Chiefs of Staff chair Colin Powell, and former com-
mander in chief Norman Schwarzkopf. Later in the
year, after the United States threatened to move
headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organiza-
tion (NATO) from Belgium to protest the case and
similar pending lawsuits, the case was dismissed.
Impact Constrained by economic sanctions and
two no-fly zones, living conditions in Iraq nosedived
while Kuwait enjoyed increasing prosperity. Eco-
nomic sanctions remained on Iraq despite the devas-
tation of its infrastructure. Insufficient food and
medicine were available for ordinary people, so the
United Nations agreed to establish an oil-for-food
program, which ultimately involved kickbacks to
Hussein. United Nations corruption, as later re-
viewed, led to calls for reform of the organization, es-
pecially by officials in the administration of Presi-
dent George W. Bush.
Meanwhile, the presence of American troops re-
maining in Saudi Arabia after the war rankled some
in the region. One in particular, Osama Bin Laden,
began to build support for his organization, al-
Qaeda, which was dedicated to the removal of the
American military presence in the Middle East and
to the toppling of Western-backed governments in
Arab-speaking countries that he characterized as
“apostate” regimes. Al-Qaeda’s policies and pro-
gram were subsequently revealed by bombings of
American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998,
the assault on the USSColein the Yemen harbor in
2000, and the terrorist attacks on American soil on
September 11, 2001.
Some American observers, who regretted the fail-
ure to topple Hussein in 1991, urged a second war
with Iraq, especially after the terrorist attacks on
September 11, 2001. The second war against Iraq be-
gan on March 20, 2003.
Further Reading
Blum, William.Killing Hope: U.S. Militar y and CIA In-
terventions Since World War II. Monroe, Maine:
Common Courage Press, 2005. Written by a for-
mer employee of the U.S. Department of State,
the book condemns American foreign adven-
tures, often kept secret, on a country-by-country
basis, including those involving Iraq.
Brune, Lester H.America and the Iraqi Crisis, 1990-
1992. Claremont, Calif.: Regina Books, 1993. A
historical account that examines the policy
choices, including criticisms of Bush’s concept of
a “new world order” in which the United States
might play a dominant world role as the world’s
only superpower.
Bush, George H. W., and Brent Scowcroft.A World
Transformed. New York: Random House, 1998.
The former president and his national security
adviser present an account of the foreign policy of
the United States under their leadership, includ-
ing a detailed justification for their decision not
to topple Hussein in 1991, when American troops
were only hours away from Baghdad. The authors
argue that most countries in the Gulf War coali-
tion would have refused to go along and that the
economic and human cost of extending the war
would have been excessive.
Hilsman, Roger.George Bush vs. Saddam Hussein: Mili-
tar y Success! Political Failure?Novato, Calif.: Pre-
sidio, 1992. A former Department of State official
analyzes whether the Gulf War achieved the polit-
ical objective of stabilizing the Middle East.
Munro, Alan.Arab Storm: Politics and Diplomacy Be-
hind the Gulf War. New York: I. B. Tauris, 2006. The
British ambassador to Saudi Arabia before and
during the Gulf War, Munro provides an account
of the various diplomatic efforts to organize the
military coalition that evicted Iraq from Kuwait.
Nye, Joseph S., Jr., and Roger K. Smith, eds.After the
Storm: Lessons from the Gulf War. Lanham, Md.: Mad-
ison Books, 1992. A collection of ten essays com-
menting on the successes and failures of the war in
the context of diplomatic, economic, political, re-
gional, and strategic international affairs.
Renshon, Stanley A., ed.The Political Psychology of the
Gulf War: Leaders, Publics, and the Process of Conflict.
Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1993.
Covers psychological aspects of the decision to
go to war, focusing on Bush’s punitive attitudes
while Hussein was seeking to appear as a stronger
leader in the Middle East than his rivals, group-
think driving decision makers to go to war, and
the public’s willingness to trust their presi-
dent’s judgment despite serious misgivings in
Congress.
Sifry, Micah L., and Christopher Cerf, eds.The Gulf
War Reader: Histor y, Documents, Opinion. New York:
Times Books, 1991. A balanced compilation of
relevant essays, official publications, and editori-
als about the Gulf War.
Smith, Jean Edward.George Bush’s War. New York:
Henry Holt, 1992. Argues why Hussein was a heroThe Nineties in America Gulf War 391