1074 ★ CHAPTER 27 From Triumph to Tragedy
international law that Bush succeeded in building a forty- nation coalition com-
mitted to restoring Kuwait’s independence, secured the support of the United
Nations, and sent half a million American troops along with a naval armada to
the region.
In February 1991, the United States launched Operation Desert Storm, which
quickly drove the Iraqi army from Kuwait. Tens of thousands of Iraqis and 184
Americans died in the conflict. The United Nations ordered Iraq to disarm and
imposed economic sanctions that produced widespread civilian suffering for
the rest of the decade. But Hussein remained in place. So did a large American
military establishment in Saudi Arabia, to the outrage of Islamic fundamental-
ists who deemed its presence an affront to their faith.
The Gulf War was the first post– Cold War international crisis. Relying
on high- tech weaponry like cruise missiles that reached Iraq from bases and
aircraft carriers hundreds of miles away, the United States was able to prevail
quickly and avoid the prolonged involvement and high casualties of Vietnam.
The Soviet Union, in the process of disintegration, remained on the sidelines.
In the war’s immediate aftermath, Bush’s public approval rating rose to an
unprecedented 89 percent.
Visions of America’s Role
In a speech to Congress, President Bush identified the Gulf War as the first
step in the struggle to create a world rooted in democracy and global free
trade. But it remained unclear how this broad vision would be translated
into policy. Soon after the end of the war, General Colin Powell, chairman of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Dick Cheney, the secretary of defense, outlined
different visions of the future. Powell predicted that the post– Cold War world
would be a dangerous environment with conflicts popping up in unexpected
places. To avoid being drawn into an unending role as global policeman, he
insisted, the United States should not commit its troops abroad without clear
objectives and a timetable for withdrawal. Cheney argued that with the demise
of the Soviet Union, the United States possessed the power to reshape the world
and prevent hostile states from achieving regional power. It must be willing to
use force, independently if necessary, to maintain its strategic dominance. For
the rest of the 1990s, it was not certain which definition of the American role in
the post– Cold War world would predominate.
The Election of Clinton
Had a presidential election been held in 1991, Bush would undoubtedly have
been victorious. But in that year the economy slipped into recession. Despite