Iran-Contra and Black Monday

In 1987 America learned that the administration had secretly sold arms to Iran in an attempt to win freedom for American hostages held in Lebanon by radical organizations controlled by Iran’s Khomeini government. Investigation also revealed that funds from the arms sales had been diverted to the Nicaraguan contras during a period when Congress had prohibited such military aid.

The ensuing Iran-contras hearings before a joint House-Senate committee examined issues of possible illegality as well as the broader question of defining American foreign policy interests in the Middle East and Central America.

The same year the US suffered an economic setback. October 19, 1987, was the worst day in Wall Street history with the Dow Jones industrial average having lost 508 points (22.6%) The collapse was blamed on computerized trading and a panic reaction. The situation immediately brought back the memories of the fabled stock market crash of 1929.

Luckily, the nation recovered in a remarkably short time and economic growth continued.

Reagan’s vice-president during all eight years of his presidency, George Bush, was elected the 41^st president of the USA.

Bush campaigned by promising voters a continuation of the prosperity Reagan had brought; promised not to levy new taxes.

During his first year in office, Bush followed a conservative fiscal program, yet in 1990, he introduced changes in policy: to impose new federal standards on urban smog, automobile exhaust, toxic air pollution and acid rain, but most of the costs were assigned to industrial polluters. Costs for physically disabled were transferred to business.

In January 1990 President Bush presented his budget proposal to Congress, saying that changing circumstances in the national economy meant tax increase.

During Bush’s presidency the relations between the USA and the USSR were more than successful. The first meeting between Bush and Gorbachev was held in Malta in 1989. In 1990 President Bush announced his intention to cut US troops stationed in Europe to 195,000. Then he held discussions with the Soviets on arms control as well as the unification of East and West Germany.

On September 12, 1990, the Treaty on the Final Settlement with respect to Germany was signed in Moscow.

President Bush and the heads of states of 21 other countries signed the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) in 1990, at a three-day summit meeting of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE). It covered thousand of tanks, aircrafts and artillery pieces destroyed by NATO and the countries of the former Warsaw Pact form Atlantic to the Ural Mountains.

Later President Bush and President Boris Yeltsin agreed to eliminate all multiple-warhead missiles completely by the year 2003. The Cold War was over.

The Gulf War

The euphoria caused by the end of the Cold War was overshadowed by the August 2, 1990, invasion of Kuwait by Iraq. Iraqi control of Kuwait and the danger it posed to Saudi Arabia and the smaller Gulf states threatened a vital US interest, because the US and West in general remained dependent on this region for much of its oil suppliers.

Bush called for Iraq’s immediate and unconditional withdrawal. An emergency session of the UN Security Council voted unanimously to condemn Iraq, urge a cease-fire and demand the withdrawal of Iraqi troops from Kuwait.

Later in August, Iraq announced the annexation of Kuwait, ordered the closing of all embassies in that country, and began taking US and British citizens in Kuwait hostages. On August 8, President Bush went on national television to announce the deployment of US troops to the Middle East.

The UN Security Council passed 12 resolutions condemning the Iraqi invasion and imposing economic sanctions on Iraq. The 12^th resolution, issued on November 29, approved the use of force by UN member states if Iraq did not withdraw from Kuwait by January 15, 1998.

Members of Congress called on peaceful means of resolving the Gulf crisis. They wanted Bush to get congressional backing before going to war.

On January 12, 1991, three days before the UN deadline, Congress granted President Bush the authority he sought in the most explicit and sweeping war-making power given a president in nearly half a century.

War broke out less than 24 hours after the UN deadline. The USA, Great Britain, France, Italy, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait succeeded in liberating Kuwait with a devastating, US-led air campaign that lasted slightly more than a month. It was followed by a massive invasion of Kuwait and Iraq by armored and airborne infantry forces. The land campaign lasted only 100 hours.

On January 16, 1991, US and allied planes stroke Iraq at 6/45 p.m., Eastern Time. The planes attacked Iraq’s communications systems, its nuclear bomb potential, chemical weapons plants and artillery and tanks. Some 1000 sorties were flown in the next 14 hours.

On January 23, oil began to spill into the Persian Gulf from Iraqi oil plants located in Kuwait. By the end of the month, the oil slick was 60 miles long and 20 miles wide.

On February 15, Iraq made an offer to leave Kuwait, but named conditions such as end to economic sanctions and a promise of no reparations for the war. President Bush rejected the offer as a “cruel hoax”,

On February 23, a general invasion was launched by the US and allied troops in Saudi Arabia. Operations “Desert Storm” sent 200,000 soldiers against the Iraqi forces in Kuwait.

On February 27, President Bush suspended military operations in the Gulf. When casualties were later totaled, the US announced that it suffered 148 individuals n(11 women) killed and 458 wounded in combat.

The Gulf War enabled the US to persuade the Arab states, Israel and a Palestinian delegation to begin direct negotiations aimed at resolving the issues that could lead to a lasting peace in the region. The talks began in Madrid, Spain, on October 30, 1991. They resulted in a historic agreement between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization, signed at the White House on September 13. 1993.