This chapter explores the evolution of a bilateral relationship that started with a strategic partnership and descended into fifteen years of war and conflict, the repercussions of which continue to the present day. It first traces the bitter volley of threats and warnings that permeated the build-up and execution of Operation Desert Storm in 1990–91. Then, after a brief account of the tumultuous intervening years, it details the attempts at deterrence in Operation Iraqi Freedom, culminating in the overthrow of Saddam Hussein.

DESERT STORM (1990–91)

The strategic interaction between the United States and Iraq has always been complex. In the aftermath of World War II, monarchical Iraq for a time was a promising bulwark of stability in the Middle East, forming the core of the Baghdad Pact, a NATO-sponsored military alliance intended to quell communist and liberation movements in the region. The Iraqi revolution in 1958 came as quite a shock to the West, terminating Iraq's participation in the Baghdad Pact and ushering in years of turmoil. The subsequent violence was capped by a Ba'athist coup in 1968 that paved the way for Saddam Hussein's eventual accession to the presidency in 1979, the same year as the revolution in Iran. Given the West's extreme antipathy toward Ayatollah Khomeini, the United States was eager to assist Hussein in his quest for military power, particularly once war broke out between Iran and Iraq a year later.