The United States "snatched a modest victory from the jaws of triumph" in the Gulf War, the co-authors of a book criticizing the Gulf War's effectiveness said last night.

Lieutenant General Bernard "Mick" Trainor and Michael Gordon, authors of The General's War, were among five panelists who debated the outcome of the 1991 campaign to liberate Kuwait from Iraq in front of more than 100 people at a panel discussion at the Institute of Politics.

"The perfect war led by the perfect generals...turns out to be not quite what it seemed to be at the outset," said Trainor. "Our book is not just a history, we tried to get the ground truth of the Gulf War in order to determine what it says about American politics."

Trainor and Gordon said their book focuses on issues that remained after American troops withdrew from Iraq, such as the fact that Iraq's Republican Guard was not destroyed and that Saddam Hussein remained in power.

Despite Trainor and Gordon's accusations, Lieutenant General Thomas Kelly, Plans and Operations Officer for the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the Gulf War, said the United States secured a major victory in the Gulf War.

"We did win, and we did the right thing," Kelly said.

Philip Zelikow, a former staff member at the National Security Council, took a middle position, saying that the United States secured a triumphant victory at the time.

"All victories are perfect in the hour of triumph, but all victories are flawed," he said. "After an historical perspective, this victory will look modest."

Bob Zelnick, Pentagon reporter for ABC News, said the book adds an appropriate degree of humility to the American victory in the Gulf War.

"I think the book does make the case that this was an imperfect or modest victory," he said. "The White House thought the gate was closed, and it wasn't closed. The book presented some useful reflections on that."

The survival of the Republican Guard as well as the fact that Hussein remains in power were cited by him as something that casts doubt on US success.

But Kelly said the neither Hussein nor the Guard, Hussein's elite military corps, pose a threat to the United States.

"Why is it our job to get Saddam Hussein when he's not affecting us at all?," asked Kelly.

"Those Republican Guard divisions ain't threatening nobody," Kelly added.

The event was co-sponsored by the National Security Program and the Kennedy School of Government.