"was not Iraq ultimately to drive them personally off the map as agressors, for having invaded the little rich neighbour Kuwait?"
The Gulf War in 1991 was to push them out of Kuwait.
The invasion of 2003 was about:
1.)Regime Change, and the Iraqis will welcome it and become a peaceful democracy
2.) wanting someone to punch after 9/11
3.) They have WMD's and are a threat to the world (they didn't BTW)
4.) setting up a pro american government to increase our presence in the Middle East
5.) Saddam allegedly looked into killing Bush's dad after Iraq was defeated in 1991
6.) The George W. administration had alot of carryovers from his fathers administration. His dad thought anything beyond liberating Kuwait was a bad idea but some others wanted to invade Iraq in 1991 and 9/11 gave them an excuse to 'finish the job'.
I think it's possible that some may have really believed #1 was possible. The idea that since it worked for Germany and Japan after WW2, it will work anywhere. But that's just if i'm feeling very generous.
Take your pick
"An excuse perhaps but worked with gdansk, pearl harbor, the tonkin golf."
Are you really including Pearl Harbor in with these other two? Really, dude? I assume by Gdansk you're referring to the Polish corridor. ?