A Quote From Jeff Cooper

It would appear that ex-President Bush will go down in history as “the man who lost the war.” We had Saddam Hussein on his heels, and everything in position to chase him down and end his reign, so Mr. Bush let him go. Now we are contemplating doing the same thing again. Certainly we can punish this man (together with a lot of innocent people) with the forces we have ready to strike in the Gulf region, and that will accomplish nothing. Saddam is a fanatic, and cannot be expected to back down in this confrontation. We can smash his buildings and equipment at considerable length, but even if we could destroy his military potential entirely there would be nothing to prevent him building it up again as soon as we left. The only way to end this situation is by physical occupation of the ground. Whether we can do that or not is not clear, but whether we can or not, we won’t. No matter how hard we slap his wrist, or even punch his face, we are not going to change his mind.

From Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries: Vol. 6, No. 2, February, 1998