In the beginning of August 1990, Saddam Hussein, president of Iraq, had built up troops on the southeastern border of his country. Everyone knew he was going to order an invasion into the small country of Kuwait, lying just on the other side of the crowded imaginary line. Sure enough, on August 2, troops poured into Kuwait, terrorizing and killing many people (Bratman 5).
Hussein’s main objective seemed to be to get another ten percent of the world’s oil supply that was flowing beneath the teeny country, but it was more than that (Encarta n.p.).
After taking the oil, he hoped to reunite his own country with the money he made from additional oil sales (“The War” n.p.).
Iraq also owed a large sum of money to Kuwait for expenses in the Iran/Iraq war. Taking over Kuwait would cancel this debt. Hussein also clamed that he had fought the Iranians for the benefit of all Arab nations, and that Kuwait owed him for that. He also somehow convinced himself that Kuwait should be part of his country because it had been a province of the Ottoman Empire, which was based in Iraq. Kuwait became independent just before Iraq itself was formed (Deese 300B).
Having considered all of his reasons to invade Kuwait, it almost made sense.
Unfortunately for Saddam, the U.S. wasn’t about to stand around and let this happen. Within hours of the attack, President Bush had started forming a broad-based international coalition (“The Gulf War”n.p.).
On August 7, five days after the invasion started, Bush announced he would send troops to the Middle East to help defend Saudi Arabia (Deese 300C).
The Essay on Iraqi Kuwait Iraq War
... are three main reasons why Iraq invaded Kuwait. The main reason was that the small country of Kuwait was filled with oil rigs that ... Saddam Hussein, the leader of the Iraqi government, decided that the rest of the world would not defend Kuwait. So, on August 2 ... Outline The Second Persian Gulf War began August 2 nd 1990, with the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and ended March 3 rd 1991 with ...
This action came to be known as Operation Desert Shield. Before even that was done, all Iraqi assets in the U.S. such as money and other useful things had been shut down (Bratman 6).
When the coalition was organized, the various countries agreed to set the deadline for Saddam and his troops to be out of Kuwait for January 15, 1991 (“The War” n.p.).
Although the United States was a large part of it, neighboring Arab countries also did what they could. Before even joining the coalition, Arabs first tried to solve the problem themselves (Encarta n.p.).
The president of Jordan went and talked with Hussein to see if he could get him to back down. When their plan failed, they gave up and joined forces with the UN (Bratman 7,10).
Troops were supplied from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Oman, and Syria to defend the Saudis (Deese 300C).
Only the Oman troops had combat experience (“The Gulf War” n.p.).
Not all Arab groups supported the coalition. The Palestinian Liberation Organization, a well-known terrorist group, openly supported Iraq. Jordan made an obvious effort to stay neutral, but eventually also sided with Hussein. Yemen was an Iraqi supporter from the beginning. With all of these groups under his command, Saddam had a sizable army (Deese 300C).
The United Nations (UN), was also immediately involved. They soon passed several resolutions to condemn Iraq and demand a complete withdrawal from Kuwait (Encarta n.p.).
Many countries in the UN that couldn’t afford to send troops sent money instead. Over $53 billion dollars were raised this way, with Saudi Arabia and Kuwait acting as the largest donors (“The Gulf War” n.p.).
The UN also agreed to start an embargo against Iraq. An embargo is when nothing is bought from or sold to a country. Only medical supplies and emergency food could be purchased (Bratman 31).
On Aug. 25, 1990, the UN authorized use of force to carry out the embargo (Deese 300C).
Despite intense pressure on Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait, Saddam failed to meet the Jan. 15 deadline. During the night of Jan. 17 the bombings began. In response to these raids, Hussein launched missiles into Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, Israel. By doing this, Saddam hoped to drum up support from other Arab nations by creating a smoke screen, reminding them of their long-time difficulties with Israel (Bratman 39).
The Term Paper on Television In Iraq Saddam Hussein
... America brought television to Iraq. Prior to the fall of Saddam Hussein, most Iraqi's had access to only ... in the economy with the invasion of Kuwait, sanctions, and damage done by the war. The ... are providing more than 13, 000 troops to help stabilize Iraq. More than two-dozen nations have ... Coalition forces are still in Iraq fighting the insurgents. There is much to be done with assisting the Iraqi ...
His plan almost worked. If Bush hadn’t been able to persuade Israel not to fire back, many Arab countries may have deserted the coalition. Fortunately, Saddam’s plan failed, and the fight was almost over (Encarta n.p.).
Many attempts at negotiations were made. The USSR, a group that normally acts as an Iraqi ally, joined the coalition after pressing for lengthy negotiations. These negotiations gave Bush time to build up more troops and supplies in Desert Shield (Encarta n.p.).
The USSR eventually presented a plan in early February 1991 to prevent a ground war, but the UN rejected it because it didn’t meet certain resolutions. During US negotiations with Iraq, Saddam’s diplomats made many attempts to settle for just part of Kuwait, but these requests were ignored, and no agreements were made.
The final battle was indeed a very glorious one. On February 24, 1991, the ground war began. It wasn’t a good idea to take on all the Iraqi soldiers at one time; this would have caused too many casualties. Instead the military depended on strategy. The coalition took its navy forces and put them near the coast of Kuwait, making it look like they would attack from the gulf. Hussein did as General Schwarzkopf had hoped and put the main concentrations of his forces on the Kuwaiti coastline. Instead of attacking there, he instead sent troops in and directly west, systematically cutting off all the escape routes. We took the Iraqis completely by surprise. US troops met little resistance, as almost all of the Iraqi troops made the quick decision to surrender. Enemy troops were soon neutralized and driven back to their own capital of Baghdad. Kuwait was independent once again (Bratman 58).
After all was done, Many people said Bush had been premature in not removing Hussein from power. Bush replied with these words: “Kuwait is liberated. Iraq’s army is defeated. Our military objectives are met. Kuwait is once again in the hand’s of Kuwaitis [who are] in control of their own destiny” (Bratman 59).
The war was now over, and it had certainly been an ugly one. Allied casualties were 149 with 513 wounded. Official estimates of Iraqi deaths range from 8,000 to 25,000, with unofficial estimates reaching more than 100,000 killed in action (“The Gulf War”n.p.).
The Term Paper on Gulf War Iraq Oil Kuwait
... environmental damage. Two days after ground war began, Iraq announced it was leaving Kuwait. On leaving Kuwait the Iraqis blew up 732 well heads ... 1991, over half a million allied troops were deployed in Saudi Arabia and throughout the Gulf region. When diplomacy failed between the ... almost retaliated but held back on the advice of President Bush. The Americans promised to protect Israel from the SCUD ...
Bibliography
Bratman, Fred. War in the Persian Gulf. Brookfield, CT, Millbrook Press, 1991.
Bush, George Herbert Walker. “Operation Desert Storm.” Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia ’99. CD-ROM. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation, 1993- 1998.
Deese, David A. “Persian Gulf War.” The World Book Encyclopedia. 2000 ed.
“The Gulf War.” 2/07/01 Online Text. <http://www. netwizards.net/-cryan/war.html>
“The War.” 2/07/01 Online Text. <http://www.geocities.com/Athens/6506/war.html>
