James A Warren, Daily Beast: The Gulf War Victory That Never Was
When US-led coalition forces drove Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait, the campaign was heralded as the antidote to Vietnam. A quarter century later it looks a lot less impressive.
On August 2, 1990, Saddam Hussein, notorious Iraqi strongman, triggered the first great international crisis of the post-Cold War era by invading Kuwait and declaring it Iraq’s nineteenth province. With Kuwait in his back pocket and the fourth largest army in the world at his disposal, Saddam effectively controlled two-thirds of the earth’s oil reserves, and had every hope of establishing Iraq as the dominant power in the region.
As the Iraqi military build-up continued apace in Kuwait, fears of an invasion of Saudi Arabia mounted. On August 6, George Bush declared, “This will not stand, this aggression of Kuwait,” and he meant it. Quickly the American president obtained UN Security Council resolutions condemning the attack, imposing an embargo on Iraq, and seizing its foreign assets.
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WNU Editor: From my point of view the first Gulf War was a success. It had a clear military mission, and with massive public and international support .... a commitment to the fight. The problem was (and is) after the fighting had stopped, and the analysis and policies that were implemented. This was a political and foreign establishment decision .... and one that we are unfortunately paying for to this day.
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