CADsortaGUY
Lifer
Originally posted by: Crazee
You still didn't address his statement in that quote that he wasn't going to engage in nation building. But if that one doesn't meet your standard have a look at this one:
From the Presidential debate October 11, 2000:
Well -- I don't think so. I think what we need to do is convince people who live in the lands they live in to build the nations. Maybe I'm missing something here. I mean, we're going to have kind of a nation-building corps from America? Absolutely not. Our military is meant to fight and win war; that's what it's meant to do. And when it gets overextended, morale drops.
And I'm not -- I strongly believe we need to have a military presence in the Korea peninsula, not only to keep the peace on the peninsula, but to keep regional stability. And I strongly believe we need to keep a presence in NATO. But I'm going to be judicious as to how to use the military. It needs to be in our vital interest, the mission needs to be clear, and the exit strategy obvious.
Umm - then present the full quote next time Bush had specific statements regarding Iraq. Those to me separate that situation from some generalized foreign policy statement people like to dig up. It was common knowledge that Bush wanted Saddam gone and that Bush wouldn't hesitate to use force there. But also - there has been a shift in policy since 9/11 - I will grant that, but to tie Bush's statements of nation building to the Iraq situation without regard to his specific statement on Iraq is a bit disengenous.
To me the vital interest was to finish what we started in '91 - to protect our interests in the area since Saddam didn't bring int'l peace and security to the region as mandated by the cease-fire agreement. I'm a bit out of the mainstream thinking on that one - most other people supported the war based on WMDs - That part only added to my stance - they didn't form it.
To me the mission was clear - Get rid of Saddam so there can be int'l peace and security in the region.
To me the exit strategy was/is obvious - Set up a system where the Iraqis can govern and protect themselves so the region would be more secure and int'l peace could be restored.
CkG