304 a short history of the united states
to the oil in the Middle East, Bush succeeded in urging the United Na-
tions to take action against Iraq. The UN ordered Hussein to withdraw
his troops and set a deadline for compliance. At the same time, the
United States rushed troops to Saudi Arabia and Bush worked dili-
gently to create an international co ali tion to check this unprovoked
aggression. Congress authorized the President to employ military force
to carry out the UN sanctions. By the end of 1990 an army of 500 , 000
had been deployed to the area, directed by General Colin Powell,
chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and executed by General Nor-
man Schwarzkopf, fi eld commander of Operation Desert Storm. This
Gulf War, as it was called, began on January 16 , 1991 , when a military
attack force crushed the Iraqi army. The war ended quickly with a
remarkably low number of U.S. casualties— 147 Americans were killed
in the operation. On February 25 , Saddam agreed to withdraw his
troops from Kuwait and accepted the terms of a cease-fire. He also ac-
cepted a UN resolution calling for the destruction or removal of all
Iraq’s chemical and biological weapons. The inde pendence of Kuwait
was reaffirmed, and Hussein was permitted to remain in power.
Bush also dispatched troops to Somalia in August 1992 , to protect
food supplies being shipped into the country because of a severe famine
made worse by warfare between competing factions. Then, after the
killing of eighteen U.S. troops in Somalia on October 3 and 4 , Bush
ordered 15 , 000 additional troops to that country but announced that
they would be withdrawn in March 1994 to allow the UN to find a po-
litical solution to the problem.
Because of the failure by Congress to safeguard its constitutional
jurisdiction in declaring war, three Presidents—Reagan, Bush, and
later Clinton—took advantage of it by sending troops to Lebanon,
Grenada, Libya, Kuwait, Somalia, Bosnia, Kosovo, Serbia, and Yugo-
slavia without any legislative authorization. In taking these actions
they cited resolutions by the UN or NATO. The War Powers Resolu-
tion was simply ignored.
The co ali tion Bush had built to drive Hussein from Kuwait decided
against invading Iraq proper to oust the dictator from power. It was
judged to be a dicey operation and not worth the risk or the possible
consequences of such an action. It was a wise decision, one that unfor-
tunately went unheeded a de cade later.