Part 1: The End of the Cold War, Desert Storm, and the New World

OrderPart 2: Islamic Resurgence and

Global Terrorism

Lesson 26

The End of the Cold War

Theme: The US emerges as the world’s only superpower

President Reagan

• During the1980s, Cold War tensions increased as Ronald Reagan pursued a vigorous anti-Soviet policy– Characterized the Soviet

Union as “the evil empire”– Dedicated massive

amounts of money to military spending to include the Strategic Defense Initiative or “Star Wars”

– Successfully confronted communist challenges in Grenada and Nicaragua

Reagan delivers his “Mr. Gorbachev, Tear Down This

Wall!” speech in 1987

The Soviet Union

• While the US was spending at levels the USSR was finding difficult to match, the Soviets were having their own internal problems– The Soviets withdrew from

Afghanistan in 1989 after ten years of a failed war many likened to the US experience in Vietnam

– The Soviet economy and those of its eastern and central European satellites were in serious trouble

US-supplied Stinger missiles helped the mujahedeen defeat Soviet forces in

Afghanistan

Gorbachev

• With economic and political reforms obviously needed, Soviet premier Mikhail Gorbachev initiated perestroika (the “restructuring” or decentralizing of the economy) and glasnost (an “opening” of the Soviet society to public scrutiny)

• Gorbachev’s reforms proved difficult to implement and unleashed hostility from the old order it threatened, long suppressed criticism, and ethnic and nationalist separatism

• By the summer of 1990, Gorbachev’s reforms had spent themselves

Collapse of the Soviet Empire

• Revolutions broke out throughout eastern Europe as people overthrow communist dictators in places like Poland, Bulgaria, and Romania and countries such as Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia broke apart

• The Berlin Wall came down on November 9, 1989 and East and West Germany united in 1990

The 1989 Romanian Revolution was a violent overthrow of the communist regime of Nicolae

Ceauşescu

Collapse of the Soviet Empire

• Beginning in August 1991, Soviet republics began declaring their independence from the USSR

• Also in August, a group of conspirators representing dissatisfied elements of the Communist Party, the KGB, and the military attempted to seize power while Gorbachev was on vacation

• Boris Yelstin crushed the coup, but himself replaced Gorbachev

• By the end of 1991, the USSR had ceased to exist

AP photo of Boris Yelstin atop an armored personnel

carrier encouraging resistance to the coup

End of the Bipolar World

• The demise of the Soviet Union left the US as the world’s sole superpower

• Without the danger of a superpower confrontation, the US was now more free to use its military power

• Additionally, new opportunities for cooperative international efforts would become possible without the bipolar competition

• This new dynamic would be tested when Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990

Desert Storm

Theme: The end of the Vietnam Syndrome

The Middle East

Background• Majority of region administered by Britain until post-World War

II.• Long-standing disputes between Iraq and Kuwait.

– Iraq argues Kuwait is an Iraqi province.• Iraq mobilized and prepared for invasion in 1961

immediately after Kuwait was granted independence by Britain.

– Iraq wants Kuwait to forgive debts Iraq owes from Iran-Iraq War.

• Claims Kuwait actually owes Iraq for “defending” it against Iran.

– Iraq accuses Kuwait of overproduction of oil/theft of Iraqi oil.• On Aug 2, 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait

Coalition Operations

• The end of the Cold War and Russia’s willingness to join the US in opposing Iraq created an unprecedented level of international cooperation

• The United Nations adopted resolutions condemning Iraq and authorizing the use of force

• Thirty-six countries (as well as Kuwait) contributed forces

Combat Operations

• 17 Jan 1991 - Air war begins

• 23 Feb - Ground war begins

• 28 Feb – Cease fire takes effect

• 2 March – 24th Infantry Division fights last engagement of the war

• 3 March – Norman Schwarzkopf accepts Iraqi surrender at Safwan

             

        

Shaping Operations

• Create and preserve conditions for the success of the operation

• Air operation– Cut supplies bound for

Iraqi forces in Kuwait from 20k tons per week to 2k tons per week and eliminated Iraqi air threat

• Deception operation– Highly visible Marine

rehearsals persuaded Saddam to commit an estimated four divisions to protect his flank against an amphibious assault

Leaflets such as these deceived the Iraqis into

thinking the main attack would be amphibious

The Shift Westward

The Ground Offensive PlanIran

Euphrates

Tigri

s

Hafir al Batin

Kuwait City

As Samawah

An Nasiriyah

Al Basrah

Khafji

Persian Gulf

AlBusayyah

Saudi Arabia

Iraq

Third Army

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RepublicanGuards

Iraqi Defenses

The ground war begins Feb 23

“Highway of Death”

Situation, February 28, 1991

Iran

Tigris

Hafir al Batin

Kuwait City

As Samawah

An Nasiriyah

Al Basrah

Persian Gulf

AlBusayyah

Saudi Arabia

Iraq

JFCEast

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Corps

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US Third Army

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MARCENT

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JFEXX

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1Marine

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2Marine JFN

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Iraq• The objective of Desert

Storm was to liberate Kuwait, not to destroy the Iraqi army or remove Saddam

• Even though the coalition experienced amazing military success, Saddam remained in power and crushed short-lived uprisings by the Kurds in the north and the Shia in the south

• Iraqi Freedom would have the objective of changing the regime in Iraq

Legacy of Desert Storm• Won with an operational concept that sought

in a single climatic operation to destroy the enemy’s center of gravity

• In 100 hours of combat, American forces destroyed or captured more than 3,000 tanks, 1,400 armored carriers, and 2,200 artillery pieces

• The “Great Wheel” swept over and captured almost 20,000 square miles of territory

• Only about 140 soldiers died in direct combat• Erased the “Vietnam Syndrome”

• Scales, Certain Victory, p. 382-383

The New World Order

Theme: International cooperation and military intervention in the post-Cold War

era

Post-Cold War Environment

• Cold War threats were potentially catastrophic but they were also measurable and somewhat predictable

• The bipolar structure and the desire to avoid superpower confrontation had provided a certain degree of order and stability

• The post-Cold War period was much more ambiguous and uncertain and many new threats emerged

CIA Director James Woolsey described the post-Cold War

environment by saying, “We have slain a large dragon (the U.S.S.R.) — but we now live in a jungle filled with a

bewildering variety of poisonous snakes. In many ways, the dragon

was easier to keep track of.”

Ethnic Conflict and Humanitarian Crisis in the 1990s

• The Cold War structure had kept in check ethnic divisions in many countries and limited military interventions

• The end of the Cold War changed all that– UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali

advocated the “legitimate involvement” of the UN in “peace enforcement” and “peacemaking” operations

– President Clinton proclaimed a “National Security Strategy of Engagement and Enlargement”

• After the Cold War, the United Nations went from an average of three or four peacekeeping operations a year to 13 in December 1992

Ethnic Conflict and Humanitarian Crisis in the 1990s

• In Somalia, various clan leaders struggled for power and plunged the country into a humanitarian crisis

• When Yugoslavian republics began to seek independence, terrible ethnic conflicts ensued– Bosnian Serbs initiated an

“ethnic cleansing” campaign against Bosnian Muslims

– Yugoslav Serbs did the same against Kosovar Albanians

Warlord Mohammed Farah Aidid emerged as the

dominant clan leader in Somalia

Ethnic Conflict and Humanitarian Crisis in the 1990s

• A military coup in Haiti ousted the democratically elected president and motivated thousands of Haitians to flee to the US in fragile boats

• Ethnic violence erupted between Hutu and Tutsis in Rwanda which resulted in up to a million deaths, mostly from the Tutsi minority

Deep gashes in the skulls of victims of the Rwanda genocide evidence the violence of their deaths

Ethnic Conflict and Humanitarian Crisis in the 1990s

• East Timor declared independence after a 27-year occupation by Indonesia but anti-independence militia forces unleashed a campaign of violence and destruction

International Efforts

• The United Nations Charter proclaims one of the UN’s principle purposes as being “to maintain international peace and security”

• Sometimes the UN effectively intervened in these crises, sometimes it didn’t– Same for the United States

• The US found that its status as world economic and military superpower would not necessarily equate to unchallenged world leadership– The US would meet a host of challenges within the

UN and from non-governmental organizations (remember Lesson 12) as well as from new enemies

Part 2: Islamic Resurgence and Global Terrorism

Theme: Terrorism as a response to globalization

Islamism

• As globalization spread, many Muslims became skeptical about European and American models of economic development and political and cultural norms

• Blamed the Western models for their own economic and political problems as well as for secularization and its attendant breakdown of traditional social and religious values

• Saw the Muslim world as slipping into a state of decline brought about by the abandonment of Islamic traditions and many blamed the US

The Saudi Arabian Mutaween, or religious police, enforce the Islamic dress code

Islamist Reaction• Many saw the solution to the

problems faced by Muslim societies as being a revival of Islamic identity, values, and power

• Most sought to bring about change through peaceful means, but an extremist minority has claimed a mandate from God that calls for violent transformations

Supporters of Hizbut Tahrir, a hardline Muslim group, protesting in front of the US Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia

Jihad

• Convinced that the Muslim world was under siege, extremists used the concept of the jihad to rationalize and legitimize terrorism and revolution– Jihad is sometimes called the

Sixth Pillar of Islam and is an exertion or struggle in achieving the ways of Allah

– It invokes the right and duty to defend Islam and the Islamic community from unjust attack

Members of the Islamic Jihad’s military wing, the Al-Quds Brigade, in Gaza

Extremist Rhetoric

• “God has blessed a group of vanguard Muslims, the forefront of Islam, to destroy America.”– Osama bin Laden in a videotaped statement broadcast by Al

Jazeera, October 7, 2001 • “We issue the following fatwa to all Muslims: The ruling

to kill the Americans and their allies -- civilians and military -- is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it....We -- with God's help -- call on every Muslim who believes in God and wishes to be rewarded to comply with God's order to kill the Americans and plunder their money wherever and whenever they find it.”– World Islamic Front Statement, February 23, 1998

Clash of Civilizations

• “On both sides the interaction between Islam and the West is seen as a clash of civilizations.” – Samuel Huntington

Huntington’s CivilizationsWestern

Latin American Islamic

Slavic- Orthodox Sinic

HinduAfrican

Japanese

Osama bin Laden

• Osama bin Laden began his militancy in response to the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan

• He helped found the Maktab al-Khadamāt (MAK) which recruited and funded mujahideen to fight the Soviets– Ironically, the US also

supported the mujahideen based on the Cold War philosophy that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”

al-Qaeda

• In 1988, bin Laden split from the MAK and formed a new group comprised of some of the most militant mujahideen that would become the al-Qaeda terrorist group

• With the US involvement in Desert Storm and its subsequent continued presence in Saudi Arabia, home of the Muslim holy sites of Mecca and Medina, bin Laden became irreconcilably infuriated by the Western influence

Part of the post-Desert Storm US military presence at Prince Sultan Air Base, 80 km south of Riyadh

Terrorism

• The deliberate and systematic use of violence against civilians with the aim of advancing political, religious, or ideological cause

• Terrorism is not a new phenomenon, but its impact has been magnified in a globalized world distinguished by rapid technological advances in transportation, communications, and weapons development– Worldwide television coverage has transformed

terrorism by expanding its visibility and impact

September 11, 2001

• On Sept 11, 2001, 19 men affiliated with al-Qaeda hijacked four planes and crashed two into the World Trade Towers in New York City and one into the Pentagon

• The fourth plane crashed in Pennsylvania after passengers attacked the terrorists

Global War on Terrorism

• On Sept 20, President Bush addressed the nation and declared “Our war on terror begins with al Qaeda, but it does not end there.  It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated… Our response involves far more than instant retaliation and isolated strikes.  Americans should not expect one battle, but a lengthy campaign, unlike any other we have ever seen.  It may include dramatic strikes, visible on TV, and covert operations, secret even in success….

Global War on Terrorism

• … We will starve terrorists of funding, turn them one against another, drive them from place to place, until there is no refuge or no rest.  And we will pursue nations that provide aid or safe haven to terrorism.  Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists.  From this day forward, any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime.”

Operation Enduring Freedom• The attack was quickly traced to

Osama bin Laden who had been operating from Afghanistan since his 1996 expulsion from Saudi Arabia

• On Oct 7, 2001, the US led a coalition attack into Afghanistan to destroy terrorist training camps and infrastructure, capture al-Qaeda leaders, and eliminate terrorist activities in Afghanistan

• By mid-March 2002, the Taliban government had been removed from power and the al-Qaeda network in Afghanistan had been destroyed

CENTCOM Commander General

Tommy Franks explains Operation Enduring Freedom

Preemptive Action

• On Sept 17, 2002, President Bush issued a National Security Strategy which stated, “While the United States will constantly strive to enlist the support of the international community, we will not hesitate to act alone, if necessary, to exercise our right of self-defense by acting preemptively against such terrorists, to prevent them from doing harm against our people and our country.”

Axis of Evil

• In his Jan 29, 2002 State of the Union Address, Bush had labeled Iraq, Iran, and North Korea as comprising an “axis of evil” of “regimes that sponsor terror”

• In Sept 2002, the Director of Central Intelligence issued a report stating, “Iraq has continued its weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programs in defiance of UN resolutions and restrictions.  Baghdad has chemical and biological weapons as well as missiles with ranges in excess of UN restrictions; if left unchecked, it probably will have a nuclear weapon during this decade.” 

• Bush felt reports such as this justified him to take preemptive action against Iraq

United Nations

• Secretary of State Colin Powell presented the US evidence of Iraqi WMD to the United Nations and the US proposed a resolution to the Security Council authorizing military force if Iraq refused to disarm

• France, Russia, Germany, and others opposed the US resolution and it failed to pass

• Nonetheless, the US, joined by Britain and a “coalition of the willing” launched Operation Iraqi Freedom on March 20, 2003

Operations in Iraq

• Rapid military success during combat phase

– On Apr 9 US forces captured Baghdad

• Major General Buford Blount, USM 1971, commanded the 3rd Infantry Division that spearheaded the US attack

– On May 2 President Bush declared, “Major combat operations in Iraq have ended.”

– On Dec 13 Saddam was captured

• Much more difficult post-conflict phase

– Insurgency developed

– IEDs, hostages, and road-side bombs

– Fractured domestic support

Additional Terrorism Considerations

Terrorist bombing on the train station at Madrid killed

200 people and led to Spain’s withdrawing its

forces from Iraq

Heightened security at events such as the Super Bowl has become a fact of

life

The Department of Homeland Security was established as a result of

September 11

Suicide bombings are a common part of the Israeli-

Palestinian conflict

Additional Terrorism Considerations

Additional Terrorism Considerations

Jemaah Islamiyah, which is suspected of having ties to al-Qaeda, is dedicated to establishing an Islamic fundamentalist

state in Southeast Asia. With some 210 million Muslims, Indonesia has the

largest Muslim population of any country in the world.

The US Secretary of State considers Iran to be one of

the state sponsors of international terrorism.

Next Lesson

• Globalization Discussion