A Line in the Sand

Credit: Wikipedia

I was a child when the first Gulf War occurred and as far as I can remember we, America, was correct in our actions. Saddam Hussein was an evil leader who invaded Kuwait. Who gassed his own people. Killed people who got in his way. He was a man that had to be stopped. Our president, President Bush, was correct in having us go to war to protect Kuwait but not only to protect our interests over there. This is what I thought when I was 10 years old. Would I say we were right by going to war with Iraq? Partially yes I still believe so. There is one difference between then and now though and that is my ability to learn. Since 1991 and today I have learned all sorts of amazing things. I’ve learned all sorts of horrible math and I’ve learned history. This week though I feel that the book, Untold History of the United States, has actually taught me something I didn’t know before.

The book details a few inner workings of the U.S. government that before now didn’t know existed in plain view for all to see. The book states “on November 29, the final UN Security Council resolution authorized use of “all necessary means” to force Iraqi evacuation from Kuwait. Votes for the resolution didn’t come cheap. Egypt had almost 14 billion of debt written off by the United States and the Gulf states another 6.7 billion” (Kuznick n.d.). I was shocked to read this so I had to scour the Internet to see if I could verify such information. Thomas Draper wrote a book about the Gulf War and came to similar conclusions. Draper found “From the cases that we know about, others may be inferred. About $7 billion by the United States and $6.7 billion by the Gulf States are said to have been written off Egypt’s debts. Syria was the beneficiary of $200 million from the European Community, a Japanese loan of $500 million, and more than $2 billion from Saudi Arabia and other Arab states, though none of the 18,000 Syrian troops in Saudi Arabia actually fought. Turkey protected its $500 million a year in military aid. The Soviet Union received $1 billion in aid from Saudi Arabia and credit guarantees from the United States.” (Draper 2012)

While I was surprised to find supporting information that came to similar conclusions, I don’t think this new information would sway me from how I feel. The U.S. went to war with Saddam and we accomplished our goals as far as I can tell. We pushed Saddam back into Iraq and we secured a little more oil for our ever-growing thirst. Was it wrong to go to war with Saddam? Maybe though if it was wrong to go to war, then maybe it was wrong for the U.S. to install him as a leader of Iraq.

Bibliography

Draper, Thomad. "The True History of the Gulf War." The New York Review of Books. 2012. (accessed 2013).

Kuznick, Oliver Stone Peter. The Untold History of the United States. New York: Gallery Books.

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/1992/jan/30/the-true-history-of-the-gulf-war/?pagination=false