Courtesy of the U.S. Marine Corps (DM-SC-93-05214)
U.S. Marine artillerymen set up their 155 mm howitzer for a fire mission against Iraqi positions on Jan. 20, 1991, during Operation Desert Storm.
As we approach the 20th anniversary of the 1991 Gulf War, it seems appropriate to ask what we should learn from that conflict.
One important lesson is that the United States has an outstanding military. This is clear today, but in 1991 it was not obvious. The negative impact of the Vietnam War on the military lingered for many years after the end of the U.S. involvement in that conflict. Fortunately, a group of dedicated officers and enlisted personnel stayed in the military after Vietnam and worked very hard to create the military we have today. We owe them a great deal. And the Gulf War was a demonstration of the success of their efforts.
However, there is a larger lesson to be remembered from the Gulf War: There are limits to what military force can achieve. Military force expelled Iraq from Kuwait. But this did not result in the fall of Saddam Hussein.
In 2003, the goal was more ambitious and military force defeated the Iraqi army and caused Saddam Hussein to fall from power. But by itself it could not — and cannot — create a stable Iraq.
This is the main lesson of the Gulf War: Military force is a powerful tool, but we need to understand its limitations. It cannot solve all our problems. While there may be a role for military force if our goal is to create political stability in a country, force by itself cannot produce success. It takes a major multidimensional effort over an extended period of time to achieve our objectives.
We should keep this in mind before we decide to commit our military to achieve political change. Military force may be able to restore a government to power, but by itself military force cannot create a government.
Richard J. Stoll, Ph.D., is the Albert Thomas Professor of Political Science at Rice University, and a Rice scholar at the Baker Institute. Stoll’s current research includes forecasting terrorism, accounting for Chinese international economic activity and predicting support for NATO’s mission in Afghanistan among European countries.