American history

Post-Cold War era (1991–present)

Following the end of the Cold War, the United States armed forces fought numerous limited wars as a self-envisioned constabulatory force. It began a "global war on terrorism" after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

1. Gulf War

The Persian Gulf War was a conflict between Iraq and United Nations member states, specifically a coalition force of 34 nations led by the United States. The lead up to the war began with the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in August 1990 which was met with immediate economic sanctions by the United Nations against Iraq.

Hostilities commenced in January 1991, resulting in a decisive victory for the coalition forces, which drove Iraqi forces out of Kuwait with minimal coalition deaths. The main battles were aerial and ground combat within Iraq, Kuwait and bordering areas of Saudi Arabia. The war did not expand outside of the immediate Iraq/Kuwait/Saudi border region, although Iraq fired missiles on Israeli cities.

In retrospect, the scale of the coalition's victory was not a foregone conclusion. Before the war, many observers believed the US and its allies could win but might suffer substantial casualties (certainly more than any conflict since Vietnam), and that the tank battles across the harsh desert might rival those of North Africa during World War II.

After nearly 50 years of proxy wars, and constant fears of another war in Europe between NATO and the Warsaw Pact, some thought the Gulf War might finally answer the question of which military philosophy would have reigned supreme. Iraqi forces were battle-hardened after 8 years of war with Iran, and they were well-equipped with late model Soviet tanks, jet fighters and anti-aircraft weapons; in comparison, the US had no major combat experience since its withdrawal from Vietnam nearly 20 years earlier, and major changes in US doctrine, equipment and technology since then had never been tested under fire.

However, the battle was one-sided almost from the beginning. After devastating initial strikes against Iraqi air defenses and command and control facilities on 17 January 1991, coalition forces achieved total air superiority almost immediately. The Iraqi air force was destroyed within a few days, with some planes fleeing to Iran where they were interned for the duration of the conflict. The overwhemling technological advantages of the US, such as stealth aircraft and infrared sights, quickly turned the air war into a "turkey shoot."

The heat signature of any tank foolish enough to start its engine made an easy target. Air defense radars were quickly destroyed by radar-seeking missiles fired from wild weasel aircraft. Grainy video clips, shot from the nose cameras of missiles as they zeroed in on impossibly small targets, were a staple of US news coverage and revealed to the world a new kind of war, compared by some to a video game.

Over 6 weeks of relentless pounding by planes and helicopters, the Iraqi army was almost completely beaten but did not retreat, under orders from Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, and by the time the ground forces invaded on 24 February, many Iraqi troops were so happy to be alive that they quickly surrendered to forces much smaller than their own; in one instance, Iraqi forces attempted to surrender to a television camera crew that was advancing with coalition forces.

After just 100 hours of ground combat, and with all of Kuwait and much of southern Iraq under coalition control, US President George H. W. Bush ordered a cease-fire and negotiations began. Some US politicians were disappointed by this move, believing Bush should have pressed on to Baghdad and removed Hussein from power; there is little doubt that coalition forces could have accomplished this if they had desired. Still, the political ramifications of removing Hussein would have broadened the scope of the conflict greatly, and many coalition nations refused to participate in such an action, believing it would create a power vacuum and destablize the region.

Following the Gulf War, in order to protect minority populations, the U.S., Britain, and France maintained no-fly zones in northern and southern Iraq, which the Iraqi military frequently tested. The no-fly zones persisted until the 2003 invasion of Iraq, although France withdrew from participation in patrolling the no-fly zones in 1996, citing a lack of humanitarian purpose for the operation.

Additionally, following the discovery of an aborted assassination plot aimed at former President George H.W. Bush, Navy ships bombed Iraqi intelligence facilities with cruise missiles in June 1993.

2. Somalia

US troops participated in a UN peacekeeping mission in Somalia beginning in 1992. By 1993 the US troops were augmented with Rangers and special forces with the aim of capturing warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid, whose forces had massacred peacekeepers from Pakistan.

During a failed attempt at capturing Aidid, US troops became trapped overnight by a general uprising in the Battle of Mogadishu. 19 American soldiers were killed, and a US television crew filmed graphic images of the body of one soldier being dragged through the streets by an angry mob.

US forces were quickly withdrawn, and the incident had a profound effect on US thinking about peacekeeping and intervention. The book Black Hawk Down was written about the battle, and was the basis for the later movie of the same name.

3. Yugoslavia

During the war in Yugoslavia in the early 1990's, the US operated in Bosnia. The USA was one of the NATO member countries who bombed Yugoslavia between March 24th and June 9th 1999 during the Kosovo War.

4. Sudan

In 1998, in what the U.S. called Operation Infinite Reach, the al-Shifa ("Health") pharmaceutical factory in Khartoum, Sudan, was destroyed in cruise missile strikes launched by the U.S. in retaliation for the August 7 truck bomb attacks on its embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya, in which 225 people were killed and a further 4,000 wounded.