The not-so-good Gulf War

A good story on Salon notes that Bush 41 kind of set us up for Bush 43, even though he opposed trying to occupy Iraq.

1. His Hitlerization of Saddam Hussein.
2. His cut-and-run with the Kurds (mentioned) and the Shi'ites (not mentioned).

Those are just two biggies. There's many other bits and pieces of fallout, including how easy it made war look and more.

There's still two other big questions that overhang that war.

1. Just what did April Glaspie tell Hussein shortly before we invaded Kuwait? Short of her telling us either on her deathbed or posthumously, we may never know.
2. Why couldn't the Saudis et al defend themselves? In light of Osama bin Laden, I think our tentative answer is that most Arab Gulf states are afraid their own armed forces might start an Islamist civil war.