The 1990 s 41015 Persian War Saddam Hussein

The 1990 s 4/10/15

Persian War �Saddam Hussein took over Kuwait and took control of their oil fields �Bush was concerned because this was close to Saudi Arabia, a country that had vital interests to the US � Operation Desert Storm � Congress voted by a narrow margin to declare war � Start of the Persian War �War ended quickly but it failed to remove Hussein out of power so America kept their troops in the Middle East � Bin Laden was directly opposed to this and started Al Qaeda

Recession �The nation’s savings and loans from the Reagan years crashed the stock market �National debt had reached $4 trillion �Americans were getting deeper into debt because of their extravagant spending �Bush lost the re-election because of the economy and Bill Clinton was elected to take over after him

Clinton Administration �Clinton built off the work of Reagan and Bush and created North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) �Clinton also created some domestic policies such as Family and Medical Leave Act, Earned income Tax Credit program and a new tax bill that reversed some of the inequities of the 1980 s �Clinton’s attempt on creating a health care program was not successful

Clinton’s Foreign Policy �Wanted to intervene in China because of the protestors who were wanting democracy and were getting killed by the government �Was successful in preventing North Korea from getting nuclear weapons until he left office �Bosnia was in a civil and religious war after the fall of communism and UN and US troops intervened �Kosovo was facing attacks from Albanians and eventually NATO forces kept the peace there

Changing Landscape �Booming economy mainly because of technology with the advent of internet and other inventions �In the 2000 census, the American population grew by 32 million which could be credited to the high immigration rate �Many of the immigrants were now coming from Asia and Latin America because of the banning of discriminatory immigration laws � There was still a divide among Americans between the rich and the poor

War on Terrorism �Osama bin Laden attacked the World Trade Center in 1993 with a bomb attack. � Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act which helped authorities catch terrorists better �Bin Laden was also attacking Kenya and Tanzania �Bombing in Oklahoma City was caused by “superpatriotic” Americans � Rise of a rivalry forming between the Branch Davidians and the FBI � To gain revenge for the killing of the Branch Davidians in Waco, they bombed a federal office in Oklahoma

Mistrust of the Government �Clinton and his wife was found in the midst of a real estate scandal which was called whitewater �Clinton was also charged with sexual assault of Paula Jones and an affair with Monica Lewinsky �Clinton went to an impeachment trial but was not found guilty � Debate on what is an impeachable offense � Constitution states it is “high crimes and misdemeanors”