s. history us history us history - Embassy of the United States

CHAPTER 14: THE NEW CONSERVATISM AND A NEW WORLD ORDEROUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORYdent of the Russian republic. At theend of that year, Yeltsin, now dominant,forced the dissolution of theSoviet Union.The Bush administration adeptlybrokered the end of the Cold War,working closely with Gorbachev andYeltsin. It led the negotiations thatbrought the unification of East andWest Germany (September 1990),agreement on large arms reductionsin Europe (November 1990), andlarge cuts in nuclear arsenals (July1991). After the liquidation of theSoviet Union, the United States andthe new Russian Federation agreedto phase out all multiple-warheadmissiles over a 10-year period.The disposal of nuclear materialsand the ever-present concernsof nuclear proliferation now supersededthe threat of nuclear conflictbetween Washington and Moscow.THE GULF WARThe euphoria caused by the drawingdown of the Cold War was dramaticallyovershadowed by the August2, 1990, invasion of the smallnation of Kuwait by Iraq. Iraq, underSaddam Hussein, and Iran, under itsIslamic fundamentalist regime, hademerged as the two major militarypowers in the oil-rich Persian Gulfarea. The two countries had fought along, inconclusive war in the 1980s.Less hostile to the United States thanIran, Iraq had won some supportfrom the Reagan and Bush administrations.The occupation of Kuwait,posing a threat to Saudi Arabia,changed the diplomatic calculationovernight.President Bush strongly condemnedthe Iraqi action, called forIraq’s unconditional withdrawal,and sent a major deployment of U.S.troops to the Middle East. He assembledone of the most extraordinarymilitary and political coalitions ofmodern times, with military forcesfrom Asia, Europe, and Africa, aswell as the Middle East.In the days and weeks followingthe invasion, the U.N. SecurityCouncil passed 12 resolutions condemningthe Iraqi invasion andimposing wide-ranging economicsanctions on Iraq. On November 29,it approved the use of force if Iraqdid not withdraw from Kuwait byJanuary 15, 1991. Gorbachev’s SovietUnion, once Iraq’s major arms supplier,made no effort to protect itsformer client.Bush also confronted a majorconstitutional issue. The U.S. Constitutiongives the legislative branchthe power to declare war. Yet in thesecond half of the 20th century, theUnited States had become involvedin Korea and Vietnam without anofficial declaration of war and withonly murky legislative authorization.On January 12, 1991, three daysbefore the U.N. deadline, Congressgranted President Bush the authorityhe sought in the most explicit andsweeping war-making power given apresident in nearly half a century.The United States, in coalitionwith Great Britain, France, Italy,Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and othercountries, succeeded in liberatingKuwait with a devastating, U.S.-ledair campaign that lasted slightlymore than a month. It was followedby a massive invasion of Kuwaitand Iraq by armored and airborneinfantry forces. With their superiorspeed, mobility, and firepower, theallied forces overwhelmed the Iraqiforces in a land campaign lastingonly 100 hours.The victory, however, was incompleteand unsatisfying. The U.N. resolution,which Bush enforced to theletter, called only for the expulsion ofIraq from Kuwait. Saddam Husseinremained in power, savagely repressingthe Kurds in the north and theShiites in the south, both of whomthe United States had encouraged torebel. Hundreds of oil-well fires, deliberatelyset in Kuwait by the Iraqis,took until November 1991 to extinguish.Saddam’s regime also apparentlythwarted U.N. inspectors who,operating in accordance with SecurityCouncil resolutions, worked tolocate and destroy Iraq’s weapons ofmass destruction, including nuclearfacilities more advanced than hadpreviously been suspected and hugestocks of chemical weapons.The Gulf War enabled the UnitedStates to persuade the Arab states,Israel, and a Palestinian delegationto begin direct negotiations aimedat resolving the complex and interlockedissues that could eventuallylead to a lasting peace in the region.The talks began in Madrid, Spain,on October 30, 1991. In turn, theyset the stage for the secret negotiationsin Norway that led to what atthe time seemed a historic agreementbetween Israel and the PalestineLiberation Organization, signedat the White House on September13, 1993.PANAMA AND NAFTAThe president also received broadbipartisan congressional backing forthe brief U.S. invasion of Panama onDecember 20, 1989, that deposeddictator General Manuel AntonioNoriega. In the 1980s, addiction tocrack cocaine reached epidemic proportions,and President Bush put the“War on Drugs” at the center of hisdomestic agenda. Moreover, Noriega,an especially brutal dictator,had attempted to maintain himselfin power with rather crude displaysof anti-Americanism. After seekingrefuge in the Vatican embassy,Noriega turned himself over to U.S.authorities. He was later tried andconvicted in U.S. federal court inMiami, Florida, of drug traffickingand racketeering.On the economic front, the Bushadministration negotiated the NorthAmerica Free Trade Agreement(NAFTA) with Mexico and Canada.It would be ratified after an intensedebate in the first year of the Clintonadministration. 9316317