President Bush: Operation Desert Shield. President Clinton: Involvement in the NATO commitment to Bosnia

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2 President Bush: Operation Desert Shield In the Middle East the Iran-Iraq War ended in 1988, and the Soviet War in Afghanistan ended in 1989 after a decade of fighting. The world was changing rapidly as the Cold War had just come to the end and Eastern Europe was eager to catch up with the rest of the continent. The United States faced a recession in the early 1990 s that lasted 8 months, but the economy rebounded shortly after and was facing major deficits from the Reagan presidency. President Clinton: Involvement in the NATO commitment to Bosnia Bosnia s deposition of independence from Yugoslavia in 1992 stretched out the violence to a higher level Led into generating a war that lasted over three years and illustrated the complications of the post-cold War strategic atmosphere The U.S. economy experiences its longest period of peace time economic expansion during the decade beginning in 1991.

3 Bush s past political career included being a member of the House for Texas s 7th District, United State Ambassador to the United Nations, Chairman of the RNC, Chief of the Liaison Office to the People s Republic of China, Director of Central Intelligence, 43rd VP of the U.S., and 41st President of the U.S. This played a major role in how Bush conducted himself during Desert Shield. He had decades of foreign policy experience, and personally it seems that that was his greatest strength when compared against his domestic policies. Clinton came into office with little experience on foreign affairs Collapse of the Soviet Union and post Cold War crises challenged Clinton s capabilities Weeks before Clinton took office, George H. W. Bush sent troops into Somalia, Africa

4 He maintained many of the friendships of his wartime and college years for the rest of his life. Longtime friends described him as warm, witty, engaging, generous, considerate, unpretentious, and unerringly polite, but also flighty at times. He s very gentle. He would much rather talk than fight. But he s capable of taking care of himself. After eight years of quiet loyalty to Ronald Reagan, during which he developed a reputation for reserve and deference, Bush emerged as a tough, tenacious campaigner in As president he was more accessible to the press and less scripted than his predecessor. "Clinton was deeply religious from a young age and regularly attended a Baptist church as an adult. Bill Clinton had strong views and values, and he saw politics as the way to make change for the better. Clinton was a people person who saw politics, and detailed policy programmes, as the route to a better life for people the right tends to forget. He is a good man who occasionally made bad mistakes.overall, he did lot of good for America and, with an internationalism and progressive values-based politics not always found in the US, he did a lot of good for the world.

5 President Bush s goals were for Saddam Hussein s forces to leave Kuwait and for Kuwait to be free again. Bush had a strong interest in making sure that the U.S. had good relations with all friendly states of the Middle East. The importance of the oil trade on the global economy, and of course American interests, made the region a hotbed for potential disaster. The Goal of a New World Order or international community also shaped his behavior.

6 President Clinton s goal were more ethics and morality related, to reduce the suffering and bloodshed as the negotiations proceed."

7 President Bush: Operation Desert Shield President George H. W. Bush summed up the reasons with the following remarks: "Within three days, 120,000 Iraqi troops with 850 tanks had poured into Kuwait and moved south to threaten Saudi Arabia. It was then that I decided to act to check that aggression. President Clinton: Involvement in the NATO commitment to Bosnia From here, Clinton made a speech on national television (May 6th) stating that the Bosnian Serbs rejected settlement and he felt badly because he didn t want to give that situation even more time. He believed that action needs to be taken in order to obtain peace and end disagreement; not acting as an unilateral actor

8 Bush s position on other foreign policy issues was similar. There was Operation Restore Hope and Operation Just Cause which were both instances of decisive action. Clinton s position varied initially being highly critical of inaction and then during his Presidency failing to take action in Rwanda and being slow to take action Bosnia

9 Both President Bush and Clinton felt that the executive branch had and should have more authority in relation to military operations: President George H.W. Bush sent several reports to Congress regarding the buildup of forces in Operation Desert Shield. However, he took the position that he did not need "authority" from Congress to carry out the United Nations resolutions President Clinton made several statements to Congress "consistent with the War Powers Resolution" and therefore, did not activate the 60-day time limit given Clinton administration took the position that the War Powers Resolution was constitutionally flawed

10 Both President Bush and Clinton were heavily involved throughout the decision making process Held a National Security Planning Group Organized a international coalition to receive United Nation approval Worked with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir Created a plan for action Consulted Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin Dispatched a team to Europe led by National Security Adviser Anthony Lake and Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Peter Tarnoff to jump-start negotiations

11 President Bush worked hard to develop multilateral action whereas Clinton simply worked through NATO On August 2nd there was a resolution condemning the Iraqi invasion and on August 6th the UN imposed economic sanctions on Iraq Dick Cheney (Defense Secretary) visited Saudi Arabia to persuade the King to invite American troops onto his soil and protect the nation, after getting his support Bush ordered first troops to Saudi Arabia (August 6th) Bush s most difficult task was persuading the Gorbachev to be a partner, Gorbachev was under pressure of betraying an ally (Iraq), but after Baker visited Russia they ended up giving full support for the coalition in the UN (but refused to send any military forces) US relations with Britain and France were good, both supplied military forces and leadership but Germany and Japan were a little more difficult 29 November the Security Council passed Resolution 678 and gave Saddam Hussein until January to withdraw from Kuwait at which point UN members could employ the necessary means to liberate the country. Christopher went to Europe in 1993 to try and build up European support However, Europe was resistant because they thought a NATO strike would increase the risk of European peace keeping forces being attacked Initially Russia was fairly cooperative, they were in favor of the sanctions recognizing the aggressive action. However, they were always against military action but chose not to Veto action in the UN (Security Council Resolution 1031)

12 Bush was heavily involved with possible war plans with Secretary of Defense Richard Cheney and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Colin Powell Powell was even surprised by the level of detail the President would discuss After the initial draft, Bush requested a new one, as he wanted to leave no room for defeat He was willing to provide the military with whatever it would take in order to finish the mission quickly and decisively Clinton did not focus on foreign policy. He was seen as someone who did not serve in the armed forces and who the military saw as lacking the credentials to make the decisions of a commander in chief. It was not a bad relationship but rather a lacking relationship Clinton made decisions but often defaulted to the military in enacting those decisions Clinton consulted with the NATO military commanders Clinton said he "authorized these actions in conjunction with our NATO allies to implement the relevant UN Security Council resolutions and NATO decisions." Once Clinton authorized action and made the decision he expected the military to take action and support NATO but did not have as much control.

13 Bush characterized Baker as a gimmie, and announced his appointment less than 24 hours after his election. The foreign policy of the Bush presidency benefited greatly from the personal rapport between the two men. Although intense policy differences occurred, a collegial approach to foreign policy-making was the norm, especially in the breakfast group of Baker, Cheney, and Scowcroft, which met weekly to iron out problems that could not be resolved through the bureaucratic channels of interdepartmental meetings or the deputies committee system. One issue was Clinton s focus on domestic economic policy over foreign policy so Christopher s access to President Clinton was limited He was in a way sidelined by Richard Holbrooke in the peace accords negotiation after the Presidents recognition of Holbrooke s leadership in the matter. He aided in negotiations with Bosnia and traveled to Bosnia Clinton differed to his National Security Advisor and Undersecretary of State instead of Christopher

14 President Bush did not regard congress as an important or authorities actor throughout Operation Desert Storm- He saw consulting congress as lose-lose situation. The democrats controlled the house Congress thought Bush was abusing his war powers Senate Joint Resolution number two in the house was approve of those 181 were democrats and in the senate 52-47, only ten democrats voted for it and two republicans voted against To Officially Authorize action for Operation Desert Storm Bush said the decision demonstrated national resolve Clinton relationships was strained because he had to maneuver through a republic controlled congress Heavy resistance from Congress to commit any U.S. troops to U.N. peacekeeping operations, especially after the deaths of 18 American soldiers during the U.S. s deployment in Somalia. Congress tried to limit Clinton s power to act by introducing the National Security Revitalization Act Bob Dole s Peace Power Act

15 The CIA provided intelligence support to the U.S. military in Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm. Iraq was likely to use chemical weapons in a defensive ground war with the Coalition. (In retrospect, CIA assessments that Iraq would use chemical weapons may have influenced President Bush's decision to warn Iraqi President Saddam Husain of grave consequences for such use. To date, the US Intelligence Community has not uncovered evidence that Iraq employed chemical weapons during the Gulf war.) President Clinton's dealings with the CIA, arose during the time of Clinton's election in 1992, when the Cold War was over and the future position of America and the CIA was under debate. The end of the Cold War placed a notion regarding presidents that came and went, bureaucracies that lasted, and in this new geopolitical era, the CIA was under great pressure to validate its economical plan. The CIA would have been forced to change, besides of who was in the White House, and Clinton's focus on domestic worries only served to aggravate the situation. As president, Clinton was persistent that all the organs of government - including the CIA - be directed to assist him in domestic tasks.

16 President Bush s plan was approved and later affirmed by the G-7 leaders headed by Great Britain's Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the London Summit of President Bush pressured Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir not to retaliate and withdraw Israeli jets, fearing that if Israel attacked Iraq, the other Arab nations would either desert the Coalition or join Iraq. Huge in showing the power the president played in this conflict and the influence that he was able to have. After the signing of General Framework Agreement for Peace on December 14, 1995, the Operation Joint Endeavor came into force. Clinton at first was very influential, as the issue progressed his actions and rhetoric lost credibility. Due to the Croat offensive of Operation Storm however, Clinton could now assert his diplomatic position with more force now that the political climate had shifted. Clinton s role however became more prominent after a Croat counter-offensive, Operation Storm, on August 5, 1995, reversed a great expanse of Serbia s territorial gains, dealing a crippling blow to the Serbian war machine, which until now had faced no such defeats

17 President Bush: Operation Desert Shield Before the war, polls showed that the country was split evenly about whether to wait for economic sanctions to work or to just go ahead with an attack On the day after airstrikes began, 79% of people said the US was right to attack And 40% said they thought the war would be over within a few weeks 66% the weekend before By the end of the Gulf War, polling showed that Bush had an approval rating of 89% (the only other President s to have an approval rating in the 80%s were Truman, JFK and FDR President Clinton: Involvement in the NATO commitment to Bosnia Only half, 48%, of the public initially supported air strikes. However, once the Clinton administration decided to take action public perception increased 23 to 40 percent. It was President Clinton s display of leadership which the public responded to even while being split on the issue of intervention. After the deployment of troops prove successful this increased even further.

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