The Second Gulf War - Meeting the purpose of war

Dublin Core

Description

In 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait and the United States (US) pressured the United Nations (UN) to condemn Iraq for its aggression. The Security Council was asked to take the necessary steps to isolate Iraq from the rest of the world. Resolution 678 on the use of force was passed unless Iraq withdrew its forces by 15 January 1991 deadline. However, Iraq failed to meet the deadline. On Friday 18 January 1991, reports of initial attacks on Iraq by US air strikes were published throughout the world. Regardless of the rightness or wrongness of the issues, the world was then closer to the use of nuclear weapons than any time since the Cuban Missile crisis.

However, in the Second Gulf War, despite the victory of the US led- Coalition force, Iraq was made to suffer an economic sanction for almost six years.

Clausewitz also quoted that war is a continuation of policy by other means. This statement has been thoroughly considered and many realists thought that war has been an underlying interstate behaviour. Clausewitz was writing about war and was taking the Napoleanic wars as the example of his great days. He (Clausewitz) was not thinking of other alternatives-that is the ways of continuing policy without resulting in a military conflict. Only later that the world realize the other options of pursuing diplomacy or applying economic pressure. However, other more subversive techniques such as the use of propaganda and terrorism are arguably also variable means to political ends. This paper tends to consider the role of force in the 1991 Gulf War in relation to the alternatives available, so as to determine both their relative effectiveness and the part played by necessity - in the decision making process on both sides prior to considering the purpose of the war itself. Before concluding, the possibility of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) applying Confidence Building Measures (CBMs) a conflict resolution in pursuing peace in the Middle East will be examined.

Creator

Major Fallah Bin Khamis al-Marzooq

Source

Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
University of Malaya
JZ39.3 M41997 Falkam

Date

1997

Contributor

kelly

Format

Project Paper

Identifier

A515625355