Essay, Research Paper: Gulf War

Throughout American history wars have played a huge part. From the start of the country to the present wars have played a lagrge part in shaping America into the national power that it is today. Not only is America the most pwerful nation in thwe world but it is also the policeman for the entire world, making and checking up on the world and all the interactions of foreign countries worldwide. Being born in born in the early eighties prohibitied me from experiencing many of the Americas war firsthand. This however changed early in the 1990's.
Early in August 1990 the nation of Iraq under president and military chief Saddam Husein Invaded the kuwait. After learning of the invasion America along with president George Bush, immediately expressed Americas opposition to this military force. The United states along with Other nations formed an aliiance against this invasion. The Coalition issued a deadline of January 15th in which Iraq must withdraw from Kuwait, If they choose not to then it would be grounds for acceptable military action against them. The 15th came and Iraq had neither acknowledged this date nor had they withdrawn. President Bush, holding onto his promise of military force carried out and American trrops were sent in to force Iraq out of Kuwait.
America is one of the most diverse nations in the world, rarely do Americans agree on issues, and a military force is no different. Americans were split when it came to military force in the Persian Gulf.. Many agreed with the president, feeling that a deadline had been set and since Iraq did not acknowledge this deadline force should be used to rid Kuwait of Iraq. The other side of felt that America no longer neede to hold its title as "Police officer of the nation", and that they should work through international diplomacy to solve this issue, rather than use military force. This split itself posed problems for the middle east struggle, was it going to be another vietnam,? Did the president dare send troops to fight overseas without the support of the American people?
Though many were opposed to military force, it was for many diferent reasons. Some thought that military force was not needed because the threats imposed by President Bush was in fact acknowledged by the Iraquian troops because they no longer were advancing in territory and no other territory was currently in danger of being invaded, and it would only be a matter of time before they withdrew thier troops. David Chandler in a letter to the la times wrote "The official reasons given by the bush adminastration for going to war in the Persian Gulf are not adequate to explain our agressive posture. Without firing a shot Huesseins momentum has been resolved and effective sanctions are in place So why is ther the urgency to go to war on Jan 15th, we have plenty of time to talk it out. This was the feeling of many opposed to war. They fel that america was trigger happy and wanted to felx its preverbial military muscle. Tim Thomas reflect this in a la Times editorial, "Why must America show off to the world how strong it is by sending innocent troops overseas to fight a war that is both pointelss and avoidable. Has our country not learned from earlier war mistakes that sending troops without the support or the approval of the people is asking for unpparalled bloodshed. Dimplomacy is the answer, troops, and military action is not. The overall feeling of those opposed to military force was that of wondering why president bush was so quick to threaten Military force when diplomacy had not fully been explored. "Talk is cheaper than blood and backed by sanctions and unified world opinion, negotiations wouldbe far more productive in the long run.



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