Barbara Bush has said that G.H.W. Bush's favorite job of all time was CIA Director. I'd guess that the first President Bush had a better grasp of the importance, and limitations, of intellegence as a guide to national policy. Second, the first President Bush had actually experienced war in a personal, life threatening way. He may well have hesitated to undertake what seemed to him to be a limitless and violent occupation of a hostile country. Third, the first President Bush is not a "born again" Christian. I never had the slightest use for the man but I also never saw any reason to think he made "faith based" policy decisions, which his son has admitted to doing when he decided to invade Iraq. Disclaimer: My Navy Reserve unit was NOT called up for the first Gulf War. I therefore dusted off my Merchant Marine license and sailed as a civilian in support of Desert Sortie. That was my contribution to the war effort, I'm afraid. (In consequence, my Southwestern Asia Expeditionary Medal ribbon (DOT) looks something like, but is obviously different from, the Armed Forces (DOD) version. People used to wonder what it WAS!) At the time, we wondered why President Bush did not continue to Bhagdad. He came in for a lot of criticism for limiting his objectives. History has shown that he was correct.
OK, so the real reason, I suppose, had to do with the fact that he'd already taken enough shyte over "the Highway of Death."
I've just got to think that's incorrect. I think of all the decent human beings who'd still be alive in Iraq had not Saddam's torture chambers and killing fields been allowed to continue for another decade. Some things are worth fighting for.
And we should have taken on the Russians after WWII. And kicked the Chinese Commies' butts back to Peking after Korea. Unfortunately, the Patton/MacArthur ticket was not an option.
Funny, but I think you're right. Based on the cynical actions of Stalin and the Russian government, who were perfectly happy to support the Nazis against the Allies so long as they thought there was a land grab in it in Eastern Europe for themselves, and only saw the light after the Nazis turned on them, I think it would've been perfectly warranted to follow Patton's plan. As sure as I'm sitting here clattering away, there would've been a lot less deaths in that conflict than the tens of millions that later died under the Stalinist purges. And the poor Eastern Europeans wouldn't have suffered under that monstrosity for all those decades. Your tounge-in-cheek suggestion about China is about half right as well. Again, some things--like justice and truth and freedom--are worth fighting and dying for.
