The first President Bush fought the Gulf War with one intent in mind, to clear Iraq out of Kuwait and to prevent further aggression. The problem of the Gulf War was that there was no clear mandate that the war would end with the death or downfall of Saddam Hussein. So, when the Iraqi army collapsed, the Coalition forces stopped as well. During World War II, President Roosevelt established a clear mandate, that the war would not end until American forces were in Berlin and Hitler was dead - anything less could have opened up the possibility of an early German surrender and a continued influence of Hitler, a side-deal with the Russians, or the continued dominance of Germany throughout Europe. President George H.W. Bush failed our nation in not writing such a mandate and has, by stopping when we had the upper hand and could have pressed Hussein to the limits of his life and his nation, left the world with its greatest threat to global peace since the height of the Cold War. It is the purpose of this paper to demonstrate that President Bush should have pressed on to remove Hussein from power and to establish a democratic state in Iraq.
