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A clear clarion signal to saddam hussein. we are deadly serious about seeing you get out of kuwait. >> reporter: it was a signal backed up by half a million u.s. troops. the largest u.s. military operation since the vietnam war. the 1991 gulf war was a sweeping victory that then and later george h.w. bush saw as a moral imperative. >> you have to do it sometimes. good versus evil. when were fighting saddam hussein i thought it was that clear. >> reporter: in the summer of 1990, the iraqi leader ...

Now, that meant he was going to work diplomatically and bring out a huge coalition of political leaders together to force saddam hussein to leave, but it was also clear in my mind if that didnt work well go to war. and thats what we were prepared to do. >> reporter: president bush assembled 39 countries, 28 of them supplying troops. >> they had the kind of relationship and reputation with everybody that they all trusted him. they all wanted to be on board. and then guess what? he got other peopl...

Kuwait. in just three days. >> we stood our ground. because the world would not look the other way, ambassador, tonight kuwait is free. >> reporter: it started after "time" magazine declared george bush the men of the year. the two george bushs still sums up his presidency. the uplifting world leader on the international stage. and the one in washington, d.c., weighed down by a sputtering economy and d.c.s endless political wars. president bush tried to be bipartisan from day one. >> im putting ...

"cnn special report: remembering 41" tonight, 8:00 eastern. ingenious space- neat nest™ by fasaving design. all designed to stack and protect the lids, and the pan surface. farberware neat nest™. stacked & intact™ were looking back at the life and presidency of george h.w. bush who passed away last night at his home in texas. he was 94 years old. one of the most defining moments of his time in office happened when iraq invaded the tiny oil-rich nation of kuwait. president bush led a coal...

World. tributes, condolences, fond personal memories and prayers for the family of the 41st president of the united states. this wreath now gracing the entrance to the houston home of president george h.w. bush who passed away there last night. plans have been set for his funeral and veernts -- events to honor his life. he was 94 years old. his service to this nation was vast. it began when he was a teenager volunteering for the navy, becoming a fighter pilot. afterward, a congressman and an amb...

As much as anybody involved in the operation. first hand personal experience on what we were asking people to do. >> reporter: a cnn crew covering the last minute diplomacy in baghdad witnessed what happened next. >> the skies over baghdad have been illuminated. were seeing bright flashes going off all over the sky. >> reporter: in washington, it was the evening of january 16, 1991. the president went on national television to announce the beginning of operation desert storm. >> some may ask why...

Time for them to use force. to change borders. which is why he was so tough on saddam hussein which is the reason that the coalition was simply designed to liberate kuwait. it wasnt designed to overthrow saddam hussein. sure, if saddam hussein had been overthrown by the generals george bush would have been happy. but the coalition was to show the world you dont invade your neighbors. it was a way of laying a marker down for a new system of international relations following the cold war. only som...

Cause to achieve the universal aspirations of mankind. >> reporter: president bush promoted eastern europes peaceful emergence from communism, the breakup of the soviet union, and the end of u.s./soviet proxy wars in nicaragua and el salvador. >> some felt we were so infatuated with the change in eastern europe we were in the process of neglecting this hemisphere. thats not the case. >> reporter: president bush used u.s. military power to remove a drug dealing strong man, noriega, who was turnin...

The book and he was serious in the defense of his father. he told numerous stories about what he wanted people to remember. of course, a part of that was defending his father and his position to go after the iraqi forces in kuwait, but to stop short of getting saddam hussein. he talked about the fact that he was not trying to finish the job his father had started and rather his father gave him a blessing in a conversation they had over the phone about the difficult choice of going to war. they t...

>> we wanted to get the iraqi army out of kuwait, to restore the government of kuwait and to get our troops home. >> we all felt that going to baghdad would have been a violation sort of of the agreements we had made. >> reporter: less than two months after the war started president bush declared victory. >> now we can see a new world coming in to view. a world in which theres a real prospect of a new world order. >> if you design a president to deal with that kind of a situation, a military cri...