Why didn't Dubya listen to Daddy Bush?

Question

George H.W. Bush had this to say in a 1998 Time article, when asked why US/UN forces didn't go after Saddam Hussein after Iraqi forces were pushed out of Kuwait in the Gulf War.

"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."

Seems like besides running the CIA and being a one term president, Bush Sr. was a a fortune teller, for his own kid.

Answer 1

in those days, Saddam was blue eyed boy of senior bush and Saddam did not defy senior bush.

Answer 2

As most sons make their own way in the world, they want to do it in their own special personalized way.

George W. Bush didn't want his presidency to be a "ditto" presidency to that of his father's.

He was already sensitive about setting up business ventures with his father's business contacts in the oil industry, so he was in the mood to do things his own way this time around.

Dick Cheney ended up being a father figure of sorts albeit a covert one.

A "surrogate" father you might say.

Through Cheney and Rumsfeld, the neo-cons were making an attractive proposition for military action in Iraq, but they needed to sell the American people on this military action.

Although George W. previously stated he had no intentions of "nation building", Dick Cheney had a fixation on Iraq that consumed him since well before the 2000 election.

He was asking for report after report on Iraq from the very beginning.

George W. Bush saw this as an opportunity to forge a bold new direction in foreign policy and to do the presidency in a new and maverick way quite different than that of his father's one-term presidency.

When 9/11 happened, they recognized it as a golden opportunity to push for an invasion of Iraq, but they had to deliberately skew the intelligence in order to get the approval of the American people.

Dick Cheney made several trips to the CIA to secure enough evidence to eventually present to Congress and the American people.

He got frustrated in these attempts and he and Rumsfeld set about setting up an independent intelligence gathering apparatus in the Pentagon.

It didn't take them long to accumulate the BOGUS body of intelligence they wanted to make a case for the war in Iraq.

Soon, the United States was forging ahead with a new form of foreign policy crafted by Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Feith, Perle, and the rest of the neo-cons.

And George W. could look at himself in the mirror and be self assured that he was doing the presidency his own way!

And James Baker III , is looking at the chaos and turmoil caused by this maverick form of foreign policy, and wondering why he ever bothered to intervene on behalf of this man in front of the U.S. Supreme Court during the Florida re-count controversy.

Answer 3

Why did Daddy Bush listen to the UN and leave Saddam in power?

Answer 4

Bush Sr. lived a more normal life than his son. Jr has always had wealth and prestige. Jr does not have a real connection with the real world other than his wife.

Answer 5

Why didn't your dad listen to your mom,and shoot you on her face instead of inside her box?

Answer 6

Because he's Mommy's Boy! LOL

Answer 7

Because Dubya wanted to prove to his "daddy" he was better then his "daddy"

Answer 8

HE IS A SPOILED BRAT.