here and click on the 'Bush Sr warning over unilateral action' link. Edited to get you the correct link...FYI
"The former President’s comments reflect unease among the Bush family and its entourage at the way that George W. Bush is ignoring international opinion and overriding the institutions that his father sought to uphold. Mr Bush Sr is a former US Ambassador to the UN and comes from a family steeped in multi-lateralist traditions. Although not addressed to his son in person, the message, in a speech at Tufts University in Massachusetts, was unmistakeable. Mr Bush Sr even came close to conceding that opponents of his son’s case against President Saddam Hussein, who he himself is on record as loathing, have legitimate cause for concern. He said that the key question of how many weapons of mass destruction Iraq held “could be debated”. The case against Saddam was “less clear” than in 1991, when Mr Bush Sr led an international coalition to expel invading Iraqi troops from Kuwait. Objectives were “a little fuzzier today”, he added
pretty interesting dinner conversation I imagine .... "Junior - watch that impulsive streak in ya .... you might want to think about getting all the international support you need ..... .... pass the mashed potatoes please ...." "Dad - please remind me why you did not tell Schwartzkopf to terminate the Republican Guard way back when and get rid of Hussein ..... oh that is right - no mandate ..... anybody want the last piece of pie"
Old Man Bush has turned commie! Quick, all you pro-war folks, get your tin foil hats on! The liberals have a mind control ray! Seriously, though, geez, Dumbya can't even get his pappy on board for this one. I'll love reading the comments from the pro-war crowd here on how Bush pere doesn't know what he's talking about and is a Saddam-lover.
i like how the left has this new found "trust" in the statements of bush sr. sorry i disrupted you guys' pile on. feel free to continue masking your point with odd comments.
And *I* like how the right now disbelieves what GHWB says. See how that works? It doesn't get around how significant it is that Dubya can't get his own deddy on board.
The point is that even someone who you'd think would be 110% behind his own son's pro-war effort for a whole slew of reasons isn't because the current administration has so utterly f-ed up the whole shebang. It's not like GHWB is doing anything else than pointing out the completely obvious. The news here is that, unlike so many of the pro-war crowd here, he has refused to blindly admire the emperor's new clothes and the conservatives can't very well use their usual BS empty rhetoric about him being a "Saddam-lover", "hippy peacenik" or a even a "liberal". I don't like GHWB but I've always said this for him - the guy knew how to lie to sell a war. The Kuwaiti ambassador's daughter as a "common Kuwaiti girl" breaking down in tears while recounting phony incubator stories? Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. OK, that was the work of a PR firm, but hey, GHWB certainly delegated the job to the right folks. And GHWB at least got an international coalition together BEFORE moving against Iraq so that, unlike his idiot son, he didn't paint himself into a corner. Now the conservatives here are going to have to admit that either Pappy is correct and Dumbya has made a dog's dinner of this whole war effort, thus strongly calling into question his ability to "win the peace", or they'll have to attack one of their own heroes for not knowing what he's talking about, which kind of puts a dent in their usual attempts to paint him as a genius. I'm thinking that Friedman has possibly provided the hawks with their exit strategy - declare this the "right war at the wrong time", table it for committee and forget it ever happened. As to where that leaves Dumbya, seeing as how he's managed to screw this up so badly, I don't know. He's squandered all the goodwill the USA had overseas in the wake of 9/11, even some conservatives have begun to realize how badly he's managed the war effort so far and what he's cost us and I don't know how long he can keep screwing up before even the US mainsteam news media begins to start asking questions.
Bush Sr has infinitely more diplomacy experience than his son, and even if Bush Sr agreed with the aims of invading Iraq in theory (which he likely does), he rejected the Wolfowitz Doctrine in 1991 as too hawkish. That doctrine is now Dubya's bible on this. If anything, the elder Bush is being consistent.
GHW Bush also has CIA boss on his resume. I opposed his domestic politics, but no president in the last 40 years had his foreign policy pedigree. Gulf War I will go down in American history as a manual of how to do it right. I fear Gulf War II will go down as a major clusterfock. If poppa can't reign in junior, God help us all.