Bush defends father's decision on Iraq

WASHINGTON: US President George W. Bush has defended the decision of his father, former President George Bush, not to march on Baghdad from Kuwait during the 1991 Gulf war and remove Saddam Hussein from office.
"The mission in early 1990s was to liberate Kuwait, and the US achieved that mission. The mission now is to disarm Saddam Hussein, in the name of peace.And we will disarm Saddam Hussein," Bush said replying to a query during a joint appearance with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
"When you commit troops to war," said Bush, "you must have a clear mission. Should we be forced to commit our troops because of his failure to disarm, the mission will be complete disarmament, which will mean regime change. That was not the mission in 1991."
Bush discounted in advance Saddam Hussein''s decision whether to destroy the al Samoud rockets, as demanded by UN Chief Inspector Hans Blix, or to keep them, with the Iraqi leader arguing that they do not exceed the limits allowed to Iraq.
Bush said, "I noticed today there is some talk about the illegal rockets in Iraq. The discussion about these rockets is part of his campaign of deception. See, he''ll say ''I''m not going to destroy the rockets,'' and then he will have a change of mind this weekend and destroy the rockets and say, ''I''ve disarmed.''
The rockets are just the tip of the iceberg. The only question at hand is total, complete disarmament, which he is refusing to do."