resolutions-which dictated Saddam’s removal from Kuwait, and no more. His priority was to keep intact the coalition he had shaped, he argued, and to adhere to the international consensus mandated by U.N. In fact, while Bush was condemned for ordering a premature end to the war, he has consistently rejected the criticism. could lead the world so long as it kept its word, and Bush did: the U.S. Bush believed the coalition showed the U.S. But who would Donald call first: Australia? Then, too, the “ratings” for the war (to put it in Trump-speak) were pretty good: Bush’s popularity soared, coalition commander “Stormin’ Norman” Schwarzkopf was a national hero and the idea that America was in retreat (and suffered from a “Vietnam Syndrome”) was put to rest. will demand and expect international support. Should Iran, Russia or North Korea test the U.S., as Saddam did (and as one of them almost certainly will), the U.S.

as a “talk shop,” disdains multinational peacekeeping agreements, conducts foreign policy by tweet, hangs up on prime ministers and thinks NATO is “obsolete”-would have the same success. It’s hard to imagine that Donald Trump-who describes the U.N. versus Saddam, but Saddam versus the world. could have acted alone, and won, but the coalition lent credibility: It wasn’t the U.S. A diverse conglomeration of 39 nations joined the U.S.-led effort (Great Britain, Canada and Australia to be sure, but also Syria, Bangladesh and Honduras), contributing troops, weapons, expertise and some $42 billion of the $62 billion cost of the war. The “mother of all battles” (as Saddam bragged) was “the mother of all victories”-the last clear and decisive military triumph in American history.įor Bush, the coalition he shaped through endless telephone calls and personal meetings, was the key to victory. “We set the goal, formed the coalition, did the diplomacy, gave peace a chance, had the fight, defined the mission of the battle, fought and won,” as Bush succinctly put it. and coalition of troops to defend Saudi Arabia, then fought a 100- hour ground war (preceded by a 900-hour air war), dubbed Operation Desert Storm, that expelled Saddam’s army from Kuwait. to condemn his invasion, deployed hundreds of thousands of U.S. In the weeks following Saddam’s aggression, Bush recruited an international coalition of countries to oppose him, gained the approval of the U.N. When Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait on Augand Bush seemed to waver, Thatcher bucked him up: “Don’t go all wobbly on me, George,” she said.

Even British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher had doubts. Forty years later, in October of 1987, he was labeled a “wimp” by Newsweek, which questioned whether he was “tough enough” to succeed Ronald Reagan as president. It takes a lot of sand to fly into the teeth of enemy fire, but Bush’s reputation for courage didn’t stick. Bush later joked that he would have made a modest meal, as he was “a skinny wretch.” Afloat on a life raft, Bush admits he feared the Japanese would find him and deliver him to Chichi Jima’s commander who, after the war, was executed for murdering captured American pilots and eating their livers. As his aircraft spun seaward, Bush ordered his gunner and bombardier out of the plane, then climbed onto the wing and parachuted into the sea. Bush’s TBM Avenger was shot down on a bombing run over Chichi Jima, a Japanese held island.

Wimp battle nations