ABSTRACT
In the Persian Gulf War in 1991, the Armed Forces of the United States demonstrated to the world their new capabilities, recovering a reputation that had been badly tarnished in Vietnam. 2 President Bush told the nation the “Vietnam syndrome” was fi nally behind us. 3 The short war, low casualties, and decisive defeat of one of the largest armies on the planet, was arguably a function of the Goldwater-Nichols Act, the Reagan military buildup, the Weinberger/Powell doctrine, the efforts of military leaders to reconstruct the armed forces, the type of civil-military relations practiced by President George Bush, and the new, more assertive and unifi ed military leadership. However, the coalition led by the US fought a single, isolated, nonWestern, developing state that depended on Western technology and know-how to maintain its armed forces. Arab states and Muslim cultures have militarily performed very poorly against Western nations . Operation Desert Storm was not a real test of the recently resurrected armed forces of the United States.
