Les Aspin Quotes

We should have done more damage to the Iraqi forces before they withdrew from the Kuwaiti theater.

We ought to be providing protective sanctuaries for the Kurdish rebels. That means finding some places where they can come and to which we will then be able to provide food and water and medical help.

There’s a certain amount of sympathy here for the Bush administration’s problem, which is they would like to get rid of Saddam Hussein and they would like to have the Kurds autonomous.

That was not part of the U.N. resolution; it was not part of the mandate to go on to Baghdad and, frankly, if we had gone into Baghdad and pushed Saddam Hussein off, we would have inherited an even bigger mess than the mess we inherited with the refugee problem.

Long-term, we must figure out a way that the Kurdish territory within Iraq operates with a certain amount of autonomy so that they feel comfortable and safe going back.