The Persian Gulf Crisis

Ideal for student research, this book provides a reference guide to the war as well as seven essays analyzing a variety of aspects of the war and its consequences. The essays address questions such as: How did Saddam Hussein become such a major threat and how has he survived the war? How critical was George Bush in driving U.S. and global foreign policy during the crisis? How were key decisions made? Did the war fail or succeed in retrospect? What were its long-run political, economic, strategic and cultural effects? Can collective security work? Is the United Nations likely to be effective in future crises? What lessons can be learned from the crisis? Yetiv draws on primary documents and extensive interviews with many key players such as Colin Powell, James Baker, and Brent Scowcroft, and Arab and European leaders which cast new light on the event. Following a list of key players and a complete chronology of events, seven essays offer a contemporary perspective on the war: Drama in the Desert; War Erupts in a Storm: The Continuation of Diplomacy by Air and on the Ground; From Truman to Desert Storm: The Rising Eagle in the Persian Gulf; President Bush and Saddam Hussein: A Classic Case of Individuals Driving History; The West Arms a Brutal Dictator: Can Proliferation Be Controlled in the Post-Cold War World?; The United Nations and Collective Security: Was the Gulf War a Model for the Future?; The Impact of the Persian Gulf War. Reference components include a narrative historical overview of the war and biographical profiles of each of the major players in the war. Twelve primary documents include speeches and UN resolutions. A glossary of terms particular to the war and an annotated bibliography complete the work. A selection of photos complements the text. This readable guide is a one-stop source for reference material and in-depth analysis of the key foreign policy event of the 1990s, and should appeal to a broad readership.

Although the stability of the Persian Gulf region has been of rising importance since World War II, it was during the 1980s, when the Iran-Iraq War threatened to upset the balance of power in the region, that its importance became even more magnified. This collection of essays surveys the current state of that region, placing into clearer perspective the political, security, and diplomatic dimensions of the recently ended war. By reevaluating the political landscape of the Gulf, the book produces a gauge for better assessing those factors and forces that affected the conflict's outcome and that will continue to influence future political and security developments in the region. The volume begins with an introduction by the editor that examines the geography of the Gulf and the primary geopolitical factors that influenced perceptions of the region during the war. The essays are then divided into two sections covering Strategic and Political Dimensions and Diplomatic and Legal Dimensions. Topics covered in the first section include the roots of the crisis, Soviet, Israeli and Arab Gulf states' interests in the conflict, U.S. policy in the region, and the role of U.S. military forces. Section two discusses the reflagging of Kuwaiti tankers, the United Nations' involvement, and the cease-fire negotiations. The book concludes with a selected bibliography and an index. This study will be an important resource for courses in political science, diplomacy, and Mid-East history, as well as a significant addition to both public and university libraries.

An eye-opening look at the effect of the media on public perception of The Persian Gulf War

The remarkable hardcover success of Triumph Without Victory was evidence of the public's need for a three-dimensional behind-the-scenes account of the Gulf War. Now this acclaimed work is available in trade paperback, published to coincide with the war's second anniversary. 15 maps.

Douglas Kellner's Persian Gulf TV War attacks the myths, disinformation, and propaganda disseminated during the Gulf war. At once a work of social theory, media criticism, and political history, this book demonstrates how television served as a conduit for George Bush's war policies while silencing anti-war voices and foregoing spirited discussion of the complex issues involved. In so doing, the medium failed to assume its democratic responsibilities of adequately informing the American public and debating issues of common concern. Kellner analyzes the dominant frames through which television presented the war and focuses on the propaganda that sold the war to the public–one of the great media spectacles and public relations campaigns of the post-World War II era. In the spirit of Orwell and Marcuse, Kellner studies the language surrounding the Gulf war and the cynical politics of distortion and disinformation that shaped the mainstream media version of the war, how the Bush administration and Pentagon manipulated the media, and why a majority of the American public accepted the war as just and moral.

This book examines the implications of the Persian Gulf crisis in order to enhance our understanding of the post-Cold War international system. More than just another analysis of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and the subsequent war, the book looks at the more general aspects of the use of force (political, economic, and military) evident in the Gulf crisis and what they can tell us about the emerging post-Cold War system. Contributors were selected on the basis of their ability to address specific questions and policy issues, and to cast their analyses at a broadly theoretical level. Each chapter looks at a different aspect of conflict in the international system and how that relates to the Persian Gulf crisis. Several aspects of the crisis and the new international system are examined such as the role of the United Nations, the utility of economic sanctions, the historical origin of the crisis itself, the potential sources of conflict and responses to it, and the changing nature of the use of military force. To the extent that the lessons found contradict the common wisdoms that emerged in the immediate aftermath of the war, many of the chapters challenge the trend to find sweeping generalizations in the Gulf crisis that bear directly on international relations in the 1990s and beyond. Civilian and military policymakers, as well as students and teachers of international studies, will find this book of interest.