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1/ Which war is this speech referring to? Give the dates and the details of this event?
This speech was given after the invasion of Koweit by Iraq and preceding the beginning
of the Gulf War. The Gulf War (2 August 1990 – 28 February 1991) was a conflict
between Iraq and a coalition force of approximately 30 nations[1] led by the United
States and mandated by the United Nations in order to liberate Kuwait.
2/ What triggered the war? How did the United States react? How does G. Bush
(father) justifies this reaction?
“a powerful Iraqi Army invaded its trusting and much weaker neighbor, Kuwait.
Within three days, 120,000 Iraqi troops with 850 tanks had poured into Kuwait and
moved south to threaten Saudi Arabia. It was then that I decided to act to check that
aggression.” (l. 5-7). In response, the United States initiated the creation of a coalition
against Iraq. Five days after Iraq invaded Kuwait on August 2, 1990, the United States
started to deploy entire Army, Navy, Marine, Air Force, and Coast Guard units to Saudi
Arabia (Operation Desert Shield), while at the same time urging other countries to send
their own forces to the scene. U.S. coalition-building efforts were so successful that by
the time the fighting (Operation Desert Storm) began on January 17, 1991, twelve
countries had sent naval forces, joining the local navies of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf
states, as well as the huge array of the U.S. Navy, with no fewer than six aircraft-carrier
battle groups; eight countries had sent ground forces, joining the local troops of
Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, as well as
the seventeen heavy, six light, and nine marine brigades of the U.S. Army, with all their
vast support and service forces (including thousands of female reservists); and four
countries had sent combat aircraft, joining the local air forces of Kuwait, Qatar, and
Saudi Arabia, as well as the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, and U.S. Marine aviation, for a
grand total of 2,430 fixed-wing aircraft. “America and the world must defend common
vital interests. And we will. America and the world must support the rule of law. And we
will. America and the world must stand up to aggression. And we will. And one thing
more: in the pursuit of these goals, America will not be intimidated. Vital issues of
principle are at stake. Saddam Hussein is literally trying to wipe a country off the face of
the Earth. We do not exaggerate. Nor do we exaggerate when we say: Saddam Hussein
will fail.”(l. 42-48). “Vital economic interests are at risk as well. Iraq itself controls some
10 percent of the world's proven oil reserves. Iraq plus Kuwait controls twice that. An
Iraq permitted to swallow Kuwait would have the economic and military power, as well
as the arrogance, to intimidate and coerce its neighbors -- neighbors who control the
lion's share of the world's remaining oil reserves. We cannot permit a resource so vital
to be dominated by one so ruthless. And we won't.” (l. 48-52)
3/ How does G. Bush defines the concept of New World Order?
“Recent events have surely proven that there is no substitute for American leadership.
In the face of tyranny, let no one doubt American credibility and reliability. Let no one
doubt our staying power. We will stand by our friends. One way or another, the leader
of Iraq must learn this fundamental truth.” (l. 52-57).
“The test we face is great and so are the stakes. This is the first assault on the new world
that we seek, the first test of our mettle. Had we not responded to this first provocation
with clarity of purpose; if we do not continue to demonstrate our determination, it
would be a signal to actual and potential despots around the world.” (l. 34-37)
“A new partnership of nations has begun, and we stand today at a unique and
extraordinary moment. The crisis in the Persian Gulf, as grave as it is, also offers a rare
opportunity to move toward an historic period of cooperation. Out of these troubled
times, our fifth objective -- a new world order -- can emerge: A new era -- freer from the
threat of terror, stronger in the pursuit of justice and more secure in the quest for peace.
An era in which the nations of the world, east and west, north and south, can prosper
and live in harmony.” (l. 24-30)
4/ Did the first gulf war install a new world order? Why? Would you describe this NWO
like G. Bush does in his speech? How will you describe the role of America (use the text).
The first Gulf War, if it did not install a new world order, surely testified for this one. It
proved firstly that USSR was no longer capable of opposing any decision of the United
States. Iraq was an historical (historic = important) allied of the USSR but when the
United States decided to fight against Iraq, a weakened USSR had no other choice but to
agree with that decision. This was for sure no longer the USSR of Leonid Brezhnev! “As
you know, I've just returned from a very productive meeting with Soviet President
[Mikhail] Gorbachev, and I am pleased that we are working together to build a new
relationship. In Helsinki, our joint statement affirmed to the world our shared resolve to
counter Iraq's threat to peace. Let me quote: "We are united in the belief that Iraq's
aggression must not be tolerated. No peaceful international order is possible if larger
states can devour their smaller neighbors." (l. 18-23). G. Bush pretends in his speech this
NOW to be “An era in which the nations of the world, east and west, north and south,
can prosper and live in harmony.” (l. 29-30). In fact, on September 1990, the United
States suddenly found out that they were the only superpower to remain. On December,
25, 1991, the USSR will cease to exist and is already plagued, harried by grave internal
disorders. America is ready to become a “global watchdog”. Furthermore, this new role
is strongly expressed in the Gulf era, regarding the vested interest (economic and
strategic) of that region. In 1980 then President Jimmy Carter issued the Carter
Doctrine, which states in that "...an attempt by any outside force to gain control of the
Persian Gulf region will be regarded as an assault on the vital interests of the United
States of America, and such an assault will be repelled by any means necessary,
including military force.".
Justifying the war
The United States and the United Nations gave several public justifications for involvement in
the conflict. The most important reason was the Iraqi violation of Kuwaiti territorial
integrity.In addition, the United States moved quickly to support its long-time ally, Saudi
Arabia, whose importance in the region and as a key supplier of oil made it of considerable
geopolitical importance. During a speech given on September 11th, 1990 George H.W. Bush
made the following remarks: "Within 3 days, 120,000 Iraqi troops with 850 tanks had poured
into Kuwait and moved south to threaten Saudi Arabia. It was then that I decided to act to
check that aggression." Satellite photos showing a build up of Iraqi forces along the border
were the supposed source of this information. Jean Heller, an investigative reporter on the St
Petersburg Times decided to investigate. Satellite photos from a commercial satellite owned
by Iraq's ally--Soyuz Karta--were obtained for around US$ 3,000. On January 6, 1991 she
wrote an article detailing what had been found, titled "Photos Don't Show Buildup." The
photos were reviewed by several experts and did not show any evidence to support the claims
of George H.W. Bush. No buildup of troops in anywhere near the amounts stated by the
President were visible in the photos, although Heller admitted that "(a)nother possibility is
that the Soviets deliberately or accidentally produced a photo taken before the Iraqi invasion".
Senior United States military officials preparing to discuss the possibility of invasion,
including Undersecretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, Gen. Colin Powell, Secretary of
Defense Dick Cheney, and Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf. Despite the fact that the story by Jean
Heller never made it into mainstream press, some Americans were dissatisfied with the
explanations and “No Blood For Oil” became a rallying cry for domestic opponents of the
war, though they never reached the size of opposition to the Vietnam War. Later justifications
for the war included Iraq’s history of human rights abuses under President Saddam Hussein.
Saddam was also suspected of possessing biochemical weapons (which he later used against
his own people) and was known to be attempting to build atomic bombs, providing further
justification beyond his violation of Kuwaiti integrity.
Although the human rights abuses of the Iraq regime before and after the Kuwait invasion
were well-documented, the government of Kuwait set out to influence American opinion with
a few accounts. Shortly after Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait, the organization Citizens for a Free
Kuwait was formed in the U.S. It hired the public relations firm Hill & Knowlton for about
$11 million, paid by the Kuwaiti government.[11] This firm went on to manufacture a
campaign in which a nurse working in the Kuwait City hospital described Iraqi soldiers
pulling babies out of incubators and letting them die on the floor. The story was an influence
in tipping both the public and Congress towards a war with Iraq: six Congressmen said the
testimony was enough for them to support military action against Iraq and seven Senators
referenced the testimony in debate.[citation needed] The Senate supported the military actions in a
52-47 vote. One year later, however, this allegation was labelled a fabricated hoax. The
woman who had testified was found to be a member of the Kuwaiti Royal Family living in
Paris during the war, and therefore could not have been present during the alleged crime. (See
Nurse Nayirah.)
A member of the “wealthiest non-royal family in SA”, Osama Bin Laden who supported and
funded the Afghan guerrilla offered to the Saudi the protection of his 12000 men army.
Facing the refusal of the Saudi government, he accused the royal family to be “the footman of
the United States” and the stationing of American forces on the “holy ground” stirred up his
hatred. 11 years later, on September, 11, 2001, two planes crashed into the WTO towers
causing the death of 3000 people.
Presentation: This document is a speech by Georges H.W. Bush, issued on September,
11, 1990. It was issued just before the beginning of the “Operation desert storm”
following the invasion of the Kuwait by Iraq and the “Operation desert shield”. Georges
Herbert Walker Bush, 41st president of the United States from January, 20, 1989 to
January, 20, 1993, father of Georges Walker Bush, express in this speech the will of the
USA to assume a new leadership over the world, after the weakening of the USSR. The
occasion is given by the invasion of Kuwait by the Iraqi Army. Bush call to the
international right and plaid for a new era of peace and harmony.
I/ A post cold war crisis. Explain the context and the main events of this crisis. Tell
about the Iran hostages crisis. To the U.S., Iran-Iraqi relations were stable, and Iran had
been chiefly an ally of the Soviet Union. The U.S. was concerned with Iraq’s belligerence
toward Israel and disapproval of moves towards peace with other Arab states. It also
condemned Iraqi support for various Arab and Palestinian militant groups such as Abu Nidal,
which led to its inclusion on the incipient U.S. list of state sponsors of international terrorism
on December 29, 1979. The U.S. remained officially neutral during the outbreak of hostilities
in the Iran-Iraq War, as it had previously been humiliated by a 444 day long Iranian hostage
crisis and expected that Iran was not likely to win. In March 1982, however, Iran began a
successful counteroffensive (Operation Undeniable Victory). In a bid to open the possibility
of relations to Iraq, the country was removed from the list of state sponsors of terrorism.
Ostensibly this was because of improvement in the regime’s record, although former United
States Assistant Secretary of Defense Noel Koch later stated, "No one had any doubts about
[the Iraqis'] continued involvement in terrorism... The real reason was to help them succeed
in the war against Iran."[2] With Iran's newfound success in the war and its rebuff of a peace
offer in July, arms sales from other states (most importantly the USSR, France, Egypt, and
starting that year, China) reached a record spike in 1982, but an obstacle remained to any
potential U.S.-Iraqi relationship - Abu Nidal continued to operate with official support in
Baghdad. When the group was expelled to Syria in November 1983, the Reagan
administration sent Donald Rumsfeld as a special envoy to cultivate ties.
U.S. military aid to Iraq
Because of fears that revolutionary Iran would defeat Iraq and export its Islamic Revolution to
other Middle Eastern nations, the U.S. began giving aid to Iraq. From 1983 to 1990, the U.S.
government approved around $200 million in arms sales to Iraq, according to the Stockholm
International Peace Institute (SIPRI).[3] These sales amounted to less than 1% of the total arms
sold to Iraq in the relevant period, including helicopters which, although designated for
civilian use, were immediately deployed by Iraq in its war with Iran.
An investigation by the Senate Banking Committee in 1994 determined that the U.S.
Department of Commerce had approved, for the purpose of research, the shipping of dual-use
biological agents to Iraq during the mid-1980s, including Bacillus anthracis (anthrax), later
identified by the Pentagon as a key component of the Iraqi biological warfare program, as
well as Clostridium botulinum, Histoplasma capsulatum, Brucella melitensis, and Clostridium
perfringens. The Committee report noted that each of these had been "considered by various
nations for use in war."[4] Declassified U.S. government documents indicate that the U.S.
government had confirmed that Iraq was using chemical weapons (but not biological weapons
that the agents being exported could have been used for) "almost daily" during the Iran-Iraq
conflict as early as 1983.[5] The chairman of the Senate committee, Don Riegle, said: “The
executive branch of our government approved 771 different export licenses for sale of dualuse technology to Iraq. I think it’s a devastating record”.[6]
The level of U.S. covert aid to Iraq during this period is difficult to quantify. Hussein is
widely known to have received battlefield “intelligence” from the U.S. This, corresponding
with other facts, leaks and rumors, is seen by many as an indicator of substantial CIA
involvement during the era. This remains unproven, however.
U.S. economic aid to Iraq
Chiefly, the U.S. government provided Iraq with economic aid. Iraq’s war with Iran, and the
consequent disruption in its oil export business, had caused the country to enter a deep debt.
U.S. government economic assistance allowed Hussein to continue using resources for the
war which otherwise would have to have been diverted. Between 1983 and 1990, Iraq
received $5 billion in export credit guarantees from the Commodity Credit Corporation
program run by the Department of Agriculture, beginning at $400 million per year in 1983
and increasing to over $1 billion per year in 1988 and 1989, finally coming to an end after
another $500 million was granted in 1990.[7] Besides agricultural credits, the U.S. also
provided Hussein with other loans. In 1985 the U.S. Export-Import Bank extended more than
$684 million in credits to Iraq to build an oil pipeline through Jordan with the construction
being undertaken by Californian construction firm Bechtel Corporation.[2]
Cooling of relations
Following the war, however, there were moves within the Congress of the United States to
isolate Iraq diplomatically and economically over concerns about human rights violations, its
dramatic military build-up, and hostility to Israel. Specifically, in 1988 the Senate passed the
“Prevention of Genocide Act of 1988,” which imposed sanctions on Iraq. The bill was not,
however, adopted by the House.[8] These moves were disowned by some Congressmen though
some U.S. officials, such as Reagan's head of Policy Planning Staff at the State Department
and Assistant Secretary for East Asian Affairs Paul Wolfowitz disagreed with giving support
to the Iraqi regime[citation needed].
The relationship between Iraq and the United States remained unhindered until the day Iraq
invaded Kuwait. On October 2, 1989, President George H.W. Bush signed secret National
Security Directive 26, which begins, “Access to Persian Gulf oil and the security of key
friendly states in the area are vital to U.S. national security.”[9]
With respect to Iraq, the directive stated, "Normal relations between the United States and
Iraq would serve our longer term interests and promote stability in both the Persian Gulf and
the Middle East."
II/ A new international context: a NWO. The term "new world order" has been used to
refer to a new period of history evidencing a dramatic change in world political thought and
the balance of power. The first usages of the term surrounded Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen
Points and call for a League of Nations following the devastation of World War I. The phrase
was used sparingly at the end of the Second World War when describing the plans for the
United Nations and Bretton Woods system, in part because of the negative association to the
failed League of Nations the phrase would bring. In retrospect however, many commentators
have applied the term retroactively to the order put in place by the WWII victors as a "new
world order." The most recent, and most widely discussed, application of the phrase came at
the end of the Cold War. Presidents Mikhail Gorbachev and George H.W. Bush used the term
to try to define the nature of the post Cold War era, and the spirit of great power cooperation
that they hoped might materialize. Gorbachev's initial formulation was wide ranging and
idealistic, but his ability to press for it was severely limited by the internal crisis of the Soviet
system. Bush's vision was, in comparison, much more circumscribed and pragmatic, perhaps
even instrumental at times, and closely linked to the First Gulf War. Perhaps not surprisingly,
the perception of what the new world order entailed in the press and in the public imagination
far outstripped what either Gorbachev or Bush had outlined, and was characterized by nearly
comprehensive optimism.
III/ A new world disorder? Following uprisings in the north and south, Iraqi no-fly zones
were established to help protect the Shi'ite and Kurdish groups in South and North Iraq,
respectively. These no-fly zones (originally north of the 36th parallel and south of the 32nd
parallel) were monitored mainly by the United States and the United Kingdom, though France
also participated. Combined, they flew more sorties over Iraq in the eleven years following
the war than were flown during the war. These sorties dropped bombs nearly every other day
against surface-to-air missiles and anti-aircraft guns which engaged the patrolling aircraft.
However, the greatest amount of bombs was dropped during two sustained bombing
campaigns: Operation Desert Strike, which lasted a few weeks in September 1996, and
Operation Desert Fox, in December 1998. Operation Northern Watch, the no-fly zone
covering the Kurds, allowed the population to focus on developing security and infrastructure,
which was reflected after Saddam's fall in 2003 by a much more progressive and sustainable
region (when compared to the rest of the country following Operation Iraqi Freedom).
Operation Southern Watch, on the other hand, was not successful in providing the Shi'ite
population the same opportunity. The Gulf War opened a new era in international
relationships but triggered also the threat of terrorism and revealed a much more unstable
world.