Part 1: The End of the Cold War,
Desert Storm, and the New
World Order
Part 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 antiSoviet 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 postWorld 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 Plan
As Samawah
Iraq
Iran
An Nasiriyah
Al
Basrah
Al
Busayyah
XVIII
Airborne
Corps
Republican
Guards
Persian
Gulf
VII
Corps
Kuwait
City
JFC
Hafir North MARCENT
al Batin
Third Army
Saudi Arabia
The ground war begins Feb 23
Khafji
JFC
East
“Highway of Death”
Situation, February 28, 1991
Iraq
As Samawah
XX
An Nasiriyah
101
XX
XX
6
Iran
82
FR
XVIII
Airborne
Corps
Al
Busayyah
Al
Basrah
XX
AL
24
III
AD
3
XX
1
XX
1
VII
Corps
XX
3
XX
1
III
XX
JFN
Persian
Gulf
XX
2
1
XX
UK
2
Marine
X
XX
2 1
Marine
XX
JFE
Kuwait
City
JFC
North
US Third Army
MARCENT
Hafir
al Batin
Saudi Arabia
JFC
East
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 antiindependence 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 Civilizations
Western
Slavic- Orthodox Japanese
Latin American
Islamic
African
Sinic
Hindu
Osama bin Laden
• Osama bin Laden began his
militancy in response to the
1979 Soviet invasion of
Afghanistan
• He helped found the Maktab alKhadamāt (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
Part of the postDesert Storm US
military presence
at Prince Sultan
Air Base, 80 km
south of Riyadh
• 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
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 alQaeda 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 alQaeda 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
Additional Terrorism Considerations
Suicide bombings are a
common part of the IsraeliPalestinian conflict
The Department of
Homeland Security was
established as a result of
September 11
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