In Operation Desert Storm, on February 27, 1991, “After only four days of fighting [the ground war in Kuwait], when American units had yet to encircle Iraqi forces, [Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin] Powell convinced President [George H.W.] Bush to halt ground operations. ‘The vaunted Republican Guard formations are no longer,’ the general announced. He was wrong. Their escape routes clear, three largely intact Republican Guard divisions escaped back to Iraq–where some of them began massacring Iraqi civilians whom the United States had encouraged to revolt. At the White House, Secretary of State [James] Baker, too, argued for a halt to the American advance. ‘We have done the job. We can stop. We have achieved our aims. We have gotten them out of Kuwait.’ ”
– Lawrence F. Kaplan and William Kristol, The War Over Iraq, Pages 44-45