the lexus december to remember sales event is here. lease the 2016 es350 for $349 a month for 36 months and we ll make your first month s payment. see your lexus dealer. 25 years ago the first gulf war began. also what has been a quarter century of tension and turmoil. in just a moment their thoughts but first a look back at how it all played out. it was a conflict the united states neither wanted nor expected. in april 1990, iraqi president hussein admitted for the first time he had chemical weapons, weapons he used before and threatened to use again setting the region on edge.
shape. after we left and barack obama pulled out it was leaving the no stay behind force and it created a vacuum. i think that was a significant problem. was going into iraq in 2003 the original? no. was the world in more power with hussein? no. gi dhe was threatened with w
led to a 45 day dead line set by the u.s. security cancel authorizing military force for the second time in its history. con capitol hill members clammered to have their say. only congress and the administration. legislatures okayed the decision. when final diplomatic efforts failed, it was a tested will between hussein and the international coalition. on january 16th, 1991, allied forces joined the fight. as i report to you, air attacks are underway against military targets in iraq. operation desert storm was in full force. the steady string ol of allied
hussein s rhetoric only heated up that summer weakened by a drawn out conflict with iran. he has moved part of his 1 million man army to kuwait. then on august 7, 1990, the iraqi strong men struck captured kuwait. the united states drew a line in the sand. an embargo choked up the flow of goods. iraq was cornered and hussein threatened. i shall say whoever collides with iraq will find in front of them colonies of dead bodies. it is truly iraq against the majority of the arab world. iraq against the rest of the world. months of careful diplomacy
if you turn the clock back to what s happened sense could they made other decisions in the war? we could have done other things and continued the war earlier. further weakened iraq. i think the basic decision was right. not to go into baghdad. we didn t want to take ownership of the situation. i think the lesson is iraq, without a strong man like hussein the place was going to fall pa rt. local identity were stronger than an iraqi national identity. to some extent we weaken hussein. if we try to get ambitious, what happened in 2003 and beyond simply would have happened earlier. i don t think we were wrong. it shows the pathologies of the middle east. local realities are much more powerful than inside the beltway distractions. still ahead tom hanks and tom