Alina Bhatia's List: Saddam Hussein Invades Kuwait

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  1990: Iraq invades Kuwait

    <!-- S BO -->More than 100,000 Iraqi soldiers backed up by 700 tanks invaded the Gulf state of Kuwait in the early hours of this morning.  

  Iraqi forces have established a provisional government and their leader Saddam Hussein has threatened to turn Kuwait city into a "graveyard" if any other country dares to challenge the "take-over by force".
• invasion has sparked strong condemnation from leaders around the world.
• Kuwait's assets in the UK and the US have been frozen to prevent Iraq from seizing them and the US has also frozen Iraq's assets.
• The Soviet Union, Iraq's main supplier of arms, has suspended the delivery of all military equipment to Iraq.
• In recent weeks Iraq had accused Kuwait of flooding the world market with oil and has demanded compensation for oil produced from a disputed oil field on the border of the two countries.
• to the news of the invasion the price of oil rose dramatically and stock markets around the world have fallen.
• Kuwait has appealed for international aid

  • null"1990: Iraq Invades Kuwait." BBC News. BBC, 08 Feb. 1990. Web. 01 May 2012. -- 2012-05-01
    -On August 2nd morning, 100,000 Iraqi soldiers and 700 tanks invade Kuwait. Saddam Hussein threatens Kuwait by saying he will turn it into a "graveyard" if any other countries try getting involved.
    -The UK and US have stopped importing their products and Kuwait's assets because that doesn't allow Saddam Hussein to take the assets over.
    -Soviet Union has stopped giving Iraq weapons. They were Iraq's main supplier for weapons.
    -Iraq accused Kuwait for overproducing the oil and demand for limiting the oil.
    -Kuwait has asked help from different nations "international aid". -- 2012-05-01
    

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• But war with Iran had crippled the Iraqi economy and the Iraqi leader desperately needed to increase his oil revenues.
• In August 1990, he accused Kuwait of driving the price of oil down, invaded and annexed the emirate.
• Operation Desert Storm, the subsequent ground assault in January 1991 to drive Iraqi forces out of Kuwait left thousands of Iraqi soldiers dead, wounded or captured.

  • null"Obituary: Saddam Hussein." BBC News. BBC, 30 Dec. 2006. Web. 01 May 2012. -- 2012-05-01
    -Iraq's economy has decreased and Saddam Hussein needed to increase the oil revenues.
    -In 1990, he annexed and invaded Kuwait -- 2012-05-01
    

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• On August 8, the day on which the Iraqi government formally annexed Kuwait–Hussein called it Iraq's "19th province"–the first U.S. Air Force fighter planes began arriving in Saudi Arabia as part of a military buildup dubbed Operation Desert Shield. The planes were accompanied by troops sent by NATO allies as well as Egypt and several other Arab nations, designed to guard against a possible Iraqi attack on Saudi Arabia.

  • null"Persian Gulf War." History.com. A&E Television Networks. Web. 01 May 2012. -- 2012-05-01
    -Saddam Hussein called Kuwait the "19th province".
    -To protect Saudi Arabia, the US Air Force planes arrived in Saudi Arabia. Also, troops were sent by NATO, Egypt and other nations.
    -They were sent to protect Saudi Arabia from an attack from Iraq. -- 2012-05-01
    

• They quickly overran Kuwait’s outnumbered forces, attacked the royal residence, Dasman Palace, and began a brutal six-month occupation. Six days later, Saddam announced the merger of Iraq and Kuwait
• The U.N. Security Council quickly passed resolutions calling for a full Iraqi withdrawal and imposing economic sanctions on Iraq. Nearly four months after the initial invasion, a Security Council resolution authorized states cooperating with Kuwait to use “all necessary means” to get Iraq to withdraw.

  • null"United States Department of Defense." Defense.gov News Article: Kuwaiti Officer Marks 1990 Invasion Anniversary With Thanks, Resolve. 02 Aug. 2007. Web. 30 Apr. 2012. -- 2012-04-30
    -Iraq attacked the royal residences.
    -UN Security Council called for an Iraqi withdrawal and imposed economic sanctions on Iraq. -- 2012-05-01
    

• Kuwait, an oil-rich state with excellent access to the Gulf. Making Kuwait part of Iraq, Saddam believed, would speed Iraq’s recovery from the war with Iran and help finance his ambitious regional goals, the most sensational of which was the destruction of the state of Israel.

  • nullProQuest Staff. "Iraq: History." World Conflicts Today. 2011: n.p. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 30 Apr 2012. -- 2012-04-30
    -Kuwait had access to the Gulf. When Kuwait was a part of Iraq, Saddam Hussein thought it was good for Iraq's economy and would help him financially. -- 2012-05-01
    

• First Persian Gulf War,. Jan.–Feb., 1991, was an armed conflict between Iraq and a coalition of 32 nations including the United States, Britain, Egypt, France, and Saudi Arabia. It was a result of Iraq's invasion of Kuwait on Aug. 2, 1990; Iraq then annexed Kuwait, which it had long claimed. Iraqi president Saddam Hussein declared that the invasion was a response to overproduction of oil in Kuwait, which had cost Iraq an estimated $14 billion a year when oil prices fell. Hussein also accused Kuwait of illegally pumping oil from Iraq's Rumaila oil field.

  • null"Persian Gulf Wars." — FactMonster.com. Web. 30 Apr. 2012. -- 2012-04-30
    -The overproduction of oil in Kuwait costed Iraq about $14 billion a year. -- 2012-05-01
    

• Saddam's invasion of Kuwait, on August 2 1990, was an act of political   desperation. Left almost bankrupt by an eight-year war with Iran, and then   further hit by a fall in oil prices, in seizing Kuwait he had brought his   troops the illusion of glory and taken control of a fifth of the world's oil   reserves
• Within 48 hours more than 25,000 Iraqi troops and   270 enemy tanks had been captured. On February 26 Saddam ordered his army to   withdraw. Twenty-four hours later Kuwait City was liberated, and on the   morning of February 28 President Bush Snr announced a ceasefire.
• Yet Saddam remained in power, owing to a marked political reluctance to invade   Iraq itself to finish off its president.
• At the end of the Gulf War, the Security Council had ordered Iraq to destroy   its chemical, biological and nuclear capability, and had set up a UN Special   Commission (UNSCOM) to verify the process.

  • null"Saddam Hussein." The Telegraph. 1 Jan. 2007. Web. 30 Apr. 2012. -- 2012-04-30
    -The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait was an act of political desperation.
    -Iraq was losing a lot of money after the Iran-Iraq war, and then the prices fell again with the overproduction of oil in Kuwait. -- 2012-05-01
    -After the Gulf War, the Council demanded Iraq to destroy all of the weapons and had UNSCOM make sure Iraq was destroying their weapons. -- 2012-05-01
    

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• On Jan. 17, 1991, after months of pressuring Iraq to leave Kuwait, the coalition began bombing Iraqi military and industrial targets
• Also, Iraq had often claimed that Kuwait should be part of Iraq

• Iraq based its claim on the fact that, in the late 1800's and early 1900's, Kuwait had been included in a province of the Ottoman Empire, called Basra, which later became part of Iraq. But by the time Iraq was formed in the early 1920's, Kuwait was no longer part of the province. Also by the early 1920's, the United Kingdom had gained control of Kuwait and what became Iraq. Iraq gained independence in 1932, and Kuwait in 1961. After 1961, disputes continued between Kuwait and Iraq over the location of their common border.
• He wanted to acquire Kuwait’s oil wealth and erase Iraq’s debt to Kuwait. He wanted to increase Iraq's power within OPEC. He also sought better access to the Persian Gulf. Iraq's gulf coastline was 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.
• Iraq's invasion of Kuwait 

   At 2:00 a.m. on Aug. 2, 1990, hundreds of tanks and other Iraqi forces swept across the border into Kuwait. 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.

   

  Under international law, none of Iraq's claims against Kuwait justified the invasion. The United Nations, as well as the United States and many other countries, condemned the Iraqi invasion. But Hussein accused the United States of following a double standard. He said that if the United States condemned the Iraqi invasion, it should also condemn Israel's occupation of lands won from Arab countries in the Arab-Israeli wars. Since the 1970's, the United States had been Israel's chief ally.

   

  Many Arabs, particularly poor Arabs and Palestinians, supported the Iraqi invasion. Hussein became a hero to them 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 countries.
• Iraq accepted the terms of a formal cease-fire agreement on April 6.
• Iraq promised to pay Kuwait for war damages. Iraq also agreed to destroy all its biological and chemical weapons, its facilities for producing them, and any facilities or materials it might have for producing nuclear weapons. Iraq stockpiled chemical weapons in Kuwait before the ground war, but there is no evidence that either side used chemical weapons in the war. Neither side used biological or nuclear weapons.
• 100,000 Iraqi troops may have died in the war,

  • nullDeese, David A. "Persian Gulf War of 1991." World Book Advanced. World Book, 2012. Web. 30 Apr. 2012. -- 2012-04-30
    -Iraq thinks Kuwait should be a part of Iraq.
    -Iraq agreed the cease-fire agreement
    -Poor Arabs and Palestine took the Iraqi's side because they considered Saddam Hussein as a leader because he confronted Israel and US. -- 2012-05-01
    

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