ARENA OF AMERICAN POLITICS AND STILL KEEP YOUR HUMANITY, KEEP
YOUR GRACE, KEEP YOUR INTEGRITY.
>> WE HAVE TALKED ABOUT ONE OF
THE MOST SIGNIFICANT MOMENTS,
NOT JUST IN GEORGE H.W. BUSH’S
PRESIDENCY BUT REALLY IN MODERN
AMERICAN HISTORY.
AMERICAN HISTORY. THAT IS THE 1991 GULF WAR.
IT WAS AUGUST OF 1990 WHEN
SADDAM HUSSEIN’S FORCES IN IRAQ
INVADED KUWAIT.
INVADED KUWAIT. GEORGE H.W. BUSH FORMED AN
INTERNATIONAL COALITION, AMASSED
TROOPS, SET A DEADLINE FOR
HUSSEIN TO WITHDRAW HIS FORCES
OR TO FACE WAR.
GOT APPROVAL FROM CONGRESS.
THEN WHEN THAT DEADLINE PASSED
AND SADDAM HUSSEIN HADN’T BUDGED
AND GEORGE H.W. BUSH DECLARED
WAR.
WAR. THIS WAS THAT MOMENT.
>> NOW THE 28 COUNTRIES WITH
FORCES IN THE GULF AREA HAVE
EXHAUSTED ALL REASONABLE EFFORTS
TO REACH A PEACEFUL RESOLUTION V
NO CHOICE BUT TO DRIVE SADDAM
FROM KUWAIT BY FORCE.
>> GENERAL BARRY McCAFFREY IS
STILL WITH US.
GENERAL, JUST BEFORE GEORGE H.W.
BUSH MADE THAT STATEMENT ON
NATIONAL TELEVISION IN JANUARY
1991, THERE HAD BEEN PREDICTIONS
THAT IF THE UNITED STATES DID
LAUNCH THAT WAR, IT WOULD TURN
INTO A VIETNAM IN THE DESERT.
IT HAD BEEN BASICALLY 15 YEARS
SINCE THE END OF VIETNAM.
THERE WERE TERRIBLE MEMORIES OF
THAT THAT WERE WIDE IN THIS
COUNTRY.
COUNTRY. AND IT TURNED OUT THAT THAT WAR
LASTED FAR SHORTER THAN ALMOST
ANYBODY HAD PREDICTED.
THE GROUND WAR LASTED I THINK
LESS THAN 100 HOURS.
FAR FEWER CASUALTIES.
WHEN IT WAS OVER, GEORGE H.W.
BUSH SAID WE HAD KICKED THE
VIETNAM SYNDROME ONCE AND FOR
ALL.
ALL. I DO WONDER LOOKING BACK AT THAT
MOMENT, IN AN INDIRECT WAY, DID
THAT TRIUMPH -- DID THE
UNEXPECTED EASE OF THAT TRIUMPH
CHANGE THIS COUNTRY’S PSYCHOLOGY
WHEN IT CAME TO WAR, WHEN IT
CAME TO THE IDEA THAT MAYBE WAR
WAS A LOT EASIER THAN WE THOUGHT
IT WOULD BE?
>> THAT THE FIRST TIME I’VE
HEARD THAT QUESTION PUT THAT
WAY.
WAY. BY THE WAY, I HAVE TO BACKTRACK
AND SAY IT’S BEEN REALLY A JOY
LISTENING TO TOM MEECHUM AND TOM
BROKAW WITH THEIR OWN MEMORIES
OF THIS GREAT MAN.
I THINK HE LITERALLY WAS.
THIS IS UNUSUAL.
THINK OF WHERE WE ARE NOW AND
LOOK AT PRESIDENT BUSH’S LIFE
AND HIS DEVOTION TO HIS FAMILY
AND TO THE COUNTRY AND THE
SERVICE.
SERVICE. JUST A REMARKABLE, GENTLE, KIND,
INTELLIGENT, MATURE PUBLIC
SERVANT.
SERVANT. BACK TO THE GULF WAR, I THINK
ONE OF THE THINGS THAT WAS MOST
NOTABLE ABOUT THAT CONFLICT WAS
WE HAD IN THE CASE OF BOTH
PRESIDENT BUSH WITH HIS
INTENTION AVIATION COMBAT
EXPERIENCE IN WORLD WAR II --
AND BY THE WAY, HE TOLD MY
DIVISION AT THANKSGIVING IN
SAUDI ARABIA ONE OF HIS LAST
MISSIONS FLYING OFF AN AIRCRAFT
CARRIER DURING WORLD WAR II WAS
IN SUPPORT OF THE 24th INFANTRY
DIVISION, MY DIVISION FIGHTING
IN THE PHILIPPINES.
ALL OF US WERE JUST OVERWHELMED.
I SAY THAT BECAUSE IT
UNDERSCORES HE UNDERSTOOD THE
CONSEQUENCES OF WAR.
HE BARELY SURVIVE IT HIMSELF.
OUR CHAIRMAN AT THE TIME, COLIN
POWELL, HAD BEEN BADLY WOUNDED
AS A MAJOR IN VIETNAM.
A LOT OF COMBAT EXPERIENCE, OUR
JOINT COMMANDER IN THE GULF,
NORM SCHWARTZKOFF HAD BEEN BADLY
WOUNDED IN VIETNAM.
AT THE VERY TOP, YOU HAD OUR
STRATEGIC PLANNING BEING DONE BY
PUBLIC SERVANTS WHO AS YOUNG MEN
HAD BEEN IN COMBAT.
THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING.
BY THE WAY, THAT WAS ONE OF THE
FEW WARS WHERE THE MEDIA AND
MANY IN CONGRESS COMPLETELY
MISUNDERSTOOD WHAT WAS ABOUT TO
HAPPEN.
HAPPEN. JUST BEFORE THE ATTACK STARTED,
THERE WERE ALL SORTS OF
COMMENTS, THE EFFECT OF THIS WAS
GOING TO BE THE BLOODEST ESTIEST
SINCE THE INVASION OF NORMANDY.
THE PEOPLE ON THE GROUND,
DIVISION COMMANDERS, BRIGADE
COMMANDERS, PARTICULARLY THOSE
OF WHITE HOUSE FOUGHT IN
VIETNAM -- I TOLD SECRETARY
CHENEY BEFORE THE ATTACK STARTED
THIS WAR WAS GOING TO BE SHORT,
RELATIVELY MODERATE CASUALTIES.
I THOUGHT MY DIVISION WOULD HAVE
2,000 KILLED AND WOUNDED.
WE ENDED UP WITH 8 KILLED AND 28