The Persian Gulf War & the U.S.

This research paper summarizes and analyzes the United States foreign policy decisions and military events which led to, perpetuated and ended American involvement in the Persian Gulf War, including the military strategy employed by Iraq and the United States during that war.

The Persian Gulf War was precipitated by the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq in August 1990 and the determination by the United States that its vital interests were thereby threatened. American foreign policy, because it sought to maintain a balance between Iraqi and Iranian power in the region, sent Iraq mixed signals which failed to deter the invasion, but many other factors lay behind Saddam Hussein's decision to invade. Thereafter, the United States effectively built up its forces in the Gulf. It developed and held together a coalition of European and Arab nations to fight the war and to secure international and domestic support for its objectives, which were to liberate Kuwait and destroy Iraq's military capacity to threaten Western access to the oil reserves of the region and moderate Arab regimes. Iraq's military strategy was defensive during this period, and largely ineffective. American military strategy, which ultimately prevailed decisively, was to apply overwhelming conventional force through the use of strategic and tactical air power, and an imaginative ground campaign which capitalized on Allied strengths and Iraqi military weaknesses.

. . .
ur months to deploy them there; about double that force would be needed to eject the Iraqis from Kuwait; and double that time would be needed to deploy them. He was told "there was no alternative to having U.S. bases on Saudi soil" (Hiro 110). The Americans succeeded in convincing King Fahd that the Iraqis posed a real military threat to Saudi Arabia that justified his taking the internal risks involved in inviting a large infidel host into Saudi Arabia. The evidence is mixed as to whether Hussein intended to invade Saudi Arabia. What is clear, as Atkinson said, is "the House of Saud was unlikely to survive in a Persian Gulf dominated by Saddam Hussein" (53). Hussein's assurances to the contrary were disbelieved because Iraq's credibility on that subject was gone. The other aim of American diplomacy was the welding of an effective multi-national coalition. That task, which included twenty eight nations, fifteen of whom provided military assistance, was a very complex enterprise. The United States made effective use of the United Nations Security Council, which passed resolutions condemning Iraq's actions in Kuwait and imposed economic sanctions. These efforts were aided by the ending of the Cold War because, as Hiro noted,
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
Gulf War, January Pentagon, Kuwait Trainor, European Arab, Gordon Trainor, According Friedman, Military Equation, Dunnigan Bay, Exclusive Iran, Iraqi Iranian, gulf war, military strategy, persian gulf, persian gulf war, saudi arabia, command control, foreign policy, gordon trainor, invasion kuwait, security council, air campaign, saudi arabia kuwait, foreign policy military, iraqi iranian power, military strategy employed,
Approximate Word count = 2739
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page)

More Essays on The Persian Gulf War & the U.S.