ABSTRACT
Long-standing allies of the United States in the Middle East such as Saudi Arabia and Israel continued to influence American actions in the region, although without the need to assess what the Soviet Bloc might do. One of the first conflicts of the post–Cold War world was the Persian Gulf War of August 1990–February 1991. One of Iraq’s main motives for this invasion was the severe economic crisis it experienced at the end of the Iran–Iraq War. The military campaign to remove Iraqi troops from Kuwait commenced with an aerial bombardment of Iraq and Kuwait on January 17, 1991. Iraq had acquired a lot of military hardware during the Iran–Iraq War from international arms dealers. The United States established a much stricter policy regarding what the media was allowed to report than during the Vietnam War. The Taliban imposed a regime that interpreted Sharia law as forbidding a wide variety of activities.
