Gulf War: Why Did The U.S. Intervene

3756 words - 16 pages

Introduction Since the end of the Cold War, the United States' role as international peacekeeper was under fire from the public. If the threat of Communism was no longer a major concern, why should the United States continue to intervene overseas? During the Cold War the United States intervened in numerous wars to prevent a communist country, or a communist-friendly country from overtaking a democratic country. Without this threat, the United States' justification for intervention has become a case by case situation. This paper will study the Persian Gulf conflict, and provide several reasons for intervening.First, and foremost, the issue of oil in the Middle East was a paramount reason for ...view middle of the document...

Using these three theoretical works, this paper will assert whether these philosophers would have believed the United States was justified in their intervention in the Persian Gulf.Background to the Persian Gulf Crisis On August 2nd, 1990 at 1:00 AM three Iraqi armored divisions crossed the border between Iraq and Kuwait. Approximately 80,000 Iraqi soldiers stormed across Kuwait headed directly for Kuwait City. At 1:30 AM Iraqi special operations forces launched a helicopter attack on important government facilities through Kuwait, mostly in Kuwait City. The Kuwaitis were caught entirely off guard by this attack, yet were more baffled when the Iraqis continued their invasion beyond their original land claim. Not until then did the Kuwaitis understand that Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi leader, was intending on occupying all of Kuwait. By 7:00 PM that night the Iraqi forces had secured all of Kuwait, completing their mission in about 18 hours. After the attack on Kuwait, United States President George Bush stated, "I find that the policies and actions of the Government of Iraq constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States and hereby declare a national emergency to deal with that threat" (Bin 32). Making public statements against the Iraqi allowed Bush to use reserve military forces if need be.There was an outcry in the United States for some type of action against Iraq, but the opinions on exactly what should be done were quite varied. There were proposals ranging from relying on economic sanctions to immediate massive military action. Regardless of the means, the desired end was the same, unconditional withdrawal from Kuwait by the Iraqi forces. On August 5th, 1990 President Bush issued this statement describing the U.S. position, "What's emerging is nobody [the leaders of other countries] seems to be showing up as willing to accept anything less than total withdrawal from Kuwait of the Iraqi forces, and no puppet regime"¦. I view very seriously our determination to reverse this aggression"¦. This will not stand" (Bin 35). On August 8th, the United States deployed troops to Saudi Arabia to prevent Iraqi forces from moving any further through the Persian Gulf. On August 16th, the U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf and Red Sea were ordered to enforce economic sanctions against Iraq, imposed by the United Nations, by preventing any incoming or outgoing ships (Bin 35). After several months of complete economic embargo by virtually every state in the United Nations, it was decided that a new course of action would be needed.Saddam Hussein had increased his troops in Kuwait and did not appear to be wavering from his position of control over Kuwait. President Bush issued this statement on October 23rd, "there can never be compromise, any kind of compromise, with this kind of aggression"¦. These are crimes against humanity"¦ It isn't oil we're concerned about, it is...

Did the U.S. Media Cause the Loss of the War, Explain Whether You Agree or Disagree with This Statement

1212 words - 5 pages No, the U.S Media did not cause the loss of the war because the American strategy from the start would have inevitably caused the loss of the war anyway; the U.S media just helped to speed up that defeat. The Vietnam War was the first televised war. According to the now retired Lt. Gen. Phillip B. Davidson "The war was literally piped into the living room, bedroom, and kitchen of most Americans”. Furthermore the former U.S. Commander in South

Why Did World War One Break Out?

2142 words - 9 pages Why did World War One break out? There are many reasons as to why war broke out in 1914, which included many intertwined factors, such as the conflicts and hostility of the four decades leading up to the war. Moreover, Militarism, Alliances, Imperialism, and Nationalism played major roles in the conflict. All of these factors where established in many of Europe's 'Great Powers' which consisted of; Great Britain, France, Germany, Austria-Hungary

Why Did Germany Lose The First World War In 1918? An Essay Answering The Question Of Why Germany Lost And Why They Lost When They Did

1616 words - 7 pages Why did Germany lose the First World War in 1918?The First World War was a huge event which ended abruptly; going from huge German advances after March 1918 to Germany asking for peace later that year: they were forced from a hard hitting offensive to defeat for various reasons:One of the key reasons for Germany's defeat is the internal problems suffered by Germany from late 1917. Morale in the ranks of the Germany army was diminished to a

Why the U.S. Invaded Iraq in 2003

1012 words - 5 pages Why Did the United States Invade Iraq in 2003? In the following essay I will attempt to answer the question of why the United States (U.S.) invaded Iraq in 2003. In doing this I will explore some of the possible answers given by the U.S., Iraqâ€™s development of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) was given by the U.S. as the first official reason for the invasion. Once it became apparent that there were no WMDâ€™s the U.S. claimed their

Why There Is Terrorism In The U.S

1595 words - 7 pages an identifiable chain of command or conspiratorial cell structure (whose members wear no uniform or identifying insignia); and perpetrated by a sub-national group or non-state entity". America's motive in the sanctions become diminished when Saddam Hussein's popularity goes up in Iraq everytime the U.S. bombs his country. Hoffman is claiming that terrorism is perpetuated by non-state or sub-national groups but America's action in Iraq fits the

U.S. Involvement in the Vietnam War

1566 words - 7 pages attack against the forces of the U.S. and to prevent further aggression" (qtd. in Detzer 75). The Tonkin Gulf Resolution pulled the U.S. further into the Vietnam War. In February 1965 the ARVN was dissolving because of the Vietcong's spring offensive and Saigon probably would have soon fallen if the U.S. did not send in combat troops (Detzer 104). The U.S. had over 20,000 American soldiers, most military advisers, stationed in Vietnam by March

Why Did The Germans Support The Nazis?

1630 words - 7 pages people extremely angry because they did not believe that the war was their fault. They felt that they were blamed for the war for no reason and they felt stabbed in the back by the government.Germany also had to pay millions in reparation payments and this made unemployment rates rise and hunger was on the increase. The Germans wanted a better country with better living conditions and the Nazis including other parties such as the Communists all

Why Did the Wwi Last so Long?

1222 words - 5 pages Why did the World War I. last so long? Year 1914 marked the end of rather peaceful years, in consideration to what followed afterwards, of 19th century. This year during which Europe was engulfed in one of the most painful and largest conflicts in human history and there are several reasons as of why did such a thing happen. First reason that contributed to the length of war was, that both Treaty and Alliance had expectations which were not

Why Did Obama Win the 2012 Election?

1374 words - 6 pages Why did Obama win the 2012 election? The 2012 US election saw Democrat Obama come up against Republican Romney. Obama was the favourite throughout and in the end won with 332 electoral votes, with Romney only gaining 206. There were several reasons as to why Obama won the election, such as the October surprise, a majority of Hispanic and Women votes for Democrat, and Romney as a man himself. However the main one can be considered Obama being an

Why Did the Beothuk People Dissapear?

1523 words - 7 pages Matthew Mohan Student ID # 001145057 Why Did The Beothuk People Disappear? By: Matthew Mohan The Beothuk were the aboriginal inhabitants of Newfoundland when European settlers first arrived. The peak of the Beothuk population is thought to be between 500 and 1000 people. Their main source of food was fish, supplemented by Caribou hunting. Most of the time the Beothuk lived in tepee structures known as mamateeks. These were

Why Did the Ancient Greeks Go West

706 words - 3 pages Why did the Greeks go west? â€¢ Around 1200 BCE, the ancestors of the Greeks, the Mycenaeans discovered what we now know as Italy and Sicily â€¢ They traded with the nomadic people who lived there, until a dark age set upon their civilization â€¢ All memories of Italy were transformed into a legend of a mythical land with monsters and sorcerers â€¢ After the end of the dark ages (around 7th century BCE), Greek was

The Persian Gulf War Essay

895 words - 4 pages in the country and supported financially and militarily. In the 30th day in the desert, the operation also known as Operation Desert Storm; 13 Nations and United States starts to attack Iraq with ground force that U.S. and other nations had. The war was called in numerous different names because of historical, political, and journalistic views and other groups and regions. Such as, Gulf War, Persian Gulf War, War in the Gulf, 1990 Gulf War, Gulf

Was The Gulf War A 'just War'?

1529 words - 7 pages were many instances of rebels terrorising the civilian population of the country and the US did not intervene. The difference between Iraq and Liberia is that the US would make economic gains through oil by invading Iraq whereas Liberia could offer them no gain albeit strategic or economic. However, no one should pretend that America's national interest for protecting access to the Persian Gulf because of oil was not a major factor in this war

Why Did America Get Increasingly Involved In The Vietnam War?

878 words - 4 pages outraged Vietnamese were against him. He was assassinated in November 1963, days before Kennedy himself was assassinated. Nguyen Van Thieu then replaced Diem and Lyndon B. Johnson was elected president of the USA.Two major factors why America escalated its war effort towards the end of the Vietnam War were the Tongkin incident, where a U.S. destroyer was fired on and sunk by Vietnamese ships and the Pleiku incident where a U.S. base that got

The Causes Of The Persian Gulf War

2156 words - 9 pages The Causes of the Persian Gulf War “Two dozen U.S. and British aircrafts bombed five radar and other anti-aircraft sites around Baghdad with guided missiles yesterday in the first major military action of the Bush administration. It was the largest airstrike against Iraq in two years and hit sites near the Iraqi capital, a significant departure from the low-key enforcement of no-fly