President Bush: Helping Kuwait Against Iraq

National security provoked the Iraq invasion, but Bush justified his hawkish foreign policy as promoting freedom and democracy. The threats to national security were Sadaam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction and Hussein’s ties to anti-American terrorist organizations, although no credible evidence proved those allegations. In the March 17, 2003 Address

U.S. foreign policy changed after the Cold War after the U.S. was unsure of what to do with their increased national defense. Many critics questioned the need for heavy defense spending and the large number of U.S. bases. For most of the twentieth century, the Cold War defined U.S. foreign policy as it centered around the idea of containment. After the Soviet Union fell, Americans shifted their focus from containing communism to solving several ethnic, religious, and cultural conflicts, more specifically toward peacekeeping, globalization, and humanitarian ideology. One such result of this foreign policy was direct action in the Gulf War in 1990; the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Operation Desert Storm deployed during the gulf war was viewed widely as a success and helped to reinforce Bush’s ideals about a new world

Greene cites Bush’s major foreign policy success as his international leadership for the expulsion of Iraq from Kuwait. He engineers a near unanimous vote, including the Soviets, of support in the United Nations. Bush also clearly articulates America’s purpose for the first Gulf War in his National Security Directive 54 (p. 127). His concise directive provided military commanders with finite, attainable missions to accomplish, leaving little ambiguity, contributing greatly to the success of the

Firstly, it is important to understand why the United States decided to support Iraq. One of the reasons, is their loss of Iran as one of their “twin pillars.” When Nixon took office in 1969, his administration undertook a major review of US Persian Gulf policy. As part of an effort to redefine US military interests in key areas throughout the world by way of supporting certain states with arms rather than military forces. The result was the Nixon Doctrine, which relied on security cooperation with regional states to protect US interests around the world. In the Gulf, the United States heavily supported Iran and Saudi Arabia, a strategy that would quickly be known as the “Twin Pillar Policy.”

“One of the good things about the way the Gulf War ended in 1991 is, you 'd see the Vietnam veterans marching with the Gulf War veterans” (George H. W. Bush). President Bush stated that the Persian Gulf War was not fully supported by the soldiers who fought in the war. Gulf War veterans marched like Vietnam veterans because they also viewed the war as unjustified. Persian Gulf War veterans would say, “American soldiers lost their lives’ for oil.” The first Persian Gulf War started from August 2, 1990 and ended on February 28, 1991. This war began by the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq. During this invasion some of the oil fields of Kuwait were set on fire and some of the oil spilled to the Persian Gulf. The Persian Gulf was the oil supplier for western countries. So anything happened to the Persian Gulf, the western countries will naturally react. The factors that led to The United States’ involvement in the first Persian Gulf War included Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait, his control over a sizable share of the world’s oil reserves and his power over the economies of the world. Many Americans believe that the first Persian Gulf War was not necessary for the United States.

Within days of Iraqi forces invading Kuwait in 1990, President Bush publicly backed the United Nations’ (UN) stance on the incursion with four national strategic objectives and determined that, ‘if invited, US forces would be deployed to deter further Iraqi attacks, defend Saudi Arabia and enforce UN resolutions.’ From the national strategic objectives, the military end-state is deduced. The military end-state is a conceptual element of operational design which describes the conditions that forces must achieve to attain strategic objectives/ hand over main effort responsibilities. The military end-state does not necessarily indicate the end of a military activities to attain national objectives. While one specific national objective would not

5 Operation Desert storm was a war between the U.S and Iraq. To those of us who are too young to remember this conflict is one that my grandfather tells me constantly that the price of freedom is never free. Armed forces of the united states and 100 other countries joined in a massive coalition of power to defeat a country called iraq led by a tyrant and dictator Saddam hussein into invading and occupying Kuwait. Naval and air forces and army and marine ground forces of America joined with countries such as Saudi Arabia , france ,Germany ,England ,Italy and other Arab countries joined into one effort to invade Kuwait and liberate that country from tyrannical rule. Where is and always will be the last option because of the deaths of thousands of people both friendly and enemy of soldier and civilian. By this conflict that started in January 1991 and is famously called the hundred hour

However, the government found it difficult to decide upon and state one overriding reason for going to war. Was it to oppose aggression or was it just to protect global oil supplies? Other powers were more directly concerned as consumers of Persian Gulf oil, but they were not as eager to commit military force, to risk their youth in battle and to pay for the costs of the war. Critics of President Bush continued to maintain that he was taking advantage of the issue of energy supplies in order to manipulate the U. S. public opinion in favor of war.

The U.S. was cautious in approaching the problem with Syria, though. They did not want to appear as having imperial motives and thus sought incite a regional response, especially the support of Saudi Arabia. The relationship with Saudi Arabia was strategic in itself because of its fundamental role in the Arab world, especially in dealing with Egypt, as well as its increasing wealth in oil. The U.S., though, did not get the response they were looking for. Saudi Arabia placed the problem squarely on the U.S. government’s shoulders and therefore caused them to change their policies towards Syria. One such change would be that of a military intervention in Syria. Eisenhower could not justify military intervention with Syria without separating it from the similar crisis in the Suez. Thus, military intervention in Syria was justified through asserting that Syria was secretly being infiltrated by the Soviet Union. To solidify this policy the United States needed to find physical proof that this was indeed happening in Syria. This further fueled the need for an all-Arab response in Syria. When other Arab nations refused to respond to the crisis the United States looked to Turkey to stage a military intervention against Syria. This move was not a smart one in that it prompted a response from the Soviet Union in which it warned Turkey not to take action against Syria.

The reason for the invasion of Iraq was that they were suspected of harboring weapons of mass destruction and they were a potential threat to world peace. However no evidence has ever been found of the existence of such weapons in Iraq and this brought a lot of criticism on the US. This was however not the first altercation the US has been involved in in the Gulf war they fought with Iraq in order to protect their oil interests in the gulf region. The united states in the past has been known for going to war to protect is economic interests from the second world war, to the Vietnam War to the Korean War. All was aimed to protect the economic superiority of the United States. The resolution that brought the gulf war to an end put Sadam Hussein in power and thereafter he failed to follow some compliances the United Nations had imposed and in 2003 the Us led a coalition of forces aimed to remove Sadam Hussein from power and it was successful as he was executed 3 years later. This however started war in the country with the people bring opposed to the occupying forces and the new government that was in place. They also had additional reasons for

On September 20, 2002, the Bush administration published a national security manifesto titled "The National Security Strategy of the United States of America"; sometimes called “the Bush Doctrine”, which is a justification for easy recourse to war whenever and wherever an American president chooses. The United States wanted more control over the Middle East and the oil that could be obtained there; all they needed was an excuse to go to war and in turn be able to obtain resources. After 9/11 Bush had his excuse; Al Qaeda. Weaving a trail of propaganda and fear through the media with false information, Bush ordered an invasion of Iraq in pursuit of his form of hegemonic internationalism. The reasons broadcasted by the White House claimed that Saddam Hussein (President of Iraq in 2002) was building weapons of mass destruction and promoting/supporting terrorism which made him a grave threat to the western world. The real reason behind invading Iraq was to secure American access to vital resources, being oil. Iraq had been attacking Iran who was dangerously close to Saudi Arabia which is a huge supplier of oil to the United States. Once the United States had control of Iraq they installed a sympathetic “democratic” government which had eliminated the Iraqi threat to Saudi oil. Through the pursuit of hegemonic internationalism the United States had achieved one of its national interests, obtaining vital resources, but at a huge cost. Over 1 million

Before examining each argument, there must be an understanding on why the United States. The US invaded Iraq for several reasons, and one reason is that Saddam Hussein sponsored terrorism, even though that Hussein had “no direct connection to Osama bin Laden.” Another reason that the US decided to invade Iraq was the “swift victory…in Afghanistan”; since the US dealt with Afghanistan very easily, they assumed that a victory over Iraq would be just as swift. A third reason that the United States invaded Iraq was the support from the American people. Bipartisan support in Congress, the media, and the public allowed President George W. Bush to invade Iraq; while he did not receive support from the United Nations, the Iraq War had about seventy percent

government officials that were identified as conspirators against the Ba’ath party. (5) His ruthless and brutal dictatorship would bring his country to war with neighboring Iran from 1980 to 1988. Initially a territorial dispute, Hussein would cite Iran’s Islamic fundamentalism as his motives for continued combat and Iraq’s use of chemical weapons. (6) The war resulted in more than 100,000 combat deaths and drove Iraq deep into debt. The military annex of Kuwait in 1991 was intended to absolve Iraq of this financial responsibility to it’s neighbor. (7) The United Nations Security Council, in particular the United States, responded with force to drive Saddam Hussein’s army

     The war waged on Iraq by the United States has been the cause of heated debate all over the world. Many people have opposed the United States attack on Iraq for many viable reasons. Some of these reasons include that it is not in the best interests for the reputation of the United States with the other nations of the global community, it poses an increased threat to United States homeland security, and it will result in many unjust crimes committed by the United States.

In 2003, President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell launched an invasion of the nation of Iraq. United States Secretary of State Colin Powell outlined the reasons Iraq posed a threat to international security in a speech he gave at the United Nations. Iraq’s nuclear weapons program concerned the Bush administration. Fearing Iraq might use this program to act aggressively in the region, and wanting to secure oil supplies and a friendly regime, the administration pursued a plan of action to remove Iraqi President Saddam Hussein from power (FLS 2016, 43). A constant secure supply of oil stood as a cornerstone of the military-industrial complex thriving in the United States and a friendly regime in such an oil rich country remained an important objective of President Bush. This directly conflicted with the desire of President Saddam Hussein of Iraq to remain in power.