Saddam Hussein
In 2003, the United States led an invasion of Iraq. The main reason for the invasion was President George W. Bush's claim that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction. Bush argued that this made Saddam a major threat to Western allies, such as oil-rich Saudi Arabia and Israel; to Western oil supplies from the Persian Gulf states; and to Middle East stability in general. The President before Bush, Bill Clinton (1993-2001), maintained sanctions and made occasional air strikes in the "Iraqi no-fly zones" or other restrictions, in the hope that Saddam would be overthrown by his many political enemies. However, this never happened.