First Gulf War.

[Harvin87]

Hello everyone, I was thinking about the Gulf war... and I was just wondering ... why didn't the allies went for saddams head since the first gulf war? .. they just left him there again... I mean ... was it not the most logical thing to do? .. to "dethrone" a dictator who at THE TIME was clearly a threat for the region?

 

[Thedrin]

Because that would have required occupying and stabilising the country, and then supporting a new system of government until it could stand in its own two feet. Very expensive, with little practical benefit.

 

[Virote_Considon]

He was also seen as a useful buffer against Iran.

 

[Nobody]

wasnt that the second gulf war?

 

[ParkCungHee]

Also, to add to the reasons, we were only very narrowly given international approval for this thing.
Multilateral enforcement of international law was a really, really new thing then. It wasn't easy getting the other Arab states to buy it, not to mention the Soviet Union and China.

We were running around shaking hands and talking with people trying to convince them that "No really, we want to do this for the right reasons!" which they naturally took quite skeptically.

 

[laffy]

wasnt that the second gulf war?

Yes. I'm pretty sure the Iran-Iraq war was also dubbed the Gulf War. Hence First Gulf War.

 

[Verbose]

Hello everyone, I was thinking about the Gulf war... and I was just wondering ... why didn't the allies went for saddams head since the first gulf war? .. they just left him there again... I mean ... was it not the most logical thing to do? .. to "dethrone" a dictator who at THE TIME was clearly a threat for the region?

Because 1) the mandate asked for and granted was to liberate Kuweit, and 2) the US post-Vietnamn doctrine was to know fully what they were doing, how to win, and, most importantly, how to not get dragged into situations with unforsseable resilutions, that might end up dragging on, and on, and on...

The decisions to limit the objective to Kuweit would seem to be one of going for what would mean least political resistence, which coincided with a US wish not to risk getting bogged down in an occupation of Iraq.

 

[Lord Baal]

Yes. I'm pretty sure the Iran-Iraq war was also dubbed the Gulf War. Hence First Gulf War.

Um, no? The Iran-Iraq War was a completely different war. I've never come across any reference to the Iran-Iraq War being called the Gulf War.

To answer the OP's question; too expensive, no approval for it, and Saddam was useful as a buffer to Iran. The US government did want Saddam gone, but they (wrongly) assumed he'd be overthrown and they could deal with his successor. When Saddam's army remained loyal, they couldn't go in and topple him after already stopping.

 

[Harvin87]

Because 1) the mandate asked for and granted was to liberate Kuweit, and 2) the US post-Vietnamn doctrine was to know fully what they were doing, how to win, and, most importantly, how to not get dragged into situations with unforsseable resilutions, that might end up dragging on, and on, and on...

Not much of the policy nowadays ...

 

[Verbose]

Nope, and iirc the change of policy was hailed as the US armed forces shedding a "complex" from Vietnam.

 

[Dachs]

Nope, and iirc the change of policy was hailed as the US armed forces shedding a "complex" from Vietnam.

Perceptions were mixed even back then, but yeah, there were some who thought that the '91 War let the US military "shed a Vietnam complex". Wasn't a Bush Administration-specific thing at all.

 

[Flying Pig]

There was also the case that they needed to keep the coalition together, and removing Saddam could have threatened that

 

[Dragonlord]

Because 1) the mandate asked for and granted was to liberate Kuweit, and 2) the US post-Vietnamn doctrine was to know fully what they were doing, how to win, and, most importantly, how to not get dragged into situations with unforsseable resilutions, that might end up dragging on, and on, and on...

The decisions to limit the objective to Kuweit would seem to be one of going for what would mean least political resistence, which coincided with a US wish not to risk getting bogged down in an occupation of Iraq.

To put it in a nutshell: Bush senior was smarter than his son.

 

[Winner]

Hello everyone, I was thinking about the Gulf war... and I was just wondering ... why didn't the allies went for saddams head since the first gulf war? .. they just left him there again... I mean ... was it not the most logical thing to do? .. to "dethrone" a dictator who at THE TIME was clearly a threat for the region?

US was afraid that the coalition would shatter. Arab countries didn't support anything beyond a swift liberation of Kuwait.

Plus, Americans in general tend to not finish things decisively when they have the chance.

 

[Imperialmajesty]

Simple, the US accomplished its primary goal, of getting Saddam out of Kuwait.

That, and attempting it would shatter the Coalition.

 

[LightSpectra]

Regarding the name of the war: people from/in the Middle East typically call the Iran-Iraq War the "First Gulf War," and therefore what Americans call the "Gulf War" would be the "Second Gulf War" to them. Even more confusingly, sometimes the War in Iraq is tagged as the "Second Gulf War" to Americans, which would make it the "Third Gulf War" to the aforementioned.