"He [President George W. Bush] set the [Iraq war] policy early on and then his team focused his attention on how to sell it. It strikes me today as an indication of his lack of inquisitiveness and his detrimental resistance to reflection...."
"[Bush was] a leader unable to acknowledge that he got it wrong, and unwilling to grow in office by learning from his mistake -- too stubborn to change and grow."
Why?
"One [reason] was his fear of appearing weak. A more self-confident executive would be willing to acknowledge failure .... [Another] was the personal pain he would have suffered if he'd had to acknowledge that the war against Saddam may have been unnecessary .... [Bush] was not one to look back once a decision was made. Rather than suffer any sense of guilt and anguish, Bush chose not to go down the road of self-doubt or take on the difficult task of honest evaluation and reassessment .... another motive for Bush to avoid acknowledging mistakes was his determination to win the political game at virtually any cost .... there was Bush's insistence on remaining true to his base .... As far as Bush and his advisers (especially Karl Rove) were concerned, being open and forthright in such circumstances was a recipe for trouble."
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