
- Presidential pardons
- International trips
- Oval Office desk
- Cabinet
- Judicial appointments
- Executive orders
- Presidential proclamations
- Clinton transition
U.S. Senate | |
---|---|
U.S. House | |
Vice Presidential | |
Presidential |
|
- Saturday Night Live parodies
- The X-Presidents
- Presidential Reunion (2010 short film)
- Supermarket scanner moment
- The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear (1991)
- What It Takes: The Way to the White House (1993)
- The Silence of the Hams (1994)
- "Two Bad Neighbors" (1996)
- George Bush: The Life of a Lone Star Yankee (1997)
- The Family: The Real Story of the Bush Dynasty (2004)
- George H.W. Bush (2008)
- Bad for Democracy (2008)
- Family of Secrets (2009)
- 41: A Portrait of My Father (2014 book)
- Destiny and Power (2015 book)
- A World Transformed (1998)
- All the Best (1999)
- Barbara Bush (wife)
- George W. Bush (son
- presidency)
- Pauline Robinson Bush (daughter)
- Jeb Bush (son)
- Neil Bush (son)
- Marvin Bush (son)
- Dorothy Bush Koch (daughter)
- Barbara Bush Coyne (granddaughter)
- Jenna Bush Hager (granddaughter)
- George P. Bush (grandson)
- Lauren Bush (granddaughter)
- Pierce Bush (grandson)
- Prescott Bush (father)
- Dorothy Walker Bush (mother)
- Nancy Walker Bush Ellis (sister)
- Jonathan Bush (brother)
- William H. T. Bush (brother)
- Samuel P. Bush (grandfather)
- George Herbert Walker (grandfather)
- James Smith Bush (great-grandfather)
- Obadiah Bush (great-great-grandfather)
- Millie (family dog)
- Sully (service dog)
This article about a biographical or autobiographical book on an American politician is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
- v
- t
- e