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Who Said This? (And Why You Should Care)

by Chris Borgen

Before turning to some of the broader themes that Chollet and Goldgeier have set out, in this post I want to focus our readers on two quotes from one person. The authors describe how, in the days after the 1991 Gulf War, an interested party was asked about why we did not drive all the way to Baghdad and oust Saddam. (I won’t say yet if it was an Administration official, another politician, or a think tank expert.) The answer, even in 1991, was prescient:

“Once we got to Baghdad, what would we do? Who would we put in power? What kind of government would we have? Would it be a Sunni government, a Shia government, a Kurdish government?… Would it be fundamentalist Islamic?… I do not think the United States wants to have U.S. military forces accept casualties and accept the responsibility of trying to govern Iraq. It makes no sense at all.”

This person added at another time:

“I think that was a quagmire we did not want to get involved in.”

Who was being interviewed and what does this have to do with the broader themes of America Between the Wars? The answer is after the jump…

(Continue Reading)

July 11, 2008 -- Final Thoughts
July 10, 2008 -- Worldviews, Grand Strategies, and Bumper-stickers
July 9, 2008 -- The View from Paris
July 9, 2008 -- The Clinton Administration and International Law
July 8, 2008 -- Grand Narratives and Grand Strategies Between the Wars
July 8, 2008 -- America Between the Wars: The Future of Democracy Promotion
July 7, 2008 -- A Response to Roger Alford
July 7, 2008 -- Bureaucracy, Ideas and Labels in the “Interwar” Years
July 7, 2008 -- 1993:
July 7, 2008 -- America Between the Wars: Lessons for the Next Presidential Administration
July 7, 2008 -- The Five Myths of American Foreign Policy
July 7, 2008 -- Book Discussion with Derek Chollet and James Goldgeier
July 7, 2008 -- America Between the Wars or the New James Bond?

See all posts related to: America Between the Wars

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Who Said This? (And Why You Should Care)

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