ABSTRACT
The decision to invade and occupy Iraq from spring 2003 was unquestionably one of the most controversial – and consequential – made by President George W. Bush during his time in office. Iraq and its then leader Saddam Hussein were not issues that Bush would necessarily have chosen to confront. The perception that Operation Desert Storm had ended prematurely without his removal from power had taken root in some American political circles from an early stage. The security and authority vacuums engendered by the American 'sins' discussed above were pivotal, albeit unwittingly, in facilitating increasing violence and lawlessness, directed against the American occupiers and also increasingly developing sectarian characteristics. As Defense Secretary Rumsfeld later noted, 9/11 was key to creating permissive conditions allowing Iraq to move up the Bush administration's agenda. Even then, there is little evidence to suggest that the president was irrevocably committed to unseating Saddam Hussein from an early stage.
