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The sanctions failing to bring about the desired end, the U. S.-led coalition was obliged to begin [[Operation Desert Storm]] on January 17 local time.  After almost six weeks of continuous bombing, most Iraqi troops in the Kuwait theatre of operations had deserted.  The only offensive they launched managed to take the [[Saudi Arabian]] town of Khafji, but Saddam's attempt to send reinforcements resulted in the destruction of several Iraqi divisions, demonstrating that [[air supremacy]] forced a conventional army to remain essentially immobile and unable to concentrate forces to repel attacks.  On February 25, a ground offensive was launched resulting in the destruction of numerous additional divisions and the flight of others back to [[Basra]], the second-largest and southernmost city in Iraq.

The sanctions failing to bring about the desired end, the U. S.-led coalition was obliged to begin [[Operation Desert Storm]] on January 17 local time.  After almost six weeks of continuous bombing, most Iraqi troops in the Kuwait theatre of operations had deserted.  The only offensive they launched managed to take the [[Saudi Arabian]] town of Khafji, but Saddam's attempt to send reinforcements resulted in the destruction of several Iraqi divisions, demonstrating that [[air supremacy]] forced a conventional army to remain essentially immobile and unable to concentrate forces to repel attacks.  On February 25, a ground offensive was launched resulting in the destruction of numerous additional divisions and the flight of others back to [[Basra]], the second-largest and southernmost city in Iraq.

For a variety of reasons, principally the belief that the Iraqi army itself would now overthrow Saddam, the first President Bush, advised by [[Dick Cheney]] who was then serving as [[Secretary of Defense]], elected not to advance to [[Baghdad]], Iraq's capital, but to conclude the war through a [[cease-fire]].  Not only the [[Republican Guard]], considered Saddam's most loyal and elite troops, but also the regular army's officer corps, however, was made up principally of [[Sunnis]], who perceived the ensuing simultaneous rebellions by Kurds in the north and [[Shiites]] in the south of Iraq as an existential threat rather than as something which, in a more ethnically homogeneous country, they could have joined.  The army therefore remained loyal to Saddam and crushed the Shiite rebellion.  The U. S., Britain and France intervened in the north through [[Operation Provide Comfort]], which ended Iraqi control of the three Kurdish majority provinces until 1996, when Saddam was able to exploit a split between the two largest Kurdish [[militias]].  They also established no-fly zones in both the north and the south, not only reserving the right but considering it a duty to shoot down any fixed-wing Iraqi aircraft which might fly over those parts of Iraq.

The coalition in the Gulf War did not have the authorization to force a regime change in Baghdad in 1992, neither was it ever a stated objective of the coalition.  

Following the imposition of this new order, the use of force against Iraq was only sporadic and limited mostly to [[cruise missile]] attacks until [[Operation Desert Fox]] in December 1998, undertaken in retaliation for the ejection of the [[United Nations Special Commission]] sent to dismantle any Iraqi [[weapons of mass destruction]].  At the time, UNSCOM, as it was known, was credited with destroying more such weapons than had been destroyed during the war.  Saddam's son-in-law [[Hussein Ali Kamel]] defected to [[Jordan]] in 1995 and claimed that Iraq still possessed substantial stocks of [[nerve gas]] and possibly [[biological weapons]].  The following year, without explanation, Kamel returned to Iraq, where he was killed.

Not only the [[Republican Guard]], considered Saddam's most loyal and elite troops, but also the regular army's officer corps, however, was made up principally of [[Sunnis]], who perceived the ensuing simultaneous rebellions by Kurds in the north and [[Shiites]] in the south of Iraq as an existential threat rather than as something which, in a more ethnically homogeneous country, they could have joined.  The army therefore remained loyal to Saddam and crushed the Shiite rebellion.  The U. S., Britain and France intervened in the north through [[Operation Provide Comfort]], which ended Iraqi control of the three Kurdish majority provinces until 1996, when Saddam was able to exploit a split between the two largest Kurdish [[militias]].  They also established no-fly zones in both the north and the south, not only reserving the right but considering it a duty to shoot down any fixed-wing Iraqi aircraft which might fly over those parts of Iraq.

It cannot be said for certain what Saddam possessed in 1995, but the stocks Kamel claimed existed were not found either by UNSCOM or by U. S. forces following the 2003 invasion.  All that could be said for sure was that the Iraqis behaved as though they had something to hide, resisting unannounced weapons inspections with all means short of armed force, denying UNSCOM the right to inspect Saddam's various Presidential palaces (mostly built after the war while the sanctions were impoverishing his people), and finally throwing UNSCOM out.  If Hussein Kamel were a [[plant]] all along, it would be consistent with Saddam's policy of creating the belief in his opponents that he did possess WMD, as a means of deterring them from attacking.

In the following years the use of force against Iraq was only sporadic and limited mostly to [[cruise missile]] attacks until [[Operation Desert Fox]] in December 1998, undertaken in retaliation for the ejection of the [[United Nations Special Commission]] sent to dismantle any Iraqi [[weapons of mass destruction]].  At the time, UNSCOM, as it was known, was credited with destroying more knwon stockpiles than had been destroyed during the war.  Saddam's son-in-law [[Hussein Ali Kamel]] defected to [[Jordan]] in 1995 and claimed that Iraq still possessed substantial stocks of [[nerve gas]] and possibly [[biological weapons]].  The following year, without explanation, Kamel returned to Iraq, where he was killed.

By 1996, the unrelieved economic blockade of Iraq was severely affecting its ability to purchase food and medicine on the world market, as it like most Arab countries had little besides oil to export.  Various claims were made to the effect that Iraq's infant mortality was now the highest in the Arab world or even that hundreds of thousands of people had starved to death.  For the purpose of purchasing food and medicine, the United Nations agreed to permit Iraq to resume oil exports in what became known as the oil-for-food program (see below).  This is now generally considered a major error by [[conservatives]] which will not be repeated should the current sanctions against [[Iran]] be toughened to what they were against Iraq.

 

By 1996, the unrelieved economic blockade of Iraq was severely affecting its ability to purchase food and medicine on the world market, as it like most Arab countries had little besides oil to export.  Various claims were made to the effect that Iraq's infant mortality was now the highest in the Arab world or even that hundreds of thousands of people had starved to death.  For the purpose of purchasing food and medicine, the United Nations agreed to permit Iraq to resume oil exports in what became known as the oil-for-food (OFF) program (see below).  The Iraq economy finally recovered from the Gulf War with the OFF.  This is now generally considered a major error by [[conservatives]] which will not be repeated should the current sanctions against [[Iran]] be toughened to what they were against Iraq.

Operation Desert Fox was preceded by the [[Iraq Liberation Act]] of 1998, which passed [[Congress]] with a veto-proof margin just as the [[impeachment]] inquiry against President [[Bill Clinton]] was shifting into high gear.  The act could be considered a repudiation of Clinton's policy or lack of a policy toward Iraq up to that point.  This made it U. S. policy to remove Saddam Hussein from power, which could be considered a [[declaration of war]].  However, not until March 2003 did Clinton's successor [[George W. Bush]] actually order Saddam and his brutal sons [[Uday and Qusay Hussein]] to step down and flee Iraq on pain of invasion.  When Saddam refused, [[Operation Iraqi Freedom]] commenced on March 19, 2003; U. S. troops reached Baghdad three weeks later.

Operation Desert Fox was preceded by the [[Iraq Liberation Act]] of 1998, which passed [[Congress]] with a veto-proof margin just as the [[impeachment]] inquiry against President [[Bill Clinton]] was shifting into high gear.  The act could be considered a repudiation of Clinton's policy or lack of a policy toward Iraq up to that point.  This made it U. S. policy to remove Saddam Hussein from power, which could be considered a [[declaration of war]].  However, not until March 2003 did Clinton's successor [[George W. Bush]] actually order Saddam and his brutal sons [[Uday and Qusay Hussein]] to step down and flee Iraq on pain of invasion.  When Saddam refused, [[Operation Iraqi Freedom]] commenced on March 19, 2003; U. S. troops reached Baghdad three weeks later.