The Importance and Lessons of the Persian Gulf War

After reading an article in the New York Times by Michael R. Gordon, titled “1991 Victory Over Iraq Was Swift, but Hardly Flawless”, I thought it was a well written article, but I disagreed with a few points the author makes that I would like to address.

Mr. Gordon suggests that the Persian Gulf War was not flawless, as the end result left Saddam Hussein in power, as well as the Iraqi war machine, otherwise known as the Iraqi military, intact, which paved the way for the 2003 Iraq War. Also, he quotes Walter E. Boomer, the retired general who led the Marine attack into Kuwait, by referencing his belief as whether or not the 1991 Persian Gulf War ended too soon, "I continue to be asked if we stopped too soon,” he said. “The answer in retrospect is ‘yes.’ ”.

Granted, military actions in combat do not always go as they are planned, but in the case of the 1991 Persian Gulf War, I believe the best way to examine it is to look at the bigger picture. Taking Saddam Hussein out of power was never one of President George H.W. Bush’s’ stated war aims. The stated war aim of the 1991 Persian Gulf War was to get Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait.

The UN coalition only supported ejecting Saddam Hussein from Kuwait. Had the United States invaded Iraq and went all the way to Baghdad, the coalition would have fallen apart and the United States would have been doing it mostly on its own. More importantly the U.S. would not have the support of neighboring Arab nations, which is highly critical in that region of the world. George H.W. Bush and Brent Scowcroft have stated “We also believed that the U.S. should not go it alone, that a multilateral approach was better”.

If we look at the 2003 Iraq War, the United States did not have UN approval, as well as the coalition it did during the 1991 Persian Gulf War. This meant that the cost and burden of occupying and rebuilding Iraq fell entirely on the United States. We were occupiers in a foreign land and it was now our responsibility to bring peace to that nation…a nation that was not a threat to the United States. Those ghosts of Vietnam would not have been exorcised, as we would have been bogged down throughout the 1990’s and many would have been drawing parallels to the Vietnam War.

In 1991, the economy of the United States was not strong. With a housing crisis, high unemployment and high deficits that continued to grow the national debt, the American economy would not have been able to sustain the costs associated with rebuilding a nation. As the United States was fighting wars in Afghanistan and Iraq throughout the 2000’s, it experienced its worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.

Another reason why the United States did not push hard to unseat Saddam Hussein and destroy the Iraqi army was due to Iran, which was and still is not a friend to the United States. Keep in mind that Iraq and Iran had recently been in a long war against each other, and to keep Iran in check, the Iraqi army was needed in place. This would force an unnecessary shift in the balance of power in that region. As George H.W. Bush and Brent Scowcroft stated, “We were concerned about the long-term balance of power at the head of the Gulf”.

After the 2003 invasion of Iraq, we have seen Iran strengthen its position in the Middle East. This has been done through supporting insurgents fighting against the United States forces in Iraq, which greatly contributed to keeping the US bogged down in Iraq, as well as forging ahead with their nuclear program. With Saddam Hussein in power and the Iraqi army intact, Iran was kept in check and did not make the bold moves they are today.

President George H.W. Bush made the right decision in not taking Saddam Hussein out of power, as well as not going all the way to Baghdad. All reasons for not removing Saddam and going to Baghdad, as defined by he and Brent Scowcroft, was everything the United States encountered in the 2003 Iraq War. In retrospect, George H.W. Bush set a precedent for the United States’ role in the Post-Cold War 1990’s, as the United States military would be used as a peacekeeping force when intervening in conflicts around the globe. It was his son, George W. Bush, who abandoned that policy and entrenched the United States in two wars, as well as the rebuilding of those nations.