In ways too many to count, President Donald Trump has broken the mold for U.S. leaders. One must jump ahead nearly 50 years to find a second example of an American president encouraging Middle Easterners to claim their freedom. This was February 1991, after the bombing that opened the U.S.-led Gulf War but before the ground assault that forced Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s troops from Kuwait. On the eve of the war, he delivered a speech highlighting regime change as the goal of the campaign: “Helping Iraqis achieve a united, stable and free country will require our sustained commitment. Operation Iraqi Freedom lasted nine bloody years.

Source: Washington Post March 02, 2026 21:21 UTC