Middle EastClinton's predecessor, P

Middle East
Clinton's predecessor, President George H. W. Bush, drove invading Iraqi troops out of Kuwait during the First Gulf War. Under President Clinton, the U.S. became the main enforcer for United Nations directives against Iraq, including economic sanctions, military no-fly zones, and weapons inspection teams. But Saddam Hussein persistently interfered and obstructed these goals, resulting in a series of U.S.-led missile strikes in retaliation.

When Saddam Hussein expelled the U.N. inspectors in 1998, President Clinton was convinced that he was rebuilding weapons of mass destruction that he had used in the past. Operation Desert Fox was a four-day bombing raid, targeting existing nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons, and the factories used to make them.

Also in the Middle East, Clinton tried to broker peace for Israel. In 1993, he welcomed Israeli and Palestinian leaders to the White House to shake hands and sign the Oslo Accords. But citizens on both sides felt they had made too many concessions, and two years later, the Israeli Prime Minister was assassinated by a dissatisfied countryman. Before long, the entire agreement had broken down and the violence was as bad as ever.