Desert Storm vs. Epic Fury…Maybe Branding matters?
America and the just war tradition
35 years ago, I was a senior at the University of Notre Dame, and a Navy ROTC midshipman. In the first week of that second semester, on January 17, 1991, the air war started started in Operation Desert Storm. Faculty members who were also Catholic clergy started handing out conscientious objector forms in class.
By then, I had completed six hours of both theology and philosophy, required of all undergrads at the time. The previous semester, I completed an ethics course for my second philosophy requirement. This seminar focused on just war theory as the international coalition was being built and U.S. forces massed in the Persian Gulf.
In general, the principles of justice in war are: having just cause, being a last resort, being declared by a proper authority, possessing right intention, having a reasonable chance of success, and the end being proportional to the means used. Now, these are very broad terms and have been the cause of debate for centuries, dating back to early Church scholars including Saint Augustine and Saint Thomas Aquinas. They were hotly debated 35 years ago, they were after the 9/11 attacks, and they are today.
That 1991 war in Southwest Asia was quite different from the one ongoing today. First, the Gulf War had a clear and limited mission: drive Iraqi forces out of Kuwait. It had wide international support and cooperation, involving a UN-backed 35-nation coalition. The active combat phase lasted six weeks, following a roughly six-month period that commenced when Iraq invaded Kuwait in August, 1990.
From August 1990 to mid-January 1991, the United States embarked on a campaign to grow consensus and support from the international community while building up its forces in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states. The ground war would last only 100 hours before the ceasefire was declared on February 28. Iraq’s dictator, Saddam Hussein, remained in power.
The final armistice was signed April 11, confirming Kuwait’s sovereignty and subjecting Iraq to UN weapons inspections and the dismantling of its weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programs, as well as the establishment of a demilitarized zone (DMZ) at the Kuwaiti-Iraqi border. Iraq was also subject to oil sanctions and reparations payments to Kuwait.
However one feels about the Gulf War the cause, declaration, intent, and proportion as opposed to the endgame certainly appear different than those behind Operation Epic Fury.
Let’s start with cause. The United States supposedly obliterated Iran’s nuclear capability in the so-called 12-Day War last summer. Yet, in late February, the administration sent New York City real estate tycoons Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Geneva to meet with Iranian leaders to negotiate disarmament. 48 hours later, in cooperation with the Israelis, the U.S. began bombing Iran, and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in the first day of hostilities. Understandably, the Iranians see Witkoff and Kushner as betrayers.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio was left to explain things to Congress. He stated in remarks over March 2 and March 3 that the U.S. had to act since Israel was going to act anyway, and prevent retaliation against American troops. He clarified that that Israel was focused on regime change and the U.S. focused on eliminating nuclear and ballistic threats.
The cause and intent remain murky. The President has backtracked from calling it a war to referring to it from time to time as a “conflict” or “operation.” The War Powers Resolution has a 60-day clock for “unauthorized hostilities,” meaning Congress needs to act around mid-April to authorize funds.
Our largest problem is how this thing ends. The first ten days of the Iranian war killed many of the regime’s leaders and decimated much of its navy. This could have been an appropriate stopping point. But after the quick hit, the quagmire of words and missiles grew.
The random threats via social media also signal unfocused intent. Beginning March 21, the President has threatened five separate times to bomb Iran’s energy grid – issuing ultimatums and then shifting the deadline. On April 1, in a speech to the nation, the President stated that the Strait of Hormuz did not have to reopen to end the war.
The Strait, closed since March 2, is snarling global trade. In addition to oil and natural gas, one-fifth of the world’s aluminum moves through the Persian Gulf. Aluminum prices are already up 10 percent, and reworked tariffs now apply to entire products made from aluminum, not just raw aluminum imports. American construction and manufacturing sectors will feel this pain very soon. Shipping insurance rates have gone up 50-100 percent since March 2, vastly disrupting commodity trade.
On April 2, Great Britain led a conference call of some 40 nations to address a potential coalition effort to reopen the Strait of Hormuz for safe transit. The United States was not invited to that call.
The United States is rapidly expending its missile and interceptor inventory against a shrinking number of targets. As I have previously written, it will take 12-24 months to replenish these stocks (If I know this, the North Koreans, Chinese and Russians certainly do as well.). What remains of Iranian military, ballistic missile and nuclear capability is now in hardened bunkers.
In his threats against the Iranian energy grid the President shows intent against civilian targets which under international conventions could constitute a war crime.
35 years ago we launched a six-week military operation in Kuwait with a clear objective, international cooperation, advance Congressional approval for the use of force, overwhelming battlefield superiority, and a quick diplomatic resolution to the conflict when combat operations ceased.
Five weeks into the Operation Epic Fury the United States is operating in isolation without a clear purpose, our diplomatic mechanisms are blunted and clumsy, global shipping is hamstrung, commodity markets are in turmoil, and our military is being stretched thin. Far worse, without a clear intent or goal, an endgame is hard to define. It is quite difficult to justify the cause, intent, declaration, likelihood of success, or proportion in relation to the end – largely because of the lack of coherent planning, resolve, diplomatic structure or firm stated goal.
I’m writing this on Good Friday, a day when thousands of New Mexicans spend the day making pilgrimages. Pope Leo XIV, the first American Pope, has been sharp in his rebukes about Operation Epic Fury, particularly regarding proportionality when the U.S. threatens the civilian infrastructure of Iran, and seeming to directly rebuke Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth in his Palm Sunday address.
Hegseth delivered a livestreamed prayer at a Pentagon prayer service on March 25 that asked for U.S. munitions to be lethal and included prayers for “overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy.” Pope Leo said in his Palm Sunday address that God "does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war" with a heart for vengeance.
(On April 2, Hegseth fired the Army Chief of Staff, and the Army Chief of Chaplains. The New York Times has reported the ouster of the Chief of Staff, the most senior officer in the Army, was due to his refusal to remove two female and two Black officers from a promotion list at Hegseth’s direction. The Chief of Chaplains is a Black Southern Baptist minister.)
I wish you tranquility and focus this Easter and Passover week.
Merritt Hamilton Allen is a PR executive and former Navy officer. She appeared regularly as a panelist on NM PBS and is a frequent guest on News Radio KKOB. A Republican for 36 years, she became an independent upon reading the 2024 Republican platform. She lives amicably with her Democratic husband north of I-40 where they run one head of dog, and one of cat. She can be reached at news.ind.merritt@gmail.com.