On January 15, 1991, the United Nations resolution that allowed the use of force against Saddam Hussein took effect. Frontline correspondent Hodding Carter examines the critical decisions inside the White House, the State Department, and the Pentagon that had brought the American nation to the brink of war. In the program: Thomas Friedman (Correspondent, NY Times), Robin Wright (Correspondent, LA Times), Margaret Tutwiler (Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs), Rick Atkinson (Reporter for Washington Post), and Ann McDaniel (Correspondent, Newsweek). The program contains footage with the Iraqi army in Kuwait during the first days of the invasion.