Bearing in mind that Gulf 1 was the result of Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.
With the alliance formed around a UN mandate, the option to take Iraq was not a reality then.

Gulf 2 was the result of 9/11, and the war on terrorism, Iraq had been goading the west for years, with regard to how he was the only leader from Gulf 1 STILL in power.

When the US took Afghanistan within a matter of weeks, the writing was on the wall for Iraq, and was also the [probable] reason for North Korea to start rattling the sabes re:- nukes.

Saddam paid the price for trying to play the big boy games, when he had nothing to back him up............

As for his WMD; HE was the one who started the whole mess off, buying nuclear power plant technology from our good friends, the French [don't get me started again]. And the Germans.

The Israeli attack on this site can be seen as the pivot upon which this whole area has spun.

Now there can be no turning back, no pretending that it can all be swept under the carpet and no stopping now until ALL the threats have been identified AND neutralised.

I believe that given a similar set of circumstances, Bush Snr would have put the USMC into Baghdad, and done pretty much as junior has done.......