The Golf War
- The events of 1989-1991 ad left the United States in the unanticipated position of being the only real superpower in the world.
- The United States would reduce its military strength dramatically and concentrate its energies and resources on pressing domestic problems.
- America would continue to use its power actively, not to fight communism but to defend its regional and economic interests.
- In 1989, that led the administration to order an invasion of Panama.
- On August 2, 1990, the armed forces of Iraq invaded and quickly overwhelmed their small, oil-rich neighbor, the emirate of Kuwait.
- On February 28 Iraq announced its acceptance of allied terms for a cease-fire, and the brief Persian Gulf War came to an end.