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On Kuwait LIBERATE KUWAIT CASE On August 2, 1990, when Iraq invaded Kuwait, the United States had to decide how to handle the situation. Should they use offensive force or will sanctions be effective in driving Iraq out of Kuwait? This was the main question that President Bush and his advisors had to answer. Unfortunately, not everyone had the same opinion on how to solve the situation.
Shortly after Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait President Bush made a statement in which he stated that? Iraq must completely withdraw from Kuwait? (236). President Bush felt that the only successful method in liberating Kuwait was to use force. Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense, also agreed with the President. He felt that sanctions on Iraq were not effective and it would not guarantee success. However, Colin Powell, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, felt that alternatives were not being considered equally.
Powell thought that containment and economic sanctions on Iraq could prove to be effective. General Powell talked to Brent Scowcroft, National Security Council Director, to see if the alternatives were being discussed with the President. As National Security Director it was his job to see that all alternatives would be equally weighed. Scowcroft, however, agreed with the President that sanctions were not working. In October Powell told General Schwarzkoph that Bush wanted a preliminary plan of an offensive attack. There were three phases of the plan.
The first three were an air attack, and the fourth plan was a ground attack. The plan was considered to be inadequate, the U. S. did not have enough forces to attack. ? On October 30, 1990, President bush met with Powell, Cheney, Scowcroft, and Baker to discuss what policy was to be used, Deter-and defend, or an offensive plan? (245). There are some important lessons form this case study that should be reviewed.
One aspect is the miscommunication or lack of it. From the beginning their was no real organization to the methods that were being discussed. Instead of a group effort to find an effective solution on liberating Kuwait, several top advisors had their own opinion and acted solely on them, sometimes without consulting other officials. One example of this is when Cheney went on major networks and announced, in different ways, that the United States might send more troops to Kuwait.
Neither Powell or Schwarzkoph were told of this decision beforehand. Throughout this case there was always the issue of the alternatives not adequately being considered. Powell told Scowcroft several times that alternatives should be discussed before coming to a conclusion to liberate Kuwait. However, Scowcroft was unwilling to cooperate with Powell on this issue.
When President Bush did meet with his advisors the meetings were not very productive. Another important point is the fact that plans were not carried through. One example is when Baker told Powell that there will be a meeting with Bush to discuss the advantages of containment. There was never a meeting in regards to this.
President Bush? s foremost commitment was to devise a plan that would guarantee success. In his opinion, that meant using force to liberate Kuwait. President Bush was biased to the plan of action and did not consider any other plan equally. This case study relates the to other cases we have discussed in this class. One case it relates to is the Challenger Case.
In both cases, the alternatives were not clearly discussed. In the Challenger Case NASA could have considered ther alternative of lift off at a later time that day, but it was never discussed. Another case it relates to is the Move Disaster case. In both cases there was a lack of organization in finding the right method to solve the situation. In the Move Disaster case there should have been more qualified personnel involved to help the city officials come to an appropriate solution. This was never accomplished.
All the case studies we have studied so far are related in many different ways. 314
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