The real reasons were:

1. To punish Saddam Hussein for daring to sell Iraqi oil in Euros in the early 2000's, rather than in US Dollars...and to further punish him for having failed to take out Iran in the 1980s Iran-Iraq war, and for having then attempted to take Kuwaiti oil, after which he became "expendable" to America since he was no longer a useful and compliant tool of American policy. He had become, in effect, another Manuel Noriega. Once a very handy dictator and local ally...now an embarrassing liability.

2. To get control of Iraqi oil by USA and British corporations (the main original reason Britain went in there and took over Iraq in the first place after WWI ended and the Turkish Empire collapsed).

3. To extend the Anglo-American-Israeli empire into one more nation.

4. To establish a strong military presence and base of operations directly to the west of the main future target for conquest: Iran.

5. The final and key reason was one more logical step in the encirclement of Iran...its ultimate purposes being to cause regime change in Iran, set up a client (puppet) government there, and get full western control of the marketing of Iranian oil...the last major piece of Middle Eastern oil to be taken over by the Anglo-American-Israeli empire.

Sigg "Hail to the Chief!!!"

One additional possible reason: George Bush's resentment of Saddam for trying to kill his Dad...but if that did play any part, I'd consider it a very minor personal factor in a war which had much more pragmatic and well-planned imperial reasons behind it than Dubya's petty emotional problems. He was just another tool in the big system anyway. I think Cheney was the real boss during that presidency, not Bush.