After his crushing defeat in the Gulf War, Saddam Hussein had little choice but to accept the U.N.'s cease-fire resolution imposing tough economic sanctions on his country. The sanctions would be lifted, he was told, when Iraq was divested of all elements of any nuclear, chemical or biological weapons. The resolution also required Iraq to return all seized Kuwaiti property, pay war reparations to Kuwait, and accept an embargo against Iraqi oil sales on the international market.

While he agreed to the U.N.'s demands, Hussein was not about to let teams of outside weapons inspectors move at will throughout his country. And so began the prolonged, high-stakes game of cat and mouse that has led Hussein and the United States back into war.

Hussein's hostility toward George Bush Sr. carried over into the early months of Bill Clinton's first term. In the spring of 1993, the Iraqi leader sent agents to assassinate Bush during the former president's visit to Kuwait, where he was being hailed as an hero. The plot was aborted, but in response President Clinton ordered warships in the Persian Gulf to fire two dozen Tomahawk missiles at Iraqi intelligence headquarters in Baghdad.

Hussein appeared unfazed. Intent on being perceived as the unchallenged leader of the Arab world, he pushed ahead with his spree of building lavish palaces throughout Iraq. At least four attempted military coups, aided by CIA agents, failed.

Meanwhile, the U.N. sanctions were taking a terrible toll on the rest of Iraq. Drastic shortages of food and medicine were causing thousands to die, many of them children. There was pressure from some countries to lift the sanctions, but the United States resisted, pointing out that Hussein continued to build "palaces" without allowing access to the U.N. inspectors. With the sanctions still in place, Hussein, in 1995, agreed to a U.N. "oil-for-food" plan in which Iraq could export oil but only in exchange for food and other humanitarian supplies.

Still, Hussein continued to impede the efforts of the U.N. inspectors. In October 1997 he expelled American members of the inspection teams, charging them with spying. A month later he denied inspectors access to "palaces and official residences," which they believed were actually weapons plants.

This diplomatic war over the inspectors went on for another year. On more than one occasion, President Clinton was on the verge of ordering new aerial attacks on Iraq. Yet he had backed off, hoping an agreement could be reached without attacks that inevitably would result in the deaths of innocent civilians. Finally, just before Christmas 1998, the United States and Great Britain launched Operation Desert Fox. For three days hundreds of cruise missiles punished Baghdad and other parts of Iraq.

Clinton defended the resumption of war against Iraq. "Saddam Hussein must not be allowed to threaten his neighbors or the world with nuclear arms, poison gas or biological weapons," he said. "Instead of the inspectors disarming Saddam, Saddam has disarmed the inspectors."

The Pentagon said its goal was to destroy Hussein's capacity to produce weapons of mass destruction. But there was another purpose in targeting Hussein's crack troops. The Clinton administration hoped to send a message to Iraq's soldiers that they would remain targets as long as they supported Hussein.

But all efforts to undermine Hussein from within failed, including millions of dollars in funding for opposition groups. In truth, President Clinton approved these payments reluctantly, never really convinced that any anti-Saddam group posed a serious threat to the Iraqi regime.