10.3 Foreign Policy After the Cold War

Notes

With the Soviet Union gone, the U.S. was the world's only superpower. Leaders debated when to use that power.

• Persian Gulf War (1991): after Iraq's Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, President George H.W. Bush built a broad UN-backed coalition. Operation Desert Storm drove Iraq out of Kuwait in weeks.
• President Bill Clinton sent U.S. forces on missions in Somalia (1992 to 1994, where 18 Americans died in a 1993 battle), Haiti and the Balkans.
• In Bosnia and Kosovo, NATO used air power to stop ethnic cleansing. The U.S. helped negotiate the Dayton Accords (1995).
• The U.S. and the world did not act to stop the Rwandan genocide (1994), a failure later leaders regretted.
• Example: after the losses in Somalia, many Americans became wary of sending troops into conflicts where U.S. interests seemed unclear.