Gulf War





The Gulf War (also: Persian Gulf War, War in the Gulf, Iraq-Kuwait Conflict,
UN-Iraq conflict, Operations Desert Shield, Desert Storm, and Desert Saber,
and 1990 Gulf War (for the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait), 1991 Gulf War)
(1990-1991) was a conflict between Iraq and a coalition force of 34 nations
led by the United States. The result was a decisive victory of the coalition
forces, which were able to drive Iraqi forces out of Kuwait fairly quickly
and with minimal coalition deaths. The main battles were aerial and ground
combat within Iraq, Kuwait, and bordering areas of Saudi Arabia. During the
conflict, Iraq fired missiles into Israeli territory.

Background

Prior to World War I, under the Anglo-Ottoman Convention of 1913, Kuwait was
considered to be an autonomous caza within Ottoman Iraq. Following the war,
Kuwait fell under British rule and later became an independent monarchy.
Iraqi officials did not accept the legitimacy of Kuwaiti independence.

Following the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s, Iraq was extremely indebted to
several Arab countries, including a $14 billion debt to Kuwait (Hiro, 1992).
Iraq hoped to repay its debts by raising the price of oil through OPEC oil
production cuts, but instead, Kuwait increased production, lowering prices,
in an attempt to leverage a better resolution of their border dispute. In
addition, Iraq charged that Kuwait had taken advantage of the Iran-Iraq War
to drill for oil and build military outposts on Iraqi soil near Kuwait.
Furthermore, Iraq charged that it had performed a collective service for all
Arabs by acting as a buffer against Iran and that therefore Kuwait and Saudi
Arabia should negotiate or cancel Iraq's war debts.

During the war, Iraq enjoyed good relations with the United States: the
United States tilted towards supporting Iraq, despite (or perhaps because
of) earlier Soviet influence in Iraq, and supplied it with weapons and
economic aid (with the only aberration being the Iran-Contra affair, where
some American officials secretly and illegally sold arms to Iran). Following
the war, there were moves within the United States Congress to isolate Iraq
diplomatically and economically over concerns about human rights violations.
These moves were disowned by high-ranking US senators like Robert Dole, who
told Iraqi President Saddam Hussein that "Congress does not represent U.S.
President George H. W. Bush or the government" and that Bush would veto any
move toward sanctions against Iraq. (From the Iraqi transcript of the
meeting, as published in Sifry.)

In late July, 1990, as negotiations between Iraq and Kuwait stalled, Iraq
amassed troops on Kuwait's borders and summoned American ambassador April
Glaspie for an unanticipated meeting with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. In
that meeting, Saddam outlined his grievances against Kuwait, while promising
that he would not invade Kuwait before one more round of negotiations.
Although Glaspie expressed concern over the troop buildup, some people
perceived her answers as giving tacit approval for an invasion, by saying
that the US "[has] no opinion on the Arab-Arab conflicts, like your border
disagreement with Kuwait" (from the Iraqi transcript of the meeting, as
published in Sifry). To emphasize this point, she also said at the meeting,
"James Baker has directed our official spokesmen to emphasize this
instruction." Although ambassador Glaspie shortly after left the foreign
service, US sources say that she had handled everything "by the book" and
had not signaled Iraqi President Saddam Hussein any approval for defying the
Arab League's Jeddah crisis squad which conducted the negotiations. However,
Saddam's expectations may have been preoccupied by the perception that the
US just at this time was approving the reunification of Germany, another act
that he considered to be nothing more than the nullification of an
artificial, internal border.

Some people, like the scholar William Blum, allege that the United States
gave secret encouragement to Kuwait to be provocative in their territorial
claims and promised to defend Kuwait from the expected Iraqi reaction. This,
his argument goes, was in response to increasing Iraqi warnings about
American hegemony in the Gulf region. Also, it helped to stanch expected
cuts in defense spending and boost President George H. W. Bush's domestic
popularity. (Blum, Ch. 52)

Subsequent to the invasion the Iraqis claimed to have found a memorandum
pertaining to a conversation between CIA director William Webster and the
Kuwaiti head of security, which read in part:

     "We agreed with the American side that it was important to take
     advantage of the deteriorating economic situation in Iraq in order to
     put pressure on that country's government to delineate our common
     border. The Central Intelligence Agency gave us its view of appropriate
     means of pressure, saying that broad cooperation should be initiated
     between us on condition that such activities be coordinated at a high
     level."

Though the CIA dismissed the document as a fabrication, there are other
indications that the document was real. For example, when confronted by the
Iraqi foreign minister with the document at an Arab summit in 1990, the
Kuwaiti foreign minister was startled enough that he fainted. (Ibid)

The Onset

Iraqi troops invaded Kuwait with armor and infantry, occupying strategic
posts throughout the country, including the Emir's palace, on August 2,
1990. Troops looted medical and food supplies, detained thousands of
civilians, and took over the media. Iraq detained thousands of Western
visitors as hostages, and later attempted to use them as bargaining chips.
Iraq initially established a puppet "liberated" Kuwaiti government, but
quickly dissolved this and declared parts of Kuwait to be extensions of the
Iraqi province of Basra and the rest to be the 19th province of Iraq.

Within hours of the initial invasion, the UN Security Council passed
Resolution 660, condemning the invasion and demanding a withdrawal of Iraqi
troops. On August 6, the Security Council passed Resolution 661, placing
economic sanctions on Iraq and, on November 11, Resolution 678, giving Iraq
a withdrawal deadline of January 15, 1991, and authorizing "all necessary
means to uphold and implement Resolution 660".

President of the United States George H. W. Bush quickly announced that the
US would launch a "wholly defensive" mission to prevent Iraq from invading
Saudi Arabia - Operation Desert Shield [PRES]. There is no evidence that
Iraq ever intended to invade Saudi Arabia, as even General Norman
Schwarzkopf, the allied commander during the conflict, admitted. Iraq
claimed all throughout that its only intent was to reclaim its "province"
Kuwait. The Department of Defense claimed to have satellite photos of a
large troop buildup in Kuwait along the Saudi border, but never made them
public for security reasons. Other satellite photos purchased from Soviet
satellite sources apparently showed no such buildup.

The navy mobilised two naval battle groups, USS Eisenhower and USS
Independence, to the area [NAVY], where they were ready by August 8.
Military buildup continued from there, eventually reaching 500,000 troops.
The consensus among military analysts is that until October, the American
military forces in the area would have been insufficient to stop an invasion
of Saudi Arabia had Iraq attempted one.

The United States, especially Secretary of State James Baker, assembled a
coalition of forces to join it in opposing Iraq, consisting of soldiers from
34 countries: Afghanistan, Argentina, Australia, Bahrain, Bangladesh,
Canada, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary,
Honduras, Italy, Kuwait, Morocco, The Netherlands, Niger, Norway, Oman,
Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, South Korea,
Spain, Syria, Turkey, The United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the
United States itself. US troops represented 74% of 660,000 troops in the
theater of war. Many of the coalition forces were reluctant to join; some
felt that the war was an internal Arab affair; others feared increasing
American influence in Kuwait. In the end, many nations were persuaded by
offers of economic aid or debt forgiveness. (Blum)

The United States went through a number of different public justifications
for their involvement in the conflict. The first reasons given were the
importance of oil to the American economy and the United States'
longstanding friendly relationship with Saudi Arabia [PRES]. However, some
Americans were dissatisfied with these explanations and "No Blood For Oil"
became a rallying cry for domestic peace activists, though opposition never
reached the size of opposition to the Vietnam War and demonstrations in the
United States were often overwhelmed by people protesting the protesters.
Later justifications for the war included Iraq's history of human rights
abuses under President Saddam Hussein, the potential that Iraq may develop
nuclear weapons or weapons of mass destruction, and that "naked aggression
[against Kuwait] will not stand."

Shortly after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, the organization Citizens for a
Free Kuwait was formed in the US. It hired the public relations firm Hill
and Knowlton for about $11 million, money from the Kuwaiti government. This
firm went on to manufacture a fake campaign, which described Iraqi soldiers
pulling babies out of incubators in Kuwaiti hospitals and letting them die
on the floor. A video news release was widely distributed by US TV networks;
false supporting testimony was given before Congress and before the UN
Security Council. The fifteen-year-old girl testifying before Congress was
later revealed to be the daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador to the United
States; the supposed surgeon testifying at the UN was in fact a dentist who
later admitted to having lied. [MCA]

Various peace proposals were floated, but none were agreed to. The United
States insisted that the only acceptable terms for peace were Iraq's full,
unconditional withdrawal from Kuwait. Iraq insisted that withdrawal from
Kuwait must be "linked" to a simultaneous withdrawal of Syrian troops from
Lebanon and Israeli troops from the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Golan Heights,
and southern Lebanon.

On January 12, 1991 the United States Congress authorized the use of
military force to drive Iraq out of Kuwait.

Air Campaign

On January 16, 1991, one day after the deadline set in Resolution 678, the
coalition launched a massive air campaign: more than 1,000 sorties per day.
Weapons used included smart bombs, cluster bombs, daisy cutters, and cruise
missiles (see below). Iraq responded by launching 8 Scud missiles into
Israel the next day. Air superiority in the theatre was quickly achieved;
coalition air forces flew sorties largely unchallenged.

The air campaign targeted military targets like the Iraqi Republican Guard
in Kuwait, air defense systems, Scud missile launchers, air forces and
airfields, weapons research facilities, and naval forces. In addition, it
targeted facilities useful for both the military and civilians: electricity
production facilities, telecommunications equipment, port facilities, oil
refineries and distribution, railroads and bridges. [RCCPGW] Two live
nuclear reactors were bombed (see Washington Post article by Atkinson &
Devroy), in violation of the recently passed UN Resolution 45/52 banning
such attacks. Electrical power facilities were destroyed across the
previously industrialized country. At the end of the war, electricity
production was at 4% of its pre-war levels; months later, it was still only
at 20-25%. (Bolkom) Bombs destroyed the utility of all major dams, most
major pumping stations, and many sewage treatment plants. Sewage flowed
directly into the Tigris River, from which civilians drew drinking water,
resulting in widespread disease (Arbuthnot, Felicity). Documents released by
The Pentagon indicate that "increased incidences, if not epidemics, of
disease" were anticipated and perhaps intended. (See the leaked memo: Iraq
Water Treatment Vulnerabilities). In most cases, the Allies avoided hitting
civilian-only facilities. However, on February 13, 1991 two laser-guided
"smart bombs" destroyed an air raid shelter in Baghdad killing hundreds of
Iraqis. U.S. officials claimed that the bunker was a military communications
center, but Western reporters have been unable to find evidence for this.
(See Is Iraq coming in from the cold? by Allan Little, linked below. This
strike is also discussed in Killing Hope.)

Iraq launched missile attacks on coalition bases in Saudi Arabia and on
Israel, in the hopes of drawing Israel into the war and drawing other Arab
states out of it. This strategy proved ineffective. Israel did not join the
coalition, and all Arab states stayed in the coalition except Jordan, which
remained officially neutral throughout.

Ground Campaign

On February 22, 1991, Iraq agreed to a Soviet-proposed cease-fire agreement.
The agreement called for Iraq to withdraw troops to pre-invasion positions
within three weeks following a total cease-fire, and called for monitoring
of the cease-fire and withdrawal to be overseen by the UN Security Council.
The US rejected the proposal but said that retreating Iraqi forces would not
be attacked, and gave twenty-four hours for Iraq to begin withdrawing forces.

On February 24, the US began Operation Desert Sabre, the ground portion of
its campaign. US forces pulled plows along Iraqi trenches, burying their
occupants alive. Soon after, a convoy of Marines penetrated deep into Iraqi
territory, collecting thousands of deserting Iraqi troops, weakened and
demoralised by the extensive air campaign. The US anticipated that Iraq
might use chemical weapons; General Colin Powell later suggested that a US
response to such an act might have been to destroy dams on the Tigris and
Euphrates rivers, drowning Baghdad in water, though this was never fully
developed as a plan.

Iraq did not use chemical weapons, and the allied advance was much swifter
than US generals expected. On February 26, Iraqi troops began retreating out
of Kuwait, setting fire to Kuwaiti oil fields as they left. A long convoy of
retreating Iraqi troops--along with Iraqi and Palestinian civilians--formed
along the main Iraq-Kuwait highway. This convoy was bombed so extensively by
the Allies that it came to be known as the Highway of Death. One hundred
hours after the ground campaign started, President Bush declared a ceasefire
and on February 27 declared that Kuwait had been liberated. Journalist
Seymour Hersh has charged that, two days after the ceasefire was declared,
American troops led by Barry McCaffrey engaged in a systematic massacre of
retreating Iraqi troops, in addition to some civilians. McCaffrey has denied
the charges and an army investigation has cleared him. (Forbes, Daniel)

A peace conference was held in allied-occupied Iraq. At the conference, Iraq
negotiated use of armed helicopters on their side of the temporary border.
Soon after, these helicopters, and much of the Iraqi armed forces, were
refocused toward fighting against a Shiite uprising in the south. In the
North, Kurdish leaders took heart in American statements that they would
support a people's uprising, and began fighting, in the hopes of triggering
a coup. However, when no American support was forthcoming, Iraqi generals
remained loyal and brutally crushed the Kurdish troops. Millions of Kurds
fled across the mountains to Kurdish areas of Turkey and Iran. These
incidents would later result in no-fly zones in both the North and the South
(see below). In Kuwait, the Emir was restored and pro-democracy forces were
attacked along with suspected Iraqi collaborators, especially Palestinians.
Eventually, over 400,000 people were expelled from the country. [PBS]

On March 10, 1991 Operation Desert Farewell began to move 540,000 American
troops out of the Persian Gulf.

Canadian Involvement

Canada was one of the first nations to agree to condemn Iraq's invasion of
Kuwait and it quickly agreed to join the U.S. lead coalition. In August
Prime Minister Brian Mulroney sent the destroyers HMCS Terra Nova and HMCS
Athabaskan to enforce the trade blockade against Iraq. The supply ship
Protecteur was also sent to aid the gathering coalition forces. When the UN
authorized full use of force in the operation Canada sent a CF18 sqaudron
with support personel. Canada also sent a field hospital to deal with
casualties from the ground war.

When the air war began Canada's planes were integrated into the coalition
force and provided air cover and attacked ground targets. This was the first
time since the Korean War that Canadian forces had participated in combat
operations.

Canada suffered no casualties during the conflict but since its end many
veterans have complained of suffering from Gulf War Syndrome.

Casualties

Gulf War casualty numbers are controversial. Coalition military deaths seem
to be around 378, with US forces suffering 148 battle-related and 145
non-battle-related deaths (included in the 378). The largest single loss of
Coalition forces happened on February 25, 1991 when an Iraqi Scud missile
hit an American military barracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia killing 28 US
Marines. The number of coalition wounded seems to have been less than 1,000.
Iraqi casualty numbers are highly disputed. Some claim as low as 1,500
military killed, some 200,000. Many scholars believe a number around 25,000
to 75,000. The number of military wounded is equally unknown. 71,000 Iraqis
were taken as prisoners of war by US troops. Estimates of Iraqi civilian
death range from 100 to 35,000.

Cost

The cost of the war to the United States was calculated by Congress to be
$61.1 billion; two-thirds of that amount was paid by Kuwait, Japan and
Saudi-Arabia.

Media Campaign

The US policy regarding media freedom was much more restrictive than in
previous conflicts. Most of the press information came from briefings
organized by the military. Only selected journalists were allowed to visit
the front lines or conduct interviews with soldiers. Those visits were
always conducted in the presence of officers, and were subject to both prior
approval by the military, and censorship afterward. This was ostensibly to
protect sensitive information from being revealed to Iraq, but often in
practice it was used to protect politically embarrassing information from
being revealed. This policy was heavily influenced by the military's
experience with the Vietnam War, which it believed it had lost due to public
opposition within the United States.

At the same time, the coverage of this war was new in its instantaneousness.
Many American journalists remained stationed in the Iraqi capital Baghdad
throughout the war, and footage of incoming missiles was carried almost
immediately on the nightly television news and the cable news channels such
as CNN.

Consequences

Following the uprisings in the North and South, no-fly zones were
established to help protect the Shiite and Kurdish minorities in South and
North Iraq, respectively. These no-fly zones have been monitored, mainly by
the US and the UK. Combined, they have flown more sorties over Iraq in the
eleven years following the war than were flown during the war. These sorties
have dropped some amount of bombs nearly every other day. However, the
greatest amount of bombs were dropped in two sustained bombing campaigns:
Desert Strike, which lasted a few weeks in September 1996, and Desert Fox,
in December 1998.

A United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) on weapons was established, to
monitor Iraq's compliance with restrictions on weapons of mass destruction
and ballistic missiles. Iraq accepted some and refused other weapons
inspections. In 1997, they expelled all US members of the inspection team,
alleging that the United States was using the inspections as a front for
espionage, which the U.S. later admitted was true. The team returned for an
even more turbulent time period between 1997 and 1999, when it was replaced
by a new team which began inspections in 2002. For more on these
inspections, see Iraq disarmament crisis.

Prior to 1997, the team found some evidence of biological weapons programs
at one site, and non-compliance at many other sites. One member of the
weapons inspection team, Scott Ritter, a US Marine, resigned in 1998,
alleging that the United States was blocking investigations because they did
not want a full-scale confrontation with Iraq. He also alleged that the CIA
was using the weapons inspection teams as a cover for covert operations
inside Iraq.

Economic sanctions were kept in place following the war. Iraq was allowed to
import certain products under the oil-for-food program. A 1998 UNICEF report
found that the sanctions resulted in an increase in 90,000 deaths per year.

Many returning coalition soldiers reported illnesses following their
participation in the Gulf War, a phenomenon known as Gulf war syndrome.
There has been widespread speculation and disagreement about the causes (and
existence) of this syndrome. Some factors considered as possibly causal
include exposure to depleted uranium, oil fires, or the anthrax vaccine.

Palestinian support for Iraq caused some discontent among its Arab
supporters and this had the effect of causing the Palestinian's to begin
secret negotiations with Israel which led to the Oslo Accords. The People's
Republic of China was surprised by the swiftness of the Coalition victory
and this led to the start of a high technology change in the People's
Liberation Army. The continued sanctions on Iraq and the continued American
military presence in Saudi Arabia have caused discontent within the Arab
world, and were used as the justification for the September 11, 2001
Terrorist Attack. Iraq and especially Saddam Hussein have also been
considered as targets for the United States' War on Terrorism.

Technology

Precision guided munitions (PGMs, also "smart bombs"), such as the United
States Air Force guided missile AGM-130, were heralded as key in allowing
military strikes to be made with the minimum of civilian casualties.
Specific buildings in downtown Baghdad could be bombed whilst journalists in
their hotels watched cruise missiles fly by. PGMs amounted to approximately
7.4% of all bombs dropped by the coalition. Other bombs included Cluster
bombs, which break up into clusters of bomblets, and Daisy cutters,
15,000-pound bombs which can "[disintegrate] everything within hundreds of
yards".

Scud is a low technology rocket bomb that Iraq used, launching them into
both Saudi Arabia and Israel. Some bombs caused extensive casualties, others
caused little damage. Concerns were raised of possible chemical or
biological warheads on these rockets, but if they existed they were not
used. Coalition efforts to eliminate Scud launchers or to knock down Scuds
in flight with the Patriot missile defense were far less effective than
military leaders claimed at the time.

Global Positioning System units were key in enabling coalition units to
navigate across the desert undetected by enemy troops. Airborne Warning and
Control System (AWACS) and satellite communication systems were also important.

Important Individuals

United States:

   * President George H. W. Bush
   * General Norman Schwarzkopf
   * Secretary of State James Baker
   * General Colin Powell
   * Secretary of Defense Richard Cheney

Iraq:

   * President Saddam Hussein
   * Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz
   * Kuwait Governor Ali Hassan al-Majid

Others:

   * King Faud of Saudi Arabia
   * Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah of Kuwait
   * Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir of Israel