During the Gulf War, Wolfowitz, then an assistant defense secretary, was instrumental in persuading President George Bush to start the war against Iraq, overcoming Powell's view that the United States should wait for sanctions to work. But later Powell helped convince the president to stop the war after liberating Kuwait, outflanking Wolfowitz, who wished to continue fighting in order to take out Saddam. Wolfowitz has spent the last decade lobbying for the United States to finish the job in Iraq.