When I was 2 weeks old, Operation Desert Shield began. The largest coalition of nations formed the largest military alliance since World War II in response to Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. Thirty five nations stepped up to assist in this U.S. led operation with George H.W Bush as the Commander-in-Chief. Within 6 months the coalition showed up, asserted their vast military power, and expelled the Iraqi forces from Kuwait. Ten years later, it seemed like George W. Bush was ready for round 2.
Since I was a child of 11 years old, all I have known is a country at war. This war however has been vastly different from the swift resounding victory of the Gulf War. Now here we are in 2020, 19 years later and no resounding victory has been had. Instead we have a generation of Americans so numb to the thought of war in a region many Americans presumably couldn’t properly identify on a map. President Trump has vowed to conclude what he calls the United States’ “endless wars” across the Middle East, and tweeting that all American troops stationed in Afghanistan may be home for Christmas. Trump’s 2016 campaign appealed to many because these were the same promises made. We have been told for nearly 2 decades that it’s “Mission Accomplished,” yet many observers are still unsure of what the mission is and was in the first place. While there is hope for those in Afghanistan, Trump has deployed thousands of additional soldiers to the Persian Gulf in response to growing tensions with Iran.
Philip H. Gordon, the coordinator for the Middle East, North Africa and the Persian Gulf region in the Obama administration and the author of a new book about failed American efforts to achieve “regime change” in the Middle East, said that the president’s “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran was unlikely to topple the country’s government or force it to abandon its nuclear program. So while his strategy according to Twitter has the U.S. on the path to clean exits from all of their conflicts in the Persian Gulf, his actual strategy has put us in a position where the response to Iranian aggressions may have to be a lethal response. With Iran on the verge of being a nuclear power, an aggressive U.S. response in the region could lead to a world altering disaster. As Mr. Gordon puts it, “And that would be the end of the end of the ‘forever wars.’”
Crowley, M. (2020, October 11). Trump’s Campaign Talk of Troop Withdrawals Doesn’t Match Military Reality. Retrieved October 19, 2020, from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/11/us/politics/trump-troop-withdrawals-war.html
Chris,
An interesting post–and one with which I find myself largely in agreement. It is pretty well established at this point that, while the first Gulf War was probably necessary, the second (George W. Bush) war was NOT, since there were no weapons of mass destruction found. And then there is Afghanistan, where we were justified in pursuing Osama bin Laden and overthrowing the Taliban, who were harboring him and al-Qaeda, but we have then stayed on for nearly 20 years now.
I think you’re right that the American people are tired of these conflicts, though of course they are now fought by an all-volunteer army so there is no longer any draft (as there was in my day). Let us hope that there is a new administration on January 20, which will take a new approach to US relations in the Middle East. –Professor Wallerstein