The 1980's: The Persian Gulf War

Words: 1205
Pages: 5

Vanessa Perez
Mrs. Kirkpatrick
Period 12
6 June 2015
Sophomore Project The 1980’s was a critical time for the United States. Many new upbringings were occurring, such as debt issues, social and economic issues, as well as several different wars. The United States did not get involved in any major wars, except for the Persian Gulf War, also known as the Iran-Iraq War. The two other wars they were involved in, that were not as warlike as the Persian Gulf War, are the war on terror and the war on drugs. These all impacted the 1980’s and the 21st century greatly.
Though the long ongoing war between Iran and Iraq had ended in a United Nations ceasefire in August of 1988, by mid-1990 the two states still hadn’t began to agree on or commence a peace
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Saudi Arabia and Egypt were alarmed by this invasion, and therefore they reached out to the United States and other Western Nations to intervene, this is how the United States got involved in the Persian Gulf War. Saddam Hussein defied the United Nations Security Council’s demands to withdraw from invading Kuwait by the middle January of 1991, and the Persian Gulf War began with an extensive United States led air offensive known as Operation Desert Storm. After 42 days of ruthless attacks by the allied forces in the air and on the ground, United States President George H.W. Bush declared a cease-fire on February 28, “by that time, most Iraqi forces in Kuwait had either surrendered or fled. Though the Persian Gulf War was initially considered an unqualified success for the international coalition, simmering conflict in the troubled region led to a second Gulf War–known as the Iraq War–that began in 2003”(Persian Gulf …show more content…
Led by Saudi fugitive Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda terrorist organization, they were purposely acting in revenge for America’s support of Israel, and its involvement in the Persian Gulf War and its continuous military presence in the Middle East. Some of the terrorists involved in September 11th had lived in the United States for more than a year and had taken flying lessons at American commercial flight schools. Others had snuck into the country months before September 11 and acted as the “muscle” in the operation. The 19 terrorists smuggled box-cutters and knives through security at three East Coast airports and boarded four flights headed to California. Those planes were chosen because the planes were loaded with fuel for the long transcontinental journey. Soon after takeoff, the terrorists hijacked the four planes and took the controls, transforming ordinary commuter jets into deadly guided ammunition. After this horrid event, President George W. Bush delivered a speech that was televised from the Oval Office, “Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America. These acts shatter steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve.” In a reference to the eventual U.S. military response he declared, “We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these