The foreign policy and military policy of those years, then, is the product of both Bill and Hillary.
When discussing military activities, it is important to note that officially planned and authorized operations are given names in all capital letters.
The two major regions for Clinton’s military operations were the Balkans and southwest Asia. In these places, Clinton used drones extensively, both for reconnaissance and for attack.
Shortly before Clinton took office, the country of Yugoslavia had disintegrated into six or seven smaller nations: Slovenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro, Croatia, Serbia, and Kosovo. These nations were often at war with each other, and often experiencing civil war within themselves.
For a variety of reasons, President Bill Clinton made extensive use of the United States military, supporting one side or another in these conflicts.
Operations DENY FLIGHT (12 April 1993 - 20 December 1995) and DELIBERATE FORCE (30 August 1995 - 20 September 1995) were conducted over the countries which composed the former Yugoslavia. The latter operation alone dropped more than 1,026 bombs, primarily on Serbia.
An operation variously named ALLIED FORCE or NOBLE ANVIL (24 March 1999 to 10 June 1999) directed several thousand bombs and missiles against regions within the area of the former Yugoslavia.
The Balkans received much of Clinton’s attention. Other major operations in the territories of the former Yugoslavia included ABLE SENTRY (1993), QUICK LIFT (1995), NOMAD VIGIL (1995) and NOMAD ENDEAVOR (1997), PHOENIX MOAT and JOINT ENDEAVOR (1995), DECISIVE EDGE (1996), JOINT GUARD and DELIBERATE GUARD (1996), SILVER WAKE (1997), DETERMINED FALCON (1998), DELIBERATE FORGE (1998), BALKON CALM (1998), EAGLE EYE (1998), SUSTAIN HOPE or SHINING HOPE (1999), JOINT GUARDIAN (1999), and JOINT FORCE (1999).
In southwest Asia, Clinton’s main focus was on Iraq. Concerned about the dictator Saddam Hussein’s manufacturing of weapons of mass destruction, President Bill Clinton ordered numerous bombings in an effort to destroy the factories and laboratories which were producing biological and chemical weapons (including poison gas).
Clinton was also hoping to reduce or stop Hussein’s genocidal killing of the Kurds. Kurds are an ethnic minority in northern Iraq. Likewise, Clinton hoped to slow the Baath Party’s human rights violations. ‘Baath’ was the name of Hussein’s political party; it routinely tortured, blackmailed, extorted, and murdered Iraqi citizens.
The military uses the term ‘SW Asia’ for what the news media call the ‘Near East’ or ‘Middle East’ - operations there included INTRINSIC ACTION (1993), VIGILANT WARRIOR and VIGILANT SENTINEL (1993), QUICK TRANSIT (1997), NORTHERN WATCH (1997), PHOENIX SCORPION (1997), and DESERT THUNDER (1998).
A one-day operation named DESERT STRIKE (03 September 1996) sent 44 missiles in Iraq.
In operation DESERT FOX (16 December 1998 to 19 December 1998), over 600 missiles and bombs were directed against Iran’s weapons of mass destruction (WMD).
The missions listed above, along with others not mentioned here, involved thousands of soldiers and aircraft. Thousands of sorties were flown, and thousands of bombs and missiles used in Yugoslavia and Iraq. A ‘sortie’ is a mission for a military aircraft.
President Bill Clinton requested and authorized missions in other parts of the world, as well. But his main attention was directed toward the two regions discussed above.
Naturally, there has been extensive political debate about these uses of the United States military forces. Were these missions in the best interests of the United States? Presidents are expected to take military action when the nation’s interests can be served that way.
Clinton’s predecessor in the White House, President George H.W. Bush, used the military less than Clinton did. Clinton’s successor, President George W. Bush, used the military to the same extent, or perhaps more, than Clinton did.
