New Left Review I/187, May-June 1991

Jon Wiener

Domestic Political Incentives for the Gulf War

Why did the United States fight the Gulf War? [*] I wish to thank Perry Anderson, Bob Brenner and Robert Scheer for ongoing discussions, and Kathleen Kennedy for research assistance. What factors entered into George Bush’s decision to avoid a negotiated solution? The timing of that decision goes some way to answering these questions, and two conflicting theories have been offered: first, that Bush wanted war from the beginning, but couldn’t make that clear until after the Congressional elections; second, that he did not come down firmly in favour of war until late October, when he decided to double the number of troops and set the timetable for air and ground attacks. [1] Thomas L. Friedman and Patrick E. Tyler, ‘From the First, U.S. Resolve to Fight’, New York Times, 3 March 1991. Bob Woodward’s new book, The Commanders, provides important new information about this decision from General Colin L. Powell, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Although Bush publicly declared on 5 August, ‘this will not stand, this aggression against Kuwait’, his efforts to reverse the invasion focused on un sanctions and covert cia operations; it was not until October, according to Woodward, that the president requested a military briefing on ‘how to conduct an offensive operation against Saddam’s forces’. Late in October, before Bush decided to double us ground forces, Woodward writes, Powell tried to persuade the president that ‘containment’ of Iraq through economic and military pressures could force Saddam out of Kuwait without war, but that it would take time. Bush, according to Woodward’s account, answered, ‘I don’t think there’s time politically for that strategy.’ [2] Bob Woodward, The Commanders, New York 1991, pp. 260, 303, 42. Woodward’s book ‘does not elaborate on the president’s political considerations’ (Haynes Johnson, ‘Book Says Powell Favored Containment’, Washington Post, 1 May 1991).

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