Persian Gulf War & American Statecraft

AMERICAN STATECRAFT AND THE PERSIAN GULF WAR

This paper analyzes the uses made by the United States of various tools of international statecraft during the period leading up to, during and immediately after the Persian Gulf War. In dealing with the threat posed by Iraq's invasion of Kuwait on August 2, 1990, the United States had as options deterrence, diplomacy and the use of military force. It had available to it different crisis management techniques and, once war ensued, it had to choose how to terminate the fighting. The thesis of this paper is that the United States, after a fumbling beginning, made effective use of all these tools; however, certain unique features were present in this situation which suggest that not all that worked in the Persian Gulf war is likely to serve as a guide for the resolution of other crises.

The United States ultimately decided to apply overwhelming military power to attain its objectives in the Persian Gulf War. It succeeded in less than eight months in defeating Iraq's not inconsiderable military machine. As a result of the war, Stiles said that "Saddam Hussein, while still in power, is seriously constrained and no longer represents a threat to the region" (149). Notwithstanding this accomplishment, some critics have argued that the allies should have "gone on to Baghdad" and finished off Saddam Hussein once and for all. Others, including Stiles, concluded that "the use of force was in fact the co

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did not conform to Western concepts of rational behavior. Therefore and despite having made its position crystal clear, the United States was still confronted with an unsatisfactory fait accompli in Kuwait. Diplomacy The principal aim of American diplomacy in the period leading up to the outbreak of war was the welding of an effective multinational coalition. As Craig/George point out, such a task, which included in this case twenty eight nations, fifteen of which provided military assistance, was a very complex enterprise (171). 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 on Iraq. Active diplomacy also deflected early Soviet and French efforts to find a compromise solution, assuaged Saudi fears of the potentially destabilizing effects of having an alien army on its soil, led to contributions by Japan and the Arab sheikhdoms toward the costs of the coalition effort and later kept Israel from intervening in the war. American coercive diplomacy toward Iraq failed to achieve any change in Iraqi policy in part because the United States offered Iraq little in the way of incentives to back down. The posi

Category: Government - P