Yeah, we could be safe and secure with Saddam and his sons still in power, the Oil For Food graft rolling in, and Russia, China and France rushing weapons and nuke technology to him the same way they're doing for Iran. But, thanks to constant US air patrols of the No Fly Zone from our secure bases in Saudi Arabia, Saddam would be in his famous "box", so no worries.
"Yeah, we could be safe and secure with Saddam and his sons still in power, the Oil For Food graft rolling in, and Russia, China and France rushing weapons and nuke technology to him the same way they're doing for Iran. But, thanks to constant US air patrols of the No Fly Zone from our secure bases in Saudi Arabia, Saddam would be in his famous "box", so no worries"
Yes, people forget that we flew 30,000 missions over the skies of Iraq annually. It just wasn't from Saudi bases either. We kept 1-2 Aircraft Carriers in the Gulf 24-7, not to mention a perpetual presence at bases in Turkey also.
I don't know what the price tag was for these operations but it must have been huge. I saw a figure that in terms of fatigue life, the average military aircraft aged six years during the Clinton years.