How did america end up going to war with iraq?

After the first Iraq war, Iraq was supposed to allow the U.N. inspectors in to periodically check for nuclear and biological weapons as well as anything else that could cause mass destruction to the Kurdish population or neighboring countries. Sanctions had also been put in place by the U.N.  When it was found that Iraq was not complying with the ceasing to make weapons, President Clinton ordered air strikes in 1998 on several of their manufacturing plants. That made the governing body angry and they refused to allow U.N. officials in after that. When President George W. Bush came into office he was quickly faced with realities of 9/11. He still felt Iraq was producing weapons and they had funded al Qaeda so renewed efforts  were made to the U.N. to get inspectors back into the country. When President Bush did not see any compliance with the U.N., he gave an ultimatum asking Saddam Hussein to leave Iraq within 48 hours. Of course, Hussein did not leave so on March 20, 2003 the US and allied forces launched the attack.