A Paper I Wrote In College - Fall 2003 Semester
I wrote this paper last fall, I felt that it was of high quality, I expected to make an A. Instead I made a B and yes I am still fumed about it. I wrote this paper for a class called "The American Presidency", this course was one of 5 courses I was required to take in order to graduate. There was only one professor who taught these courses and he was completely biased. I made B's in every single course I took with him, whereas, I made A's in all of my other Political Science courses. These B's kept me out of law school so I do not feel too bad about outing B stands for Bezdek.
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Western Intervention in Middle Eastern Lands, By: Ramona Kaye Gawlik
January 7, 2004:Fall 2003 Semester
Dr. Robert Bezdek:The American Presidency
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Initially, I was not directly affected by either of the Gulf Wars or even by 9/11. As a United States citizen, I was obviously concerned; however, like most people, I viewed these events on the cable news channels and watched these tragedies unfold like a movie. Even though I knew what was happening was real, at one time or another many people fell into the mode of simply being spectators of a “war on terror,” with me being part of that group. The effects of this modern war have been all too real to most of us. With the recent death of a long-time friend in Iraq, I too share in everyone’s personal pain and anguish.
To understand the current military actions in the Middle East, one must first understand why the military presence exists. One may ask why there is so much violence and political instability in this region of the world. Dr. Stephen Zunes, Political Science professor at the University of San Francisco, explains “It has only been in the last century that the region has seen such widespread conflict. The roots of the conflict are similar to those elsewhere in the Third World, and have to do with the legacy of colonialism, such as artificial political boundaries, autocratic regimes, militarization, economic inequality, and economies based on the export of raw materials for finished goods. Indeed, the Middle East has more autocratic regimes, militarization, economic inequality, and the greatest ratio of exports to domestic consumption than any region in the world.” Intervention from the West is nothing new to the Middle Eastern world as Dr. Zunes further explains: “At the crossroads of three continents and sitting on much of the world's oil reserves, the region has been subjected to repeated interventions and conquests by outside powers, resulting in a high level of xenophobia and suspicion regarding the intentions of Western powers going back as far as the Crusades.”1 (For more information, see attachment 1-A for an extensive chart which depicts a chronology of Middle Eastern relations throughout history).
Accurate conceptualization of the past opens the door to understanding historical as well as more recent military interventions in the Middle East. In 1990, President George Bush was faced with such political and military duties by the imposition of by Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. “On the morning of August 2, 1990, the mechanized infantry, armor, and tank units of the Iraqi Republican Guard invaded Kuwait and seized control of that country. The invasion triggered a United States’ response, which became known as “Operation DESERT SHIELD”—its goal to deter any invasion of Kuwait's oil rich neighbor, Saudi Arabia. On August 7, deployment of U.S. forces began. United Nations Security Council Resolutions 660 and 662 condemned Iraq's invasion and annexation and called for the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of Iraqi forces. On August 20, President Bush signed National Security Directive 45, U.S. Policy in Response to the Iraqi Invasion of Kuwait, outlining U.S. objectives—these included the immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of all Iraqi forces from Kuwait, and the restoration of Kuwait's legitimate government to replace the puppet regime installed by Iraq”2
Saddam Hussein's utter dismissal of diplomatic efforts to extricate the predicament led to the decision to restore Kuwait's sovereignty by means of military force. “A U.N. ultimatum, Security Council Resolution 678, followed on November 29, 1990; it stipulated that if Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein did not remove his troops from Kuwait by January 15, 1991, a U.S.-led coalition was authorized to drive them out. Early in the morning of January 17, Baghdad time, the U.S.-led coalition launched air attacks against Iraqi targets. On February 24, coalition forces begin the ground attack. On February 27, Kuwait City was declared liberated, and with allied forces having driven well into Iraq, President Bush and his advisers decided to halt the war. A cease-fire took effect at 8:00 AM the following morning.”3 The record of the Gulf War has a whole host of diverse components from international decision-making to diplomatic, economic, and military actions.
We know why the first Gulf war happened. Let us now explore the reasons for the second Gulf War. Some of the motives that specific groups of individuals would think caused the U.S. to invade Iraq include: religion, Christianity, Judaism, peace, power, oil, for the economy; all sorts of reasons, no one really knows for sure. Was it presidential ratings? Maybe it was for increasing world integrity with certain regions and decreasing with others. Speculations continually abound, but one thing is certain: Saddam Hussein was a ruthless dictator who had to be extracted from Iraq, and President Bush accomplished that goal.
Operation Iraqi Freedom might have actually begun on September 11, 2001, since this was the triggering point for the “war on terror” and the initial focus on the Middle East for almost ten years since the first Gulf War. President Bush expresses this sentiment in a speech in April of last year, “On September the 11th, 2001, America found that we are not immune to the threats that gather for years across the ocean; threats that can arrive in sudden tragedy. Since September the 11th, we've been engaged in a global war against terror, a war being waged on many fronts. That war continues, and we are winning… In Iraq, the world is witnessing something dramatic, and something important. We're seeing the deep and universal desire of men and women to live in freedom. As Americans, this shouldn't surprise us. We believe that no force, no threat, can make human beings love tyranny. We believe that the appeal of liberty will, in time, overcome any coercive power on Earth. We believe that people across the Middle East and across the world are weary of poverty, weary of oppression, and yearn to be free. And all who know that hope, all who will work and sacrifice for freedom, have a friend in the United States of America”. 4
Joshua Bunton explains the events that lead up to the military intervention in Iraq: “On September 12, 2002, United States President George W. Bush addressed the United Nations. During his speech, the President asked the world body to enforce its own resolutions on Iraq. In November of 2002, the United Nations Security Council unanimously passed Resolution 1441, which ordered Iraq to disarm and provide U.N. inspectors unrestricted access for inspections or face ‘serious consequences’”.5 Bunton provides the following timeline in his article, "The Rise and Fall of Evil: Saddam Hussein's Beginning, End, and Capture":
October 16, 2002: President Bush signed a resolution passed by Congress authorizing the United States to use force against Iraq.
November 27, 2002: Formal Weapons inspections began.
December 7, 2002: Iraq issued its official declaration of weapons to the United Nations.
December 19, 2002: Hans Blix stated, ''Iraq's account is not a full account of all their weapons.''
December 2002: President Bush authorized the deployment of 100,000 troops to the Persian Gulf for early January.
January 27, 2003: Blix reported that Iraq had not proved that they had eliminated illegal weapons.
March 17, 2003: United States president George Bush issued an ultimatum to Saddam Hussein. Either Saddam Hussein leaves Iraq or the United States would use force to remove him. Hussein was given 48 hours to leave.
March 19, 2003: Saddam Hussein refused to leave Iraq.
March 20, 2003: Just before dawn, the United States fired missiles at a bunker where the United States government thought Iraqi officials were sleeping.
The Bush administration made many attempts to find Saddam Hussein and just when all of the military actions seemed exhaustive and unfruitful to the American people, a miracle occurred, “On December 13, 2003, the United States government received 'actionable' intelligence. Within two hours of receiving the intelligence, the U.S. Army's 4th Infantry mobilized 600 troops and proceeded to carry out ''Operation Red Dawn.'' At 8:30 p.m. Saddam Hussein was found and taken into custody. Saddam was captured in Adwar, Iraq.” 5 Saddam had been hiding literally in a “hole in the ground” just across the river from his formerly lavish presidential palace. Now that Hussein has been captured, the next obstacle is in deciding how to prosecute him and who will be able to do so. Saddam has been questioned; however, as Joshua Bunton continues, “Within forty-eight hours of Saddam's capture, the Iraqi governing council was allowed to ask Saddam Hussein direct questions. The Iraqi governing council asked Hussein about 'the use of chemical weapons against the Kurds in the northern Iraqi town of Halabja in 1988.' Saddam responded by saying ''This was the work of Iran, at war with Iraq at the time…When asked about 'The Mass Graves,' Saddam responded by saying, 'Ask their relatives. They were thieves, and they ran away from the battlefields with Iran and from the battlefields of Kuwait.' President Bush has stated, 'Saddam will be interrogated about the fate of former government officials and whether Iraq had weapons of mass destruction before his ouster.''
Even though Saddam has been captured, Iraq continues to be in a perilous position. Insurgents will continue to provoke American troops and Iraqis will continue to battle groups that threaten a free society. With the capture of Saddam Hussein, America is once again experiencing the “rally around the flag” effect. President Bush is enjoying positive approval ratings, and the outlook for peace in the Middle East is more optimistic. Even though this is a great step toward our goals, the road ahead still extends beyond the horizon. It may be that only the stars can tell what the future will have in store for the Middle East in the coming years.
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Notes
1 Zunes, Stephen,10 Things to Know About the Middle East, Oct. 1, 2001; http://www.demockery.org/history1.html http://www.usfca.edu/politics/zunes.html
2 U.S. News and World Report, Triumph Without Victory: The Unreported History of the Persian Gulf War (New York: Times Books, 1992), pp. 7-9.
3 Richard Hallion, Storm over Iraq: Air Power and the Gulf War (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 1992), p. 159; Rick Atkinson, Crusade: The Untold Story of the Persian Gulf War (Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, 1993), p. 511.
4 Outlines Progress in Operation Iraqi Freedom, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems Headquarters, Boeing F-18 Production Facility, St. Louis, Missouri April 16, 2003 12:20 P.M. CDT; http://www.patriotresource.com/wtc/president/apr/030416a.html
5 Bunton, Joshua. "The Rise and Fall of Evil: Saddam Hussein's Beginning, End, and Capture". Thursday, December 18, 2003; http://www.chronwatch.com/content/contentDisplay.asp?aid=5352
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Thanks for keeping me out of law school Bezdek!