Hi Micro, Wasn't the first foray into Iraq, in 1990, actually "Desert Storm"? That did not topple the Iraqi government nor kill Saddam Hussain.
I had to just look that up to make sure I wasn't getting the two operations confused? "Explore Operation Desert Storm, the 42-day U.S. led air offensive in response to Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait." http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h2020.html
Also, I said it was an interesting case, which stretched the limits of my ad-hoc distinction between what *I* call a military operation (specific, limited scope with specific objective) vs. a full-blown war.
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vs. Iraq War, also called Second Persian Gulf War, (2003–11), conflict in Iraq that consisted of two phases. The first of these was a brief, conventionally fought war in March–April 2003, in which a combined force of troops from the United States and Great Britain (with smaller contingents from several other countries) invaded Iraq and rapidly defeated Iraqi military and paramilitary forces. It was followed by a longer second phase in which a U.S.-led occupation of Iraq was opposed by an insurgency. After violence began to decline in 2007, the United States gradually reduced its military presence in Iraq, formally completing its withdrawal in December 2011. http://www.britannica.com/event/Iraq-War
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Look, guys, I am not trying to prove I know more about war than you do. I AM proposing that a war which ends up permanently crippling, or even destroying, the supposed victor, isn't much of a victory. Even if it is paraded around as such by the military leadership.
If you look at this things through the longer term lens of history and, in particular, through an economic lens and Sun Tzu's Art of War the US wars post WW2 have been tragic events for the United States - from which we have never recovered fully, and never will.
http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/1771.Sun_Tzu
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