The Gulf War and What is Reality?

The Gulf War began with the United States' response to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, a massive aerial offensive against Iraqi military and civilian infrastructure. After five weeks, ground forces were deployed, successfully liberating the Kuwaitis from Iraqi occupation and advancing into Iraqi territory. Within a month, from the 17th of January to the 28th of February of 1991, the fighting was over and Kuwait was safe.

Many would argue that the Gulf War holds some degree of significance as an event shaping the geopolitical realities of the late 20th century to today. The Gulf War showed how a strong air force could successfully deter a ground offensive, proving to be a decisive victory for the US-led coalition. It also showed the hegemonic presence of the US in international affairs by the 1990's, a vision of a new world post-Cold War. It also led to a couple of rising problems: instability in these Middle Eastern regions, a growing anti-American sentiment, and the fact that Saddam Hussein, the brutal dictator of Iraq, was still in power. Overall, many would agree that the Gulf War remains a powerful historical event that sets the foundation for many other events that would take place later on in the 21st century.

However, a few (postmodern) thinkers would take up a far more radical position that the Gulf War did not even take place. This viewpoint came to fruition with Jean Baudrillard's The Gulf War Did Not Take Place, written in 1991. He specifically argued that the Gulf War was not really a war, and rather media images were used to significantly alter the public's perceptions of the actual events taking place within the Gulf War in order to justify the massive military mobilization. This could be seen when the Gulf War itself had around 20 Public Relations companies behind it to mobilize public opinion against Iraq in order to justify US intervention. As a result, the war itself became a media spectacle, a simulation, enacted for the consumption of the American people.

This particular work of Baudrillard fits pretty nicely into his larger theories regarding reality, or the lack thereof. His 1981 work, Simulacra and Simulation, sets the foundation for many of his ideas present in The Gulf War Did Not Take Place. Baudrillard's overarching message is that our current society has replaced reality with meaningless symbols and signs. Reality has morphed into a simulation, and then into hyperreality, where it even becomes impossible to distinguish between what is real and what is a simulation.

Overall, the Gulf War marked a period of change within international affairs, whether that means a new unipolar world with the United States as the dominant superpower, or a hyperreality with the entirety of society replaced by meaningless signs and symbols, as seen with the media spectacle that consumed the Gulf War and instead repurposed it as a justification for US intervention.

Sources:
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2007/mar/07/guardianobituaries.france
http://www.prwatch.org/books/tsigfy10.html