U.S. Government Policy
The Current Situation and How it Evolved
The United States has been attempting to change Iraq’s regime since the 1991 Persian Gulf War, although achieving this goal was not declared policy until 1998. In November of that year, amid a crisis with Iraq over United Nations weapons of mass destruction (WMD) inspections, the Clinton Administration stated that the United States would seek to go beyond containment to promoting a change of regime. A regime change policy was endorsed by the Iraq Liberation Act (P.L. 105-338, October 31, 1998). Officials of the George W. Bush Administration have emphasized regime change as the cornerstone of U.S. policy toward Iraq….
