The First Gulf War

• Iraqi soldiers was ordered to invade Kuwait on 2 August 1990, and Iraq's military had destroyed and outnumbered the Kuwaiti army
• The ruler of Kuwait (Sheikh Jaber Al-Sabah) escaped to Saudi Arabia with his family
• The United Nations and Arab League instantly disapproved of this action and imposed military sanctions on Iraq's trade
• Saudi Arabia called for help from the US military as it was scared it would be the next target
• Saddam's actions were not provoked by other countries, and caused other countries to oppose Iraq. However, Saddam believed that his actions were justified

• Before the end of WW1, Kuwait had been part of Basra, a former province of the Turkish Empire that was now part of Iraq
• The Anglo-Kuwaiti Treaty was signed in 1899, allowing Britain to have control over Kuwait's defence and foreign affairs, and assisted in determining the borders of Kuwait with Iraq and Saudi Arabia
• Iraqi rulers (including King Ghazi and President Qasseem) insisted that Kuwait should be part of Iraq instead because of its former connections with Basra
• Kuwait's independence in 1961 had caused Iraq to not connect to the water, causing discontent. They argued that the only reason Kuwait was even independent was because the western powers were intefering

• Saddam had represented the Iran-Iraq War as a win to his people, but knew that the people would realise that the outcome of the war did not make much change for Iraq and only caused destruction and harm
• Iraq resembled a defeated countries, struck by inflation and having prisoners of war captive in Iran, and soldiers that no longer fought in war became unemployed
• There had been four or more attempts to assassinate Saddam and end his rule, with some attempts involving those who served under Saddam
• Saddam needed to make sure that he would not be overthrown, and wanted to invade Kuwait to regain popularity as a hero that claimed a land that the people of Iraq thought should have been theirs for a long time. This would also give Iraq more access to the Gulf and improve their trade

• In the Iran-Iraq War, Saddam borrowed $40B from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait
• Iraq was in a lot of debt, and asked for the loans to be called off on the condition that Iraq would stop the spread of Islamic Revolution from Iran, a benefit for Saudi Arabia and Kuwait
• He also wanted to borrow an extra $30 billion to pay for the rebuilding of the damaged Iraq, which was rejected by Saudi Arabia and Kuwait
• Saddam also did not like that Saudi Arabia were producing more oil, which caused the international price of oil to fall along with Iraq's oil revenues
• Saddam wanted Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to maintain to produce oil on the rates in the quotas of the OPEC, which the two countries refused once more
• Saddam also accused Kuwait of selling $2.4 billion worth of oil in Iraqi Territory from an oil field next to the border by drilling on a sideways angle which took oil from Iraq
• Saddam condemned Saudi Arabia and Kuwait for negatively affecting Iraq's economy and could take serious action against the two countries

• The Iran-Iraq war could be seen as an attempt where Iraq tried to expand its oil reserves and shift the balance of power in the Gulf
• Iraq failed to do this, and did not make much shifts in power and also did not gain territory
• Iraq once again tried to take more power through the invasion of Kuwait, which would increase its oil supplies by a lot and provide access to the Gulf and a big harbour
• Iraq could also have enough power to take power from Saudi Arabia
• Saddam had ambitions to be the most powerful Arab Middle Eastern leaders

• Saddam did not expect that his invasion would receive so much condemnation from other countries (including Arab countries), and might have relied on diplomacy and negotiations if he knew what reactions the other countries would give to his invasion
• Saddam wanted to keep US neutral before August 1990 in the invasion of Kuwait
• The reaction of the USA was hard to predict. The Congress argued to impose sanctions on Iraq while President Bush argued against imposing sanctions
• Saddam met with the US ambassador April Glaspie on 25 July 1990 to understand what to predict of the US reaction
• Saddam claimed that the meeting gave the impression that the US did not feel like it was important to intefere in the matter, believing that his invasion would not be opposed by the US
• The US did not firmly respond to the dangerous threats of Saddam as they thought that Saddam's threats would take little effect

There were two main events of this war

Operation Desert Shield (7 Aug 1990-17 Jan 1991)

• After Iraq invaded and occupied Kuwait in August 1990, the fighting paused for five months, in which during this time, America, French, and Britain assembled forces in Saudi Arabia
• The United Nations demanded Iraq to leave Kuwait, imposing economic sanctions, and threatening to impose military sanctions if Iraq did not withdraw before the set deadline made by the UN

Operation Desert Storm (17 Jan 1991 - 28 Feb 1991)

• There were two phases of this operation: air war and ground war
• Air war (17 Jan - 23 Feb 1991): Airplanes and helicopters attacked Iraq in both Kuwait and in Iraq as well
• Iraq launched missiles on Israel and tried to cause them to invade Iraq (they failed), blew up oil wells in Kuwait, and poured millions of gallons of oil into the Persian Gulf
• Iraq invaded Khafji, Saudi Arabia for a small amount of time, but were forced out by the combined military of the west and iran
• Ground war (24-28 Feb 1991)
• The forces assembled by the western powers and Iran attacked Iraq to force Saddam to withdraw his troops from Kuwait
• 10,000 soldiers were killed when they were withdrawing from Kuwait by a bombing by the western and Iranian along a motorway connecting Kuwait City and Basra, Iraq, which was called the "Highway of Death"
• In the Battle of Medina Rige, Iraq lost 186 tanks and 127 armoured vehicles to the US army
• President Bush reported a ceasefire and the liberation of Kuwait from Iraq


Consequences of the First Gulf War
• Saddam was heavily defeated and were pushed out of Kuwait in the first 100 hours of the ground war in Operation Desert Storm
• Most infrastructure had been destroyed by air strikes (eg. power stations, oil refineries, road, bridges, water purification plants)
• Saddam was not overthrown, and strengthened his rule by oppressing protestors such as Shiites and Kurds
• There were 100,000 civilians killed or injured, and 20,000+ soldiers killed or injured in battle
• The quality of life fell, and people suffered from insufficient food, medical equipment, clean water, and facilities that improved welfare
• Economic sanctions imposed by the UN were not lifted, and Iraq could not export its oil, causing economic damage
• Some of America's forces stayed in Saudi Arabia to enforce the rule that Iraq could not fly certain aircrafts (to prevent Saddam from oppressing his people in the north and south of Iraq)
• The USA did not want to get rid of Saddam, but simply wanted to control his aggressive behaviour, as Saddam was still preferred over a potential Islamic revolution despite his brutal dictatorship
• Measures to activate future intervention in Iraq were put in place, which could not be removed unless Saddam removed all nonconventional weapons (weapons intended for mass damage: biological, chemical, and nuclear)
• Other countries no longer trusted Saddam after the invasion of Kuwait
• Stability was threatened in the Gulf during the 1990s, and nations in the Gulf were thinking whether removing Saddam or keeping Saddam as the Iraqi leader would help them achieve what they wanted


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