Iraqi Invasion of Kuwait
The Gulf war began shortly after the Iraq-Iran war. It came arise because of the economic debt they suffered and the need for Kuwait's oil.
Shortly after the Iraq-Iran war had ended, Iraq invaded Kuwait. Led by Saddam Hussein, this began what is now known as the gulf war. This specific war lasted seven months in 1990-91 but the events were very significant. The short war started over a conflict of oil. The government of Iraq made the claim that Kuwait should have always been under their power as historically, it was. They then made accusations against Kuwait for economic warfare by overproducing their oil and driving down the prices. The United States and a coalition of other countries all jumped in to help Kuwait after this. Since Iraq had just finished a war, they were deep in debt and Saddam Hussein at a dead end when their request for help was denied. “The Gulf states’ refusal to cancel Iraq’s war debts contributed to Saddam Hussein’s decision to make threats against Iraq’s rich, but militarily weak, neighbor Kuwait” (The Office of the Historian 2024). Iraq was money hungry and this war was fueled by their greed. Saddam Hussein threatened to bring up old conflicts about the few islands nearby which the two countries had become extremely territorial over. “The dispute over the Bubiyan and Warbah Islands was a key point of contention in the lengthy history of territorial conflict between Iraq and Kuwait” (The Office of the Historian 2024). It was almost as if Iraq was trying to make them of the state and colonize the islands over again along with neighboring Kuwait. Colonialism is “establishment and maintenance of political and legal domination by a state over a separate and alien society” (Dr. Barnes PPT, 49, 2024). Despite being warned by US forces to not proceed with taking military action, Saddam Hussein demanded control of these islands and that Iraq take further action and actually invade Kuwait by crossing the border with a total of one hundred thousand troops. “The invasion started on 2 August 1990, and within two days, most of the Kuwaiti military was either overrun by the Iraqi Republican Guard or retreated to neighboring Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. Immediately following the invasion, Iraq set up a puppet government known as the "Republic of Kuwait" to rule over Kuwait, eventually annexing it outright, when Saddam Hussein announced a few days later that it was the 19th province of Iraq” (SCE 2024). Defending countries came to Kuwait’s rescue and fought along with them. After almost three months, President Bush ordered that US troops are to push Iraq out of Kuwait with any force necessary. The end of the war came when Iraq sent a series of missiles to Israel and when they didn't fight back Iraq was forced to retreat.
This topic that I chose is important to me because my dad was in Kuwait during this time as he was an officer in the U.S. Air Force. He had an important role in the infamous Operation Desert Shield and worked alongside President Bush at times to get the mission done. He said there was a lot of Important Information that he had to get back and forth from the Pentagon. Researching this has helped me make a connection to parts of the world I knew almost nothing about.
Kuwaits Abundance of Oil and Iraq Advance to retrieve it
Works Cited
Globalization & Culture Powerpoint, Dr. Barnes, Pg.49, 2024
The Office of the Historian
The Scholarly Community Encyclopedia (SCE)
Image:
https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-history/modern-us/1990s-america/a/the-gulf-war