Finally

[Broken Hand]

Bush did act on intelligence that later turned out to be somewhat inaccurate. And he had support of a worldwide coalition that was in agreement with him; regarding that intelligence With a UN mandate to execute that action.

What would you have done if you were in his shoes at that time? Cry me a river for the armchair quarterback here.

I was party to that little Mideast excursion, for 8 months out in the barren Saudia/Iraqi and ultimately the Kuwait desert. I support George H. W. Bush's decisions to this very day.

Desert Storm map? Operation Iraqi Freedom? Your mixing conflicts with your answer. I think Desert Storm was about kicking Sadam out of Kuwait, which I believe was almost universally supported. I recall some even wanted Bush Sr. to go into Baghdad and remove Hussein, but that was not part of the UN mandate.

As to Bush Jr., Trump was rather prescient in that matter. Look up his Esquire magazine article, discount the Howard Stern interview. Those were two completely different venues, one serious, the other not so much.

But a lot of Democrats voted authorization for Bush to use any force necessary to enforce UN mandates against Sadam. They were so eager to look like war hawks heading into election season. Bill Clinton 'knew' Sadam had WMDs. The only fault in Bush's plan was that he no control over his successor. And the U.S. elected the worse guy possible (my opinion).

I know you know this Will, but this is for others who may not. I still have a box of Seattle Times newspapers Extra edition from 1991 and the day after with a picture of the anti-aircraft rounds lighting up the night over Baghdad.