The UN administration asserted that Iraq defied 17 Security Council resolutions that provide for full elimination of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). However, the opponents of the process argued that the UN inspection process would have been granted more time. Meanwhile, the U.S. Congress authorized the President to utilize the armed forces of the United States for the purposes of defending U.S national security against the Iraq threat. Congress also authorized the US government to enforce all relevant U.N. resolutions on the Iraq issue (Copson 15).

The United States wanted Saddam Hussein ousted from power and the Iraq Liberation Act of 1998 that was passed by the House of Representatives and Senate (Jakobsen 1) supported this. U.S. President Bill Clinton then signed the act into law. In all these, the real goal of the U.S. was to remove Saddam Hussein from power and the issue received support from adopted UN Resolution 1441. The United States further implemented economic sanctions with the British military enforcing no-fly zones over northern and southern Iraq. Despite other countries playing their roles, the principal actor in this war was the United States (Copson 15). In 2003, which is after the September 11 attack, the then president of the US focused on the security and well-being of the Americans. This is since Iraq was believed to possess Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD), the only way out was to oust Saddam Hussein from power through military action. The differences come in whereby in 1991, the war was against the Iraqi Invasion of Kuwait while in 2003, the war was against Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD). However, America’s action was made difficult since Saddam had dictatorial dominance over Iraq hence had a larger influence on the Iraqi decision-making body as compared to Bush. George Bush had limited influence on policy-making in Washington since he had to be given leeway by Congress (Jakobsen 1).&nbsp.