Karim Sindi's List: Operation Desert Storm Tipping Point

• Saddam Hussein's ambition for power and leadership in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and in the Middle East was a central cause of the invasion of Kuwait. Besides Iraq, OPEC members also included Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Like those countries, Iraq was a major oil-exporting nation. But from 1980 to 1988, Iraq had fought a drawn-out war with its neighbor Iran. Iraq suffered serious economic damage in the Iran-Iraq War. Nevertheless, it emerged from that conflict as the second-strongest military power in the Middle East. Only the Jewish state of Israel was stronger.  

   Hussein argued that Iraq had become the region's chief power opposed to Israel and should thus be recognized by other Arab countries as leader of the Arab world. Since the late 1940's, Arab countries had fought several wars with Israel. Many Arabs wanted to abolish Israel and place its lands under the control of Palestinians and other Arabs.  

   Hussein claimed that, as leader of the Arab world, Iraq should receive help from other Arab countries in rebuilding its economy. According to Hussein, Iraq needed help from OPEC in raising world oil prices, along with the cancellation of debts that Iraq had incurred to Kuwait and other Arab countries to fight the Iran-Iraq War.

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    Discussion:
    
    Saddam's real reason for attacking Kuwait was to establish Iraq as the leader of the the OPEC organization in the hope that he will then be able to raise prices of oil and be able to pay back it's accrued debts from the Iran-Iraq war and reconstruct his country in the process. He tried to reason with fellow OPEC members to raise prices as they had an obligation to help Iraq recover since they had emerged as a power to reckon with in the Middle East who could stand up to Israel if need be. Additionally, he wanted the Arab countries to cancel some of the debts Iraq owed them.
    
    -- 2012-04-28
    "Persian Gulf War, Desert Storm - War with Iraqi." Laughter and Lawter Genealogy Research Center. Web. 28 Apr. 2012. . -- 2012-04-30
    

• What Hussein hoped to gain by taking Kuwait. Saddam Hussein was encouraged by a number of factors to consider an invasion of Kuwait. For example, by seizing Kuwait, Iraq could acquire that country's oil wealth and eliminate the Iraqi debt to Kuwait. Also, Iraq's control of Kuwaiti oil could have greatly increased Iraq's power within OPEC.  

   Hussein also sought better access to the Persian Gulf. Iraq's gulf coastline was extremely short. Kuwait's was much longer and included an excellent harbor. In addition, Hussein probably hoped that an invasion would keep Iraq's military occupied and so end a series of attempts by the military to force him out of power.

  • nullDiscussion:
    
    Saddam's plea fell on deaf ears as Kuwait continued to flood the market with cheap oil foiling Saddam's plan. Consequently, Saddam felt that he had to cut Kuwait out of the equation by invading and annexing it. By doing so, Iraq would gain superiority in OPEC, gain its oil affluence, wipe out its debt owed to Kuwait and add to its Persian Gulf coastline and harbors. In addition, Saddam wanted to engage his army so as to stop them from overthrowing him.
    -- 2012-04-28
    "Persian Gulf War, Desert Storm - War with Iraqi." Laughter and Lawter Genealogy Research Center. Web. 28 Apr. 2012. . -- 2012-04-30
    "Persian Gulf War, Desert Storm - War with Iraqi." Laughter and Lawter Genealogy Research Center. Web. 28 Apr. 2012. . -- 2012-04-30
    
• At 2:00 a.m. on Aug. 2, 1990, hundreds of tanks and other Iraqi forces swept across the Kuwaiti border. Within 24 hours, Iraq had complete control of Kuwait. Thousands of Iraqi troops then moved to Kuwait's border with Saudi Arabia. To some, this movement signaled that Iraq might invade Saudi Arabia. On August 8, Iraq announced that it had annexed Kuwait.

  • nullIt took only 24 hours for Iraq to invade Kuwait and in less than a week they declared that they had annexed it. -- 2012-04-28
    "Persian Gulf War, Desert Storm - War with Iraqi." Laughter and Lawter Genealogy Research Center. Web. 28 Apr. 2012. -- 2012-04-30
    

• Under international law, none of Iraq's claims against Kuwait justified its invasion of that country. The United Nations, as well as the United States and many other countries, condemned the Iraqi invasion. Hussein, however, accused the United States and other nations of following a double standard in their reaction. According to Hussein, if these nations condemned the Iraqi invasion, they should also condemn Israel's continuing occupation of lands it had won from Arab nations in the Arab-Israeli wars. Since the 1970's, the United States had been Israel's chief ally.  

   Arabs in many countries supported Iraq's invasion of Kuwait--particularly poor Arabs and Palestinians. Hussein became a hero to numerous Arabs by confronting Israel and the United States. He gained additional support from poor Arabs by calling for the redistribution of the vast wealth of Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and certain other Arab oil-exporting nations.

  • nullEven though some of the Arab countries supported Iraq's move, the Western countries did not and argued that Saddam's invasion on Kuwait was not justified. The move was also criticized by the UN. -- 2012-04-28
    "Persian Gulf War, Desert Storm - War with Iraqi." Laughter and Lawter Genealogy Research Center. Web. 28 Apr. 2012. -- 2012-04-30
    
• On August 2, at UN Headquarters in New York City, the UN Security Council issued a resolution condemning Iraq's invasion. Soon after the invasion, U.S. President George Bush and other world leaders began working to form an anti-Iraq coalition. The coalition eventually grew to include Afghanistan, Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, Belgium, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Honduras, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Niger, Norway, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, and the United States. Arab members of the coalition were Bahrain, Egypt, Kuwait, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and the United Arab Emirates. South Korea was the only coalition member that was not also a member of the UN. The Arab countries of Jordan, Libya, and Yemen opposed the involvement of non-Arab countries but did not fight against the coalition.

  • nullA coalition force of 39 countries headed by the U.S and Operation Desert Storm was launched. Three Arab nations; Jordan, Libya and Yemen did not endorse the move but neither did they help Iraq to fight off the force. -- 2012-04-28
    "Persian Gulf War, Desert Storm - War with Iraqi." Laughter and Lawter Genealogy Research Center. Web. 28 Apr. 2012. -- 2012-04-30
    

• The air war began at 3 a.m. on Jan. 17, 1991. The coalition aimed first to destroy Iraq's ability to launch attacks. Other goals included eliminating Iraq's biological, chemical, and nuclear weapons facilities; gaining superiority over Iraq's air force; disrupting Iraq's ability to gather information about coalition forces and to communicate with its own forces; and reducing the readiness of Iraqi troops in Kuwait and southern Iraq.  

   Allied aircraft first bombed Baghdad, the capital of Iraq, and then attacked targets throughout Iraq and Kuwait. The allies gradually focused heavy bombing on Iraqi troops; artillery and tanks; transportation routes; and supplies of ammunition, food, fuel, and water.

  • nullOn January 17, 1991, the coalition force began an air raid on Baghdad, Iraq's capital city. They attacked its communication lines, transport systems, military bases and nuclear facilities. -- 2012-04-28
    "Persian Gulf War, Desert Storm - War with Iraqi." Laughter and Lawter Genealogy Research Center. Web. 28 Apr. 2012. -- 2012-04-30
    

• Iraq responded to the start of the air war by launching "Scud" missiles at populated areas in Israel and Saudi Arabia. The Scuds were crude and inaccurate by Western standards. But they terrorized the populations of targeted cities and killed a number of people in both Israel and Saudi Arabia.   

   Analysts believe that Iraq used the attacks on Israel to try to draw it into the war. Had Israel struck back, Iraq might have succeeded in forcing Arab countries out of the coalition by portraying the war as an Arab-Israeli conflict. However, Israel did not enter the war, thus making it much easier to keep the coalition together.

  • nullAt first, Iraq tried to draw in Arab countries by attacking Israel this changing the war to an Arab-Israeli conflict. -- 2012-04-28
    "Persian Gulf War, Desert Storm - War with Iraqi." Laughter and Lawter Genealogy Research Center. Web. 28 Apr. 2012. -- 2012-04-30
    
• At about 4 a.m. on February 24, coalition forces launched a major ground attack into Iraq and Kuwait. The attack consisted of several large operations carried out at the same time. U.S. and French troops invaded Iraq from Saudi Arabia, west of Iraqi fortifications in Kuwait. They moved rapidly north into Iraq and toward the Euphrates River to cut off Iraqi supply lines and to prevent an Iraqi retreat. U.S. and British troops also crossed into Iraq from Saudi Arabia. They moved north into Iraq and then swept east to attack the Iraqi troops.

  • nullThe real ground attack by the coalition forces started on February 24 1991 on Iraq and Kuwait. Major operations were done simultaneously. Some attacks against Iraq were launched from Saudi Arabia, west of Iraq. Then they quickly moved to the Euphrates River to stop the Iraqi army from fleeing and to prevent them from receiving supplies. The U.S and British proceeded to the north of Iraq from Saudi and went east to battle the Iraqi forces. -- 2012-04-28
    "Persian Gulf War, Desert Storm - War with Iraqi." Laughter and Lawter Genealogy Research Center. Web. 28 Apr. 2012. -- 2012-04-30
    

• On February 26, Hussein ordered his troops to leave Kuwait. But by that time, the Iraqi forces had been surrounded. The coalition ended all military operations at 8 a.m. on February 28, about 100 hours after the ground attack had begun.  

   Iraq accepted the terms of a formal cease-fire agreement on April 6. On April 11, the UN Security Council officially declared an end to the war. In the cease-fire agreement, Iraq promised to pay Kuwait for war damages. Iraq also agreed to the destruction of all its biological and chemical weapons, its facilities for producing such weapons, and any facilities or materials it might have for producing nuclear weapons. Iraq did not yet have nuclear weapons, but it was trying to produce them. Iraq stockpiled chemical weapons in Kuwait before the ground war, but there is no evidence that either side used chemical weapons during the war. Neither side used biological or nuclear weapons.  

   After the formal cease-fire, the UN continued the embargo to pressure Iraq to carry out its promises. However, Iraq stubbornly resisted complying with the terms of the cease-fire agreement.

  • null100 hours after the main ground attack, Operation Desert Storm ended as Hussein commanded his army to retreat from Kuwait. Consequently, the coalition forces seized their attack on February 28.
    Iraq agreed to reimburse Kuwait of all the damages caused by the war. It also accepted to demolish its nuclear, chemical and biological arms and facilities. -- 2012-04-28
    "Persian Gulf War, Desert Storm - War with Iraqi." Laughter and Lawter Genealogy Research Center. Web. 28 Apr. 2012. -- 2012-04-30
    
• As many as 100,000 Iraqi troops may have died as a result of the war, but some experts believe the total is much lower. Deaths of coalition troops totaled only about 370. Thousands of civilians in Iraq and Kuwait probably were also killed during the war. Many other Iraqi civilians later died as a result of wartime destruction or because of revolts triggered by Iraq's defeat.

  • nullThe ratio of deaths of Iraqi soldiers to the coalition troops were incomparable. Many Kuwaiti and Iraqi civilians were also brought in to the casualty of the war and many were killed during Iraq's invasion. -- 2012-04-29
    "Persian Gulf War, Desert Storm - War with Iraqi." Laughter and Lawter Genealogy Research Center. Web. 28 Apr. 2012. -- 2012-04-30
    
• Coalition bombing severely damaged Iraq's transportation systems, communication systems, and petroleum and other industries. Coalition attacks also wiped out much of Iraq's ability to provide electric power and clean water. As a result, many civilians died after the warfrom disease or a lack of medicine or food.

  • nullThe coalition strike back against Iraq resulted in many destructions of Iraqi facilities which were needed for survival which lead to a great number of deaths of civilians. -- 2012-04-29
    "Persian Gulf War, Desert Storm - War with Iraqi." Laughter and Lawter Genealogy Research Center. Web. 28 Apr. 2012. -- 2012-04-30
    
• In Kuwait, Iraqi troops looted the country and damaged many of Kuwait's oil wells, in most cases by setting them on fire. In addition, Iraq dumped an estimated 465 million gallons (1.75 billion liters) of Kuwaiti crude oil into the Persian Gulf, killing wildlife and causing long-term harm to the environment.

  • nullAfter Iraq annexed Kuwait, Saddam set Kuwaiti oil wells on fire which was an immense waste and was a huge set back to Kuwait's prosperity. This burning of oil also resulted in a continuos destruction of wildlife. -- 2012-04-29
    "Persian Gulf War, Desert Storm - War with Iraqi." Laughter and Lawter Genealogy Research Center. Web. 28 Apr. 2012. -- 2012-04-30
    
• The war also proved that significant new forms of international cooperation were possible in the post-Cold War era. Cooperation between the United States and the Soviet Union, along with China's support, allowed the UN to take effective action against Iraq.

  • nullThe war had a positive affect as it demonstrated that international collaboration was attainable after the Cold War. -- 2012-04-29
    "Persian Gulf War, Desert Storm - War with Iraqi." Laughter and Lawter Genealogy Research Center. Web. 28 Apr. 2012. -- 2012-04-30
    
• After the war, some veterans complained of physical and psychological ailments that they believed were related to their service. Their symptoms, sometimes referred to together as Gulf War syndrome, included memory loss, fatigue, and joint pain. Some people believed that exposure to dangerous chemicals when U.S. troops destroyed a chemical weapons depot in Iraq may have affected the troops. Others argued that the syndrome was not a single illness and that the symptoms resulted from the stress of war or other factors. By the late 1990's, debate continued over whether Gulf War syndrome was a single illness and what caused it.

  • nullA huge factor that struck Iraq after the war was the "Gulf Syndrome". This disease is said to have resulted from the demolition of nuclear weapons after Iraq were defeated. Others say that the Gulf war syndrome resulted from all the anxiety the people went through after the defeat. -- 2012-04-29
    "Persian Gulf War, Desert Storm - War with Iraqi." Laughter and Lawter Genealogy Research Center. Web. 28 Apr. 2012. -- 2012-04-30
    

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