George H.W. Bush: “And let me add something, Brit. We had a lot of meetings. And General Powell leveled with me, and Admiral Jeremiah…”

“And let me add something, Brit. We had a lot of meetings. And General Powell leveled with me, and Admiral Jeremiah leveled with us, and Norm Schwarzkopf leveled with us. And to the degree they were not rushing to commit our young men and women to battle, that's exactly the way they should have been. And I wasn't rushing to commit our young men and women to battle. And he gave me sound advice. He gave me straightforward advice. I never had any concern about where he stood. I expect the Secretary of Defense feels exactly the same way. And I just want to be on the record as saying that he spoke his mind; he did it openly. And then when we had to get together in meetings and figure the next steps, he was a constructive force all the way along the line. And it was Colin Powell, more than anyone else, who I think deserves the credit for the time we had to--after all options, in my view, were exhausted--draw the line in the sand. It was he that suggested to me, sitting right up here in that office. And so, I feel that he did what any general officer should do. He told me the risks; he told me what was at stake in human life. He told me what his view is to how it would go, which was always very positive, if we had to commit forces. And I am unhappy about revisionistic views of things. Soviet Union”