One of the great lessons of history is to avoid slavishly applying the lessons of history. A particularly tragic example of this relates to the First and Second Gulf Wars. The relative ease with which U.S. and Allied forces dislodged Saddam Hussein from Kuwait in 1991 emboldened the U.S. to undertake the far more difficult task of overthrowing Hussein altogether and occupying Iraq 12 years later. Apart from its terrible human toll, the negative results of that second conflict are still being felt today, both in the U.S. and throughout the Middle East.