Pros And Cons Of Military Intervention

When is Military Intervention Justifiable? War and political conflicts are prevalent in majority of this world, but whether humanitarian and military intervention is necessary and just is a pressing, debatable topic. This is a topic which causes a political divide within the people of a nation. Here, in the United States, there are incidents of military intervention from the U.S. military dating back to the 1990s that are still being debated today. Although the costs of war are tremendous, there are times when military intervention is not only justifiable but necessary. If there are numerous lives being lost or in danger, and all other attempts to solve the conflict have failed, it is justifiable for a military with just intentions and the correct authority to intervene. Humanitarian intervention can be defined as the act of using military force in an attempt to suppress civilian suffering at the hands of their government. There are many

Saddam Hussein, an Iraqi leader, ordered a mission to invade and take over Kuwait in 1990, creating a just cause. With the execution of this plan, the United Arab Emirates contacted the United States, asking for intervention and support, giving the U.S. the right authority. After weighing the pros and cons of intervening and determining the probability of success, operation Desert Storm was initiated in January of 1991. Phase one consisted of a relentless air strike, and phase two consisted of one hundred hours of ground war. The operation was successful. Kuwait was liberated, and the Iraqi armed forces, with the exception for a few army divisions, were destroyed. Overall, the fighting had stopped. The Bush Administration called a cease-fire, but Hussein’s forces continued with their brutality in Iraq. The U.S. and Britain continued to patrol the skies until 2003 when the second Persian-Gulf War, also known as the Iraq War, began (Haass