Term Paper on "U.S. Became Involved in Desert Storm"

Term Paper 4 pages (1416 words) Sources: 3 Style: MLA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

U.S. became involved in Desert Storm.

On January 15, 1990, Press Secretaty Marlin Fitzwater announces, "the liberation of Kuwait has begun."(Operation Desert Storm, n.d.) in his turn, President Bush told the people "Five months ago, Saddam Hussein started this cruel war against Kuwait. Tonight, the battle has been joined."(the History page, 2007)it was the start of what came to be known as Operation Desert Storm, the military intervention that took place at the beginning of the 90s against Iraq who had attacked its smaller neighbor Kuwait.

There are numerous views concerning the events that took place in 1991, especially about the underlying reasons that eventually led to the military operations.

The official reason for the involvement of the U.S. In the first Gulf War is the breach of the international norms involving sovereign states. Through an aggressive move, Saddam Hussein violated Kuwait's borders and engaged in battle for the annexation of its territory. Thus, according to the international law that clearly stipulates the sovereign right of states to exist, the victim of the aggression along with the rest of the international community must step up against this violation and retaliate. From this perspective, the coalition set against Iraq benefited from a wide legitimacy and support. Their actions were taken both in accordance with international law, and with the most important act of the international community, the UN Charter.

Still, there are other controversies too that make it difficult to fully understand the additional implications of the coalition's military intervention. Because of its central role, and due to the privileged nature as the superpower who had won the Cold War, the U.S.'s altered reasons for entering the war are the subject of great debate.

The actual intervention took place under the authorized mandate of the United Nations, which urged Iraq to "fully comply with Resolution 660 (1990) and all subsequent resolutions," while offering the international legitimacy for Member States "to use all necessary means to uphold and implement resolution 660 and to restore international peace and security in the area."(Luerdijk and Beernink, 2002) This concrete solidarity finalized in the conviction of the fact that "The Council's most impressive achievement as a body working together to tackle a major crisis was the liberation of Kuwait. This was no mean feat given shifting political sands in the U.S. And abroad, the enormous cost of such a major war, and the potential fighting power of the Iraqi forces."(Wilkinson and O'Sullivan, n.d.) Therefore, in essence, the operation Desert Storm can be seen as a relative success for the system instituted by the United Nations because it represented a good opportunity for the Security Council to stretch its institutional capabilities and ensure a proper response to a crime of aggression, the exact situation it was set up to react to in 1945.

Despite the morally just reason for intervening, there are those that doubt the lack of any additional interests from the U.S., the leader of the coalition.

Firstly, from a geopolitical point-of-view, Kuwait has indeed an extremely important positioning. It lays at the crossroads of major regional interests, being able to communicate with Iraq on the one hand, and with the rest of the Middle East, through different channels, on the other. Therefore, the loss of such a strategic point into the hands of what Bush had considered being a leader maybe worse than Hitler was not an option.

The coalition led by the United States was seen as an impressive rally of support for an international cause. It gathered a large number of countries determined, for various reasons, to stop Saddam Hussein from annexing Kuwait. From this perspective, it is interesting to notice the relationship between the U.S. And Syria, a participant to the military actions. A fine tuned analysis indicates that, indeed, in drafting the intervention plans, the U.S. must have had in sight the possible use of the Syrian's historical desire for hegemony in the Middle East to its own advantage. Therefore, Amnesty International admitted that the regime in Damascus was short of tyranny, with no respect for the human being. Thus, a coalition backed by important powers such as France, Canada, Britain, and Saudi Arabia also "included backing from Syrian President Hafez el-Assad, who had a long… READ MORE

How to Reference "U.S. Became Involved in Desert Storm" Term Paper in a Bibliography

Related Term Papers:

Desert Shield Desert Storm Thesis

Desert Shield/Desert Storm (the invasion of Kuwait by Saddam Hussein in 1990). The Gulf War began in the oil fields of Iraq, and ended with the liberation of Kuwait by… read more

Thesis 10 pages (3213 words) Sources: 2 Style: Chicago Topic: Military / Army / Navy / Marines

---

U.S. History Abraham Lincoln Essay

U.S. History

Abraham Lincoln - Was Lincoln a racist? How should we judge the past?

Reading about Abraham Lincoln's racism always has a shock and awe effect on any student… read more

Essay 5 pages (1833 words) Sources: 0 Topic: American History / United States

---

Texas v. Johnson 491 U.S. 397 Term Paper

Texas v. Johnson

America, the red, white, and blue, we spit on you, was being chanted by approximately 100 demonstrators as Gregory Lee Johnson doused our American Flag in kerosene… read more

Term Paper 7 pages (1844 words) Sources: 1+ Topic: Military / Army / Navy / Marines

---

Advanced Persistent Threat Research Paper

Persistent Threat

Historical Background of APT

Today, APT, or Advanced Persistent Threat, describes cyber attacks, which are produced by organized teams of individuals, whom have extremely in-depth resources. These teams… read more

Research Paper 20 pages (5786 words) Sources: 20 Topic: Computers / IT / Internet

---

Canada and the Vietnam War Term Paper

Canada's Involvement In The Vietnam War

It is generally believed that Canada's only involvement in the Vietnam War was allowing asylum for draft dodgers and conscientious objectors. While it is… read more

Term Paper 14 pages (3989 words) Sources: 10 Style: Chicago Topic: American History / United States

---

View 100+ more related papers  >>