Social Studies: The Invasion of Kuwait

Social studies n unmatchables Chapter 1 The Invasion of capital of capital of capital of capital of capital of capital of capital of capital of capital of capital of capital of Kuwait, excessively kn induce as the Iraq-Kuwait fight, was a major(ip) date sur oscillationed by the Re macrocosm of Iraq and the press step up of Kuwait, which resulted in the s make up-month foresighted Iraki trading of Kuwait, which subsequently led to direct struggle machine intervention by coupled States-led forces in the disjuncture fight. edit Dispute over the m superstartary debt Kuwait had hard funded the 8 course of instruction long Iraki struggle against Iran. By the moveence the state of struggle force let outed, Iraq was non in a financial amaze to give the $14 jillion it borrowed from Kuwait to finance its contend. 6 Iraq argued that the contend had carry the rise of Iranian cast in the Arab World. However, Kuwaits reluctance to pardon the debt created strain s in the trans feathip amidst the 2 Arab countries. During fountain(a) 1989, several(prenominal) rack upicial meetings were held between the Kuwaiti and Iraki leaders exclusively they were in effective to break the deadlock between the dickens. edit stinting warf atomic number 18 and slant drilling gibe to George Piro, the FBI interrogator who questioned ibn Talal ibn Talal ibn Talal ibn Talal ibn Talal ibn Talal Hussein Hussein subsequentward his stupefy (in 2003), Iraq tried repaying its debts by face lift the prices of crude with and done OPECs petroleum t cover cuts.However, Kuwait, a member of the OPEC, stay freshed a orbiculate increase in petroleum prices by increasing its own petroleum production, in that locationfore lowering the price and preventing recovery of the war-crippled Iraki economy. 7 This was seen by m each in Iraq as an act of aggression, further distancing the countries. The collapse in fossil crude prices had a catastrophic squee ze on the Iraki economy. According to wee-weeer Iraki Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz, two US$1 drop in the price of a barrel of rock anoint ca apply a US$1 one thousand thousand drop in Iraqs annual revenues triggering an subtle financial crisis in capital of Iraq. 5 It was estimated that Iraq lost US$14 one thousand million a course due to Kuwaits oil price strategy. 8 The Iraki Government depict it as a level of frugal warfare, which it conveyed was aggravated by Kuwaits altogethereged slant-drilling crossways the b direct into Iraqs Rumaila field. The deviation over Rumaila field started in 1960 when an Arab confederacy declaration marked the Iraq-Kuwait borderline 2 miles spousal relationship of the gray- close tip of the Rumaila field. 9 During the IranIraq War, Iraki oil drilling works in Rumaila declined man Kuwaits operations increased.In 1989, Iraq incriminate Kuwait of using advanced drilling techniques to drive oil from its share of the Rumaila f ield. Iraq estimated that US$2. 4 billion worth of Iraki oil was stolen by Kuwait and demanded compensation. 1011 Kuwait dismissed the accusations as a false Iraki ploy to justify army army action against it. Several American firms working in the Rumaila field in care manner dismissed Iraqs slant-drilling cl nominates as a smokescreen to disguise Iraqs to a dandyer extent ambitious intentions. 9 edit Kuwaits lucrative economy subsequently the IranIraq War, the Iraki economy was struggling to recover.Iraqs civilian and array debt was higher than its farming budget. secretive of its ports were put wareed, oil fields mined, and traditional oil customers lost. De go against having a heart come area 1/25th of Iraq, Kuwaits coastline was icon as long as Iraqs and its ports were nigh of the busiest in the Iranian disjunction region. The Iraki government nettly realized that by seizing Kuwait, it would be able to exonerate close to of its financial problems and co nsolidate its regional authority. Due to its relatively small size, Kuwait was seen by Baghdad as an slowly target as good as a historically integral pop of Iraq separated by British imperialism.The Iranian disjunction War (2 high-flown 1990 28 February 1991), comm hardly referred to as the disconnectedness War, and excessively cognize as the First disjuncture War1213, the Second Gulf War,1415 by Iraki leader ibn Talal Hussein Hussein as The M opposite of all Battles,16 and commonly as empty Storm for the multitude response, was the final examination conflict, which was initiated with unify Nations imprimatur, by a calculus force from 34 nations against Iraq, with the expressed invention of expelling Iraki forces from Kuwait subsequently(prenominal) its on restore and annexation on 2 high-flown 1990.The invasion of Kuwait by Iraki multitude that began 2 terrible 1990 was met with international condemnation, and brought prompt frugal sanctions against I raq by members of the UN surety Council. U. S. ch blood li advancedoman George H. W. scrubbing deployed American forces to Saudi-Arabian-Arabian-Arabian Arabia and urged new(prenominal) countries to send their own forces to the scene. An array of nations joined the alliance of the Gulf War. The great majority of the soldiery forces in the conglutination were from the unite States, with Saudi Arabia, the linked Kingdom and Egypt as leading contri thoors, in that order.Around US$40 billion of the US$60 billion embody was paid by Saudi Arabia. 17 The initial conflict to expel Iraqi multitude from Kuwait began with an aerial bombardment on 17 January 1991. This was followed by a priming assault on 23 February. This was a decisive victory for the compression forces, who emancipated Kuwait and advanced into Iraqi territory. The coalition ceased their advance, and say a cease- terminate c hours after the res publica fight suffer started. feeler and fuzee combat was c onfined to Iraq, Kuwait, and areas on the border of Saudi Arabia.However, Iraq slinged missiles against coalition armed forces targets in Saudi Arabia. Further randomness Iraq- unite States relations Throughout much of the frigorific War, Iraq had been an ally of the Soviet Union, and at that place was a history of friction between it and the unify States. The U. S. was concerned with Iraqs position on IsraeliPalestinian politics, and its disapproval of the nature of the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt. The U. S. withal dis samed Iraqi supporting for various Arab and Palestinian private-enterprise(a) assorts such as Abu Nidal, which led to its cellular inclusion on the developing U.S. list of state sponsors of international terrorism on 29 December 1979. The U. S. rebrinyed officially neutral after the invasion of Iran, which became the IranIraq War, although it assisted Iraq covertly. In sue 1982, however, Iran began a successful counteroffensive achievement un deniable Victory, and the United States increased its support for Iraq to prevent Iran from forcing a surrender. In a U. S. press to open full diplomatic relations with Iraq, the country was re locomote from the U. S. ist of state sponsors of terrorism. plain this was beca theatrical role of improvement in the regimes record, although former United States Assistant depositary of Defense Noel Koch later stated, No one had whatever doubts closely the Iraqis keep opend thing in terrorism The real yard was to garter them succeed in the war against Iran. 18 With Iraqs new rig success in the war, and its rebuff of a peace exsert in July, arms sales to Iraq reached a record spike in 1982. An obstacle, however, rebrinyed to any potential U.S. -Iraqi relationship Abu Nidal move to sour with official support in Baghdad. When Iraqi ch lookperson ibn Talal Hussein Hussein expelled the group to Syria at the United States request in November 1983, the Reagan administration sent Dona ld Rumsfeld to meet president Hussein as a modified envoy and to cultivate ties. Main name Invasion of Kuwait By the m the ceasefire with Iran was signed in August 1988, Iraq was or so bankrupt, with well-nigh of its debt owed to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.Iraq pressured some(prenominal) nations to absolve the debts, only they refused. Kuwait was overly accused by Iraq of exceeding its OPEC quotas and driving mickle the price of oil, gum olibanum further ache the Iraqi economy. The collapse in oil prices had a catastrophic impact on the Iraqi economy. The Iraqi Government described it as a form of economical warfare, which it claimed was aggravated by Kuwait slant-drilling across the border into Iraqs Rumaila oil field. 19 Iraq claimed Kuwait had been a part of the Ottoman Empires nation of Basra.Its notion dynasty, the al-Sabah family, had concluded a harbororate promise in 1899 that assigned responsibility for its st persist aff shines to Britain. Britain drew the border between the two countries, and deliberately tried to re severeion Iraqs access to the ocean so that any future Iraqi government would be in no position to s do Britains domination of the Iranian Gulf. Iraq refused to accept the border, and did not recognize the Kuwaiti government until 1963. 20 In early July, Iraq complained about Kuwaits behavior, such as not respecting their quota, and openly threatened to take military action.On the 23rd, the CIA reported that Iraq had moved 30,000 process to the Iraq-Kuwait border, and the U. S. marine fleet in the Persian Gulf was placed on alert. On the 25th, ibn Talal Hussein Hussein met with April Glaspie, an American ambassador, in Baghdad. At that meeting, Glaspie told the Iraqi delegation, We wee-wee no opinion on the Arab-Arab conflicts. On the 3 initiative, negotiations between Iraq and Kuwait in Jeddah failed rubyly. 21 On 2 August 1990 Iraq ordered an invasion with its warplanes, bombard Kuwait City, the Kuwaiti cap ital.The principal(prenominal) throw off was conducted by commandos deployed by helicopters and boats to assault the city, art object other divisions seized the descentports and two var.bases. In spite of Iraqi sabre-rattling, Kuwait did not chief(prenominal)tain its forces on alert, and was caught unaware. later on two old age of intense combat, around of the Kuwaiti gird Forces were either overrun by the Iraqi republican ward, or had escaped to populate Saudi Arabia. After the decisive Iraqi victory, ibn Talal Hussein Hussein installed his cousin, Ali Hassan al-Majid as the regulator of Kuwait. 22Saddam Hussein detained several horse operaers, with video recording footage shown on state television On 23 August 1990 President Saddam appeared on state television with restate-uern hostages to whom he had refused exit visas. In the video, he patted a small British son named Stuart Lockwood on the cover. Saddam consequentlyce asks, through his interpreter, Sadoun al -Zubaydi, whether Stuart is getting his milk. Saddam went on to say, We beseech your strawman as guests here forget not be for too long. Your presence here, and in other places, is meant to prevent the forsake of war. 23 indoors hours of the invasion, Kuwaiti and U. S. delegations requested a meeting of the UN Security Council, which passed consequence 660, condemn the invasion and demanding a kip downal of Iraqi army. On 3 August the Arab confederacy passed its own resolution, which called for a solution to the conflict from within the League, and warned against outside(a) intervention. On 6 August UN answer 661 placed economic sanctions on Iraq. United Nations Security Council Resolution 665 followed concisely after, which authorized a nautical blockade to enforce the economic sanctions against Iraq.It verbalise the use of measures commensurate to the specific tidy sum as may be prerequisite to term of enlistment all inward and outward maritime shipping in ord er to inspect and verify their cargoes and destinations and to ensure strict implementation of resolution 661. 24 One of the important concerns of the west was the significant threat Iraq cultivate up to Saudi Arabia. Following the conquest of Kuwait, the Iraqi army was within easy large distance of Saudi oil fields. ensure condition of these fields, along with Kuwaiti and Iraqi reserves, would lease given Hussein gibe over the majority of the earths oil reserves.Iraq in addition had a number of grievances with Saudi Arabia. The Saudis had lent Iraq about 26 billion dollars during its war with Iran. The Saudis indorse Iraq, as they feared the influence of Shia Irans Islamic alteration on its own Shia minority (most of the Saudi oil fields are in territory populated by Shias). After the war, Saddam felt he should not dupe to repay the loans due to the patron he had given the Saudis by fish filet Iran. Soon after his conquest of Kuwait, Hussein began verbally anti rai lway linecrafting the Saudi kingdom. He argued that the U. S. back up Saudi state was an outlaw(prenominal) and unworthy guardian of the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. He unite the language of the Islamist groups that had freshly fought in Afghanistan with the rhetoric Iran had long used to attack the Saudis. 25 Acting on the policy of the Carter Doctrine, and out of fear the Iraqi army could launch an invasion of Saudi Arabia, U. S. President George H. W. bush speedily denote that the U. S. would launch a wholly defensive mission to prevent Iraq from invading Saudi Arabia under the codename Operation Desert racing shell. Operation Desert Shield began on 7 August 1990 when U.S. serviceman were sent to Saudi Arabia due athe likes of to the request of its monarch, King Fahd who had earlier called for U. S. military assistance. 26 This wholly defensive doctrine was quickly abandoned, as on 8 August, Iraq state Kuwait to be the 19th province of Iraq and Saddam Hussein named h is cousin, Ali Hassan Al-Majid as its military-governor. 27 shift of Kuwait Main article spill of Kuwait campaign American enticement attacks by phone line attacks and marine gunfire the night before the liberation of Kuwait were designed to make the Iraqis believe the main coalition ground attack would taper on Central Kuwait.On 23 February 1991, the 1st marine Division, 2nd Marine Division, and the 1st Light outfit understructure crossed into Kuwait and headed toward Kuwait City. They overran the tumesce designed, save poorly stageed, Iraqi trenches in the first a couple of(prenominal) hours. The Marines crossed Iraqi barbed wire obstacles and mines, then meshed Iraqi tanks, which surrendered shortly thereafter. Kuwaiti forces soon attacked Kuwait City, to which the Iraqis offered diminish resistance. The Kuwaitis lost one soldier and one aviationcraft, and quickly liberate the city.Most Iraqi soldiers in Kuwait opted to surrender rather than fight. edit Initial moves into Iraq edit coalition forces enter Iraq General Colin Powell briefs then U. S. President George H. W. Bush and his advisors on the carry on of the ground war Shortly afterwards, the U. S. heptad corps assembled in full peculiarity and, spearheaded by the 3rd Squadron of the 2nd Ar to a greater extent t attain Cavalry Regiment (3/2 ACR), launched an armoured attack into Iraq early on 24 February, just to the west of Kuwait, taking Iraqi forces by surprise. Simultaneously, the U. S. 18 Airborne Corps launched a sweeping left field-hook attack across the largely un wielded desert of southern Iraq, led by the 3rd fit out Cavalry Regiment (3rd ACR) and the 24th groundwork Division (Mechanized)). The left fender of this campaign was defend by the french hexadth Light fit Division Daguet). The cut force quickly overcame the Iraqi forty-fifth Infantry Division, bewildering only a small number of casualties and taking a large number of prisoners, and took up occlus ion positions to prevent an Iraqi counter-attack on the calculus flank.The right flank of the movement was protected by the British 1st Armoured Division. Once the allies had penetrated deep into Iraqi territory, they turned eastward, launching a flank attack against the elite republican safety device before it could escape. The contest lasted only a few hours. 50 Iraqi panoplied vehicles were bankrupted, with few coalition losses. On 25 February 1991 however, Iraq launched a scud missile attack on Coalition barracks in Dharan, Saudi Arabia. The missile attack killed 28 American military personnel. 44The miscellanyture of civilian and military vehicles on the Highway of Death The Coalition advance was much swifter than U. S. generals had pass judgment. On 26 February, Iraqi man began retreating from Kuwait, after they had embed its oil fields on fire (737 oil wells were set on fire). A long convoy of retreating Iraqi troops formed along the main Iraq-Kuwait highway. Althoug h they were retreating, this convoy was bombed so extensively by Coalition variant forces that it came to be cognise as the Highway of Death. Hundreds of Iraqi troops were killed.Forces from the United States, the United Kingdom, and France keep to observe retreating Iraqi forces over the border and back into Iraq, bit frequent battles which resulted in coarse losses for the Iraqi side and clear losses on the coalition side, at long last moving to within 150 miles (240 km) of Baghdad before withdrawing from the Iraqi border. One degree Celsius hours after the ground campaign started, on 28 February, President Bush say a truce, and he besides declared that Kuwait had been liberated. CAUSES OF conflictThere are three basic causes to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990. First, Iraq had long considered Kuwait to be a part of Iraq. This claim led to several confrontations over the solar days (see below), and continued repugnance. Also, it can be argued that with Saddam Husseins act invasion of Iran disappointed, he seek easier conquests against his weak southern neighbors. Second, well-heeled deposits of oil straddled the ill-defined border and Iraq constantly claimed that Kuwaiti oil rigs were illegally tapping into Iraqi oil fields.Middle Eastern deserts make border delineation difficult and this has caused legion(predicate) conflicts in the region. Finally, the fallout from the First Persian Gulf War between Iraq and Iran strained relations between Baghdad and Kuwait. This war began with an Iraqi invasion of Iran and degenerated into a flaming(a) form of trench warfare as the Iranians slowly drove Saddam Husseins armies back into Iraq. Kuwait and many other Arab nations supported Iraq against the Islamic Revolutionary government of Iran, fearful that Saddams shoot could herald a riffle of Iranian-inspired revolution end-to-end the Arab world.Following the end of the war, relations between Iraq and Kuwait deteriorated with a lack of gr atitude from the Baghdad government for help in the war and the reawakening of old issues regarding the border and Kuwaiti sovereignty. 1973, March- Iraq occupies as-Samitah, a border direct on Kuwait-Iraq border. Dispute began when Iraq demanded the right to fulfill the Kuwaiti is republics of Bubiyan and Warbah. Saudi Arabia and the Arab League convince Iraq to withdraw. 1980-1988- Kuwait supports Iraq in the First Persian Gulf War with Iran.DESCRIPTION OF CONFLICT Amid growing tension between the two Persian Gulf neighbors, Saddam Hussein concluded that the United States and the rest of the outside world would not interfere to defend Kuwait. On August 2, 1990, Iraqi forces invaded Kuwait and quickly seized control of the small nation. Within days, the United States, along with the United Nations, demanded Iraqs warm withdrawal. U. S. and other UN member nations began deploying troops in Saudi Arabia within the week, and the world-wide coalition began to form under UN authorit y.By January of 1991, over one- half(a) a million allied troops were deployed in Saudi Arabia and throughout the Gulf region. Intense diplomacy between U. S. and Iraqi officials failed to dumbfound an Iraqi withdrawal, so, on January 16, 1991, consort forces began the devastating bombing of Iraq and her forces in Kuwait. The allied bombing sought to wrong Iraqs floor so as to hinder her mightiness to make war while also hurting both civilian and military morale. To counter the send off attack, Saddam legitimate the launching of his feared SCUD missiles at both Israel and Saudi Arabia.He hoped to provoke the Israelis into smash back at Iraq, which he theorized would transgress the Arab nations from the anti-Iraq coalition due to the ongoing hostility between Israel and the Arab world. Israel came very close to retaliating, but held back due to President George Bushs compact to protect Israeli cities from the SCUDs. As a result of this promise, U. S. Patriot missile batteri es anchor themselves deployed in Israel to shoot raze the SCUDs. other result of the SCUD launches was to divert associate air male monarch from seduceting the Iraqi army to hunting for the elusive mobile missile launchers.Even so, the Allied air strikes and cruise missile attacks against Iraq prove much(prenominal) devastating than expected. When the Allied armies launched the ground war on February 23, the Iraqi occupation forces in Kuwait were already beaten. Cut off from their supply bases and headquarters by the intense air campaign, thousands of Iraqi soldiers simply gave up rather than fight, as the Allies pushed through Iraqs defenses with relative ease. In the few cases where the more elite Iraqi forces, such as the Republican champion, stood and fought, superior American, British and French equipment and training proved the undoing of the Soviet-equipped Iraqis.By February 26, U. S. and Allied Arab forces, along with the underground Kuwaiti Resistance, controlle d Kuwait City and Allied air forces pounded the retreating Iraqi occupation army. In southern Iraq, Allied arrayed forces stood at the Euphrates River approach Basra, and internal rebellions began to break out against Saddams regime. On February 27, President Bush reproducible a cease-fire and the surviving Iraqi troops were allowed to escape back into southern Iraq. On March 3, 1991, Iraq accepted the terms of the cease-fire and the fighting ended. CONSEQUENCES OF CONFLICTSaddams number war of foreign conquest ended even worse than the first one. Iraq again stood defeated with the liberation of Kuwait. Despite the densificationing defeat and subsequent Shiite and Kurdish rebellions, Saddams government retained a unvoiced grip on power in Iraq. As a result of the cease-fire terms, Iraq had to accept the guile of no-fly regularises over her territory and United Nations weapons command teams sifting through her atomic and other weapons programs. The economic and trade sancti ons begun during the war continue to the present day, ontributing to severe economic stiffness in Iraq. Some reports say hundreds of thousands of children slang died due to the sanctions. There are no indications that the government or military suffer undo troubles. While the world (and the United States and Europe), gruelling on Iraq, Syria moved to imperativeness the last resistance to her de facto control of Lebanon, thus ending that countrys long civil war. It is believed that Syrias President Assad was given a free hand to deal with Lebanon in return for association the war in Kuwait.Its also believed there was a cash for annuity salary agreed upon When Yemen declared sympathy for Iraq, Saudi Arabia expelled upwards of a million Yemeni guest workers, causing economic hardship in Yemen and increased tension between the two neighbors. See Saudi-Yemen Border skirmish page. CASUALTY FIGURES Update as of August 2, 2009 Iraq Original figures listed 100,000 Iraqi military dead , but more recent estimates place Iraqi dead at 20,000 military and 2,300 civilian. United States 148 killed in action, 458 wounded, and one Missing In Action (MIA). Also, 121 Americans died through non-combat incidents.The one MIA (compared to 1,740 MIA in the Vietnam War), was Navy pilot, Captain Michael Scott Speicher was shot down and was neither rescured, nor was a body found until, on August 2, 2009, the Pentagon announced that U. S. Marines stationed in Iraq had found Speichers body. See also U. S. identifies remains of pilot missing in Persian Gulf WarLA Times, Aug. 2, 2009 Ironically, or perhaps intentionally, the Pentagon announced the recovery of Speichers on the 19th anniversary of Saddam Husseins invasion of Kuwait, which occurred on August 2, 1990, and sparked the pursual 19 years of war between the U.S. and Iraq. Gulf war (1990-1), a limited war in which a US-led coalition enjoying overpower technological superiority defeated the lay down up forces of Iraq in a s ix-week air campaign crowned with a 100-hour enter campaign, with negligible coalition casualties. However, the coalition forces failed to destroy the Republican Guard, mainstay of the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, who remained a threat primarily because of his continued ontogenesis of nuclear and chemic and biologic weapons, leading to repeated aftershocks in the form of US and Allied air strikes throughout the 1990s.The proximate cause was the Rumaila oilfield straddling the Iraq-Kuwait border. In mid-July 1990 Saddam claimed that Kuwait had stolen oil from this field by diagonal drilling and refused to pay back loans received from Kuwait to fund the recent Iran-Iraq war, saying that he had been doing the Gulf monarchies revolting work for them. Neither argument was on the whole without merit. He volumeed armour on the edge and after organism told by the US ambassador that the the States did not wish to bewilder involved in the dispute, at 01. 0 local anaesthetic time on 2 August the Iraqi columns invaded. Minds were concentrated and Pres Bush denounced the invasion, alarmed that the Iraqis would carry on into Saudi Arabia and thus control half the worlds oil reserves. The UN condemned the invasion in Resolution 660, demanding immediate and unconditional withdrawal and on 7 August the USA announced it was sending forces in a crossroads operation with Egypt and Saudi Arabia DESERT SHIELD.The spare-time activity day the UK announced it would send forces too, in GRANBY. On 29 November 1990 the Security Council adopt Resolution 678, authorizing the USA-led coalition to use all necessary means against Iraq to liberate Kuwait if it did not withdraw by 15 January 1991. Instead, the Iraqis reinforced their positions along the southern Kuwaiti border and by 8 January had an estimated 36 to 38 divisions, each nominally 15, 000 backbreaking but actually considerably slight.The coalition eventually had about 700, 000 troops in the theatre, with the mai n ground contributions coming from the USA and important contingents from the UK, France, Egypt, Syria, and Saudi Arabia, under the functional command of US Gen Schwarzkopf. The maintenance of the coalition, in which Arab states were arrayed with infidels against another Arab state, was pivotal. It was therefore jussive mood to ensure that Israela target for Iraqi missile attacksshould stay out of the war.The Iraqis were known to contain the means to deliver their chemical and biological weapons (CBW) with their al-Hussein missiles, which had a simulacrum of 373 miles (600 km), double that of the original Soviet hie missiles on which they were establish. At 02. 38 local time on 17 January DESERT act began when US Apache helicopters began attacking Iraqi air defence sites near the border to clear a corridor through which a abundant air armada then passed, beginning a 43-day air campaign involving 100, 000 sorties.The F-117A Stealth light bomber was very successful in striking key targets in heavily defended Baghdad, as were sea-launched cruise missiles. Early targets were the Iraqi air defences, electrical power, and command and control facilities, also suspected nuclear and chemical and biological warfare facilities. Although precision-guided munitions got all the publicity thanks to the excellent TV pictures they sent back, the bulk of the ordnance delivered were conventional bombs.As the campaign continued, the Allies switched to Iraqi ground forces although the elite Republican Guard was less badly damaged than the poorer quality foot in the forward positions. Schwarzkopf later explained that this was because of his strong concern to avoid his ground troops being held up and rained with CBW. draw skeleton _The Gulf war, 1991 the land campaign, 24-8 February. Top positions of forces 24 February. Bottom Allied envelopment of Iraqi forces (Click to enlarge)_Early on 18 January Iraq responded to the air onslaught by attacking Israel, the coalitions mos t vulnerable point. A missile set down in Tel Aviv, initially reported to have a chemical warhead. The coalition later denied this but the relevant log, released after the war, put down it carried cyclo-sarin, a particularly deadly cheek gas. Israel prepared to counter-attack, but was dissuaded when the USA promised to destroy the racks. As a result, a great deal of effort was diverted into the hasten hunt, although the mobile Iraqi missiles proved difficult to visualize.British and US supernumerary forces were also sent in to find and destroy Scuds, with mixed results. The US also used the Patriot, originally an anti-aircraft governance, to shoot down incoming missiles, the first time anti-missiles were used in the history of war. Very few incoming missiles were actually have-to doe with and those that were stone-broke up, possibly doing even more damage than they would have otherwise. On 20 January, Iraq also began firing missiles at Riyadh, one of which hit a temporary US barracks and inflicted the cudgel Allied casualties of the war.Schwarzkopf formulated a continent military plan of encirclement. While the Iraqis were to have their attention set(p) to the south and on the coast by the US Marines, his main effort would be to the west of the main Iraqi forward defences, swinging round behind them and straight for the Republican Guard. The aim was to conduct a swift, continuous and violent air-land campaign to destroy the Republican Guard Force Corps while minimising matey force casualties. Aim is to make Iraqi forces move so that they can be attacked throughout the depth of their formations.After several days of probing and torpedo raids, the main ground attack began on 24 February with direct attacks into Kuwait from the south by the US Marines and two Saudi problem forces. The next day, the outflanking forces swung into action, the main force being the US VII Corps including the 1st British Armoured Division, while the XVIII Airborne Corps including the French sixth Light Daguet Division swung even wider to protect the left flank. The VII Corps hit its breach area with 60 batteries of artillery and Multiple Launch Rocket Systems, delivering more explosive power than the Hiroshima atomic bomb.Although Iraq was expected to use CBW, Saddam showed a fiddling belated discretion and refrained, as there were a number of exceedingly caustic options the coalition held in reserve, including retaliation in kind or the destruction of Iraqs extremely vulnerable water-supply system. Late on 25 February he gave the order to withdraw from Kuwait, but the bulk of Iraqi armour was confine between the Allies closing in from the south and west, and the Gulf and the Euphrates marshes to the east and north.TV pictures of the comprehensively incinerated Iraqi column that had been attempting to flee Kuwait City raised fears of public revulsion and Pres Bush called a halt after only 100 hours of land campaign. There were also geopolitica l considerations. Until the invasion, the due west had been concerned to maintain a respite of power between Iraq and Iran in the region, and the Arab members of the coalition might have bolted if the land war had been extended into Iraqi territory. At 08. 00 local time the guns fell silent, andSaddam was to be left with most of the Republican Guard and the freedom to use attack helicopters to crush the rebellions among the Sunni in the south and the Kurds in the north that the coalition had encouraged. Post-war, the extent and sophistication of his weapons development programmes came as a shock, and despite UN inspections and economic sanctions that affect mainly the civilian population, there is very atomic doubt that he has retained some CBW and possibly also some nuclear weapons.Nonetheless, Kuwaits territorial law was restored and most of Saddams larger fangs were pulled. The war could only be considered unsuccessful if the hyperbole about human rights that accompanied it h ad ever been taken seriously by anyone involved. The first word form was Operation Desert Shielda largely defensive operation in which the United States and Saudi Arabia rushed to build up the defensive forces necessary to protect Saudi Arabia and the rest of the gulf, and the United Nations attempted to force Iraq to leave Kuwait through the use of economic sanctions.The United States then led the UN effort to create a broad international coalition with the military forces necessary to liberate Kuwait, and persuaded the United Nations to set a deadline of 15 January 1991 for Iraq to leave Kuwait or face the use of force. The second phase, known as Desert Storm, was the battle to liberate Kuwait when Iraq refused to respond to the UN deadline. The fighting began on 17 January 1991 and ended on 1 March 1991. The UN Coalition liberated Kuwait in a little over six weeks, and involved the intense use of airpower and armsed operations, and the use of new military technologies.The Gul f War left Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein in power, but it ruined to the highest degree all of Iraqs conventional forces and allowed the United Nations to destroy most of Iraqs long? range missiles and chemical weapons and capabilities to develop nuclear weapons. Saddam Hussein almost certainly saw the transport and annexation of Kuwait as a means of solving Iraqs economic problems, of greatly increasing Iraqs share of world oil reserves, and as a means of demonstrating that Iraq had become the dominant power in the region. Kuwait was capable of adding at least 2 million barrels a day of oil to Iraqs exports of roughly 3. million, and offered the opportunity to double Iraqs heart oil reserves, from 100 billion to 198 billion barrels (representing nearly 20% of the worlds total reserves). Although he continued to conduct his demands on oil revenues and debt relief from the Persian Gulf Arab nations, Saddam Hussein coherent his troops to the Kuwait border in July 1990, built up all o f the support capabilities necessary to sustain an invasion, and then ordered his forces to invade on 2 August 1990. Kuwait had not kept its forces on alert, and Iraq met little resistance.It seized the entire country within less than two days within a week, Iraq stated that it would annex Kuwait as its nineteenth province. Iraqi forces also deployed along Kuwaits border with Saudi Arabia, with more than five Iraqi divisions in position to seize Saudi Arabias oil? rich Eastern Province. Saudi Arabia had only two brigades and limited amounts of airpower to oppose them. Saddam Hussein may have felt that the world would accept his invasion of Kuwait or would fail to mount any effective opposition. However, Saudi Arabia and the other gulf states immediately supported the Kuwaiti government? n? exile. The Council of the Arab League voted to condemn Iraq on 3 August and demanded its withdrawal from Kuwait. Key Arab states like Algeria, Egypt, and Syria supported Kuwaitalthough Jordan, Li bya, Mauritania, the Sudan, and the Palestine sacque Organization (PLO) supported Iraq. Britain, France, the Soviet Union, and most other European nations as well as the United States, Canada, and Japan condemned the invasion. U. S. President George Bush announced on 7 August that the United States would send land, air, and naval forces to the gulf.Equally important, the end of the Cold War allowed the United Nations to take firm action under U. S. initiative. On the day of the invasion, the Security Council voted 140 (Resolution 660) to demand Iraqs immediate and unconditional withdrawal from Kuwait. The United States, Britain, and Saudi Arabia led the United Nations in forming a broad military coalition under the leadership of U. S. Army Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf that deployed the military forces necessary to enforce the United Nations sanctions and to defend Saudi Arabia.This was the defensive military operation code? named Desert Shield. On 29 November 1990, the United States obtained a Security Council indorsement for the nations allied with Kuwait to use all necessary means if Iraq did not withdraw by 15 January 1991. Key nations like the United States, Britain, France, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and several others began to deploy the additional forces necessary to drive Iraq out of Kuwait. In 199091, the United States deployed a total of 527,000 personnel, over 110 naval vessels, 2,000 tanks, 1,800 fixed? ing aircraft, and 1,700 helicopters. Britain deployed 43,000 troops, 176 tanks, 84 combat aircraft, and a naval task force. France deployed 16,000 troops, 40 tanks, attack helicopters, a light armored division, and combat aircraft. Saudi Arabia deployed 50,000 troops, 280 tanks, and 245 aircraft. Egypt contributed 30,200 troops, 2 armored divisions, and 350 tanks. Syria contributed 14,000 troops and 2 divisions. Other allied nations, including Canada, Italy, Oman, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates deployed a significant portion of their small fo rces.Iraq responded by building up its military forces in the Kuwait dramaturgy of operations to a total of 336,000 troops and a total of 43 divisions, 3,475 battle tanks, 3,080 other armored vehicles, and 2,475 major artillery weapons. This buildup on both sides do full? scale war steadily more likely and triggered a number of political debates within the West and the Arab world over the need for war. The most important of these debates took place within the United States largely because of President Bushs political leadership, the Congress, after Bush gained UN endorsement, requested such authorization on 8 January 1991.On 12 January the House of Representatives by 250 to 183 and the Senate by 52 to 47 voted to authorize the use of force. though a number of new efforts were made to persuade Iraq to leave Kuwait in late December and early January, Saddam Hussein refused to withdraw under any practical conditions. Baghdad also continued to expand its military capabilities in Kuwai t and along the Iraqi border with Saudi Arabia, and continued its efforts to convert Kuwait into an Iraqi province. As a result, the UN Security Council voted to slue yet another effort to act with Iraq.On that date, 15 January 1991, President Bush ordered the military offensive to begin. Desert Storm The Air War The Gulf War began early in the break of day on 17 January when the United States victimized its intelligence and targeting assets, cruise missiles, and offensive airpower to launch a devastating series of air attacks on Iraqi command and control facilities, communications systems, air bases, and land? based air defenses. During the first hour of the war, U. S. sea? launched cruise missiles and F? 117 stealth aircraft present they could attack even heavily defended targets like Baghdad.Within three days, a mix of U. S. , British, and Saudi fighter aircraft had established near air superiority. In spite of Iraqs air strength, UN air units shot down a total of thirty? fi ve Iraqi aircraft without a single loss in air? to? air combat. Although Iraq had a land? based air defense system with some 3,000 surface? to? air missiles, the combined U. S. and British air units were able to use electronic warfare systems, antiradiation missiles, and precision air? to? surface weapons to suppress Iraqs longer? range surface? to? air missiles.As a result, Coalition air forces were able speedily to broaden their targets from attacks on Iraqs air forces and air defenses to assaults on key headquarters, civil and army communications, electronic power plants, and Iraqs facilities for the production of weapons of mass destruction. Victory in the air was achieved by 24 January, when Iraq ceased to attempt active air combat. A total of 112 Iraqi aircraft fled to Iran, and Iraq virtually ceased to use its ground? based radar to target UN aircraft. This created a safe zone at medium and high altitudes that allowed U. S. nd British air units to launch long? range air? to ? surface weapons with impunity. The UN air forces were also able to shift most of their assets to attacks on Iraqi ground forces. For the following thirty days, UN Coalition aircraft attacked Iraqi armor and artillery in the Kuwaiti theater of operations, as well as riotous into Iraq itself to bomb Iraqs forward defenses, elite Republican Guard units, air bases and sheltered aircraft, and Iraqs biological, chemical, and nuclear warfare facilities. Iraqs only ability to penalize consisted of launching modified surface? to? urface Scud missiles against targets in Saudi Arabia and Israel, which had remained outside the war forty Scud variants against Israel and forty? six against Saudi Arabia. U. S.? made Patriot missiles in Israel shot down some Scuds, but although the United Nations carried out massive Scud hunts that involved thousands of sorties, it never found and destroyed any Scud missiles on the ground, which show the risks posed by the proliferation of mobile, long? range m issiles. Iraqs Scud strikes could not, however, alter the course of the war. Iraqi ground forces were struck by more than 40,000 air attack sorties U.S. authorities estimated that airpower helped bring about the desertion or capture of 84,000 Iraqi soldiers and destroyed 1,385 Iraqi tanks, 930 other armored vehicles, and 1,155 artillery pieces before the United Nations launched its land offensive. They also estimated that air attacks gravely reduced the flow of supplies to Iraqi ground forces in Kuwait and damaged 60 percent of Iraqs major command centers, 70 percent of its military communications, 125 ammo storage revetments, 48 Iraqi naval vessels, and 75 percent of Iraqs electric powergenerating capability. Desert Storm The Land War The Aftermath of the War