Could “Desert Storm Two” aka “Operation Iraqi Freedom” been avoided?

While doing some continued research and reading about the First Gulf War, I came across this very interesting this article that really makes the reader think. The author asks an interesting question: Did Desert Storm end too quickly, enabling much of Saddam Hussein's army to escape from Kuwait and ensuring the Iraqi dictator would remain a threat for years to come? In the article, retired Marine Lt. Gen. Walter Boomer was interviewed, asked this question and answered yes to it. Boomer commanded all of the U.S. Marines in the first Persian Gulf War that began almost 21 years ago this upcoming January.

To this day Boomer remains convinced that had Operation Desert Storm last only 72 more hours that “we could have killed or captured most of the remaining Iraqi soldiers as they fled Kuwait and were between the MEF [Marine Expeditionary Force] and Basra.” Even though the ground war combat had not been as fierce as expected, Boomer said he knew the Iraqis were fleeing with most of their forces intact. “We had taken 22,000 Iraqi prisoners,” he said. Left unsaid was that Iraq had an army of some half a million in theater. The vast majority were still alive, although much of their armor, artillery and other equipment had been destroyed. Given the order to pursue, the allies “would have left Hussein without an effective army,” Boomer said, “and the future of his regime would have been very bleak – in my opinion.”

I thought this was such an interesting thing to think about. Imaging if the fighting lasted for just a few more days, could that have brought down Sadam Hussein once and for all and thus, Operation Iraqi Freedom would never have been? I suppose we will never know the answer to this question, but it is certainly one I have never pondered and is certainly something for those in command, to think about in conflicts to come. We need to learn to finish what we start and not leave a battle or war early, but leave when the job has been complete. If we do this hopefully it will help to avoid future conflict.

References: http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/8946142/