Gulf War

Origins

• Iran-Iraq war consequences

• Oil disputes

• Saddam Hussein aspirations to return to the region during the ottoman empire and post british borders were drawn that was both modern-day Iraq and Kuwait

Origins: Iran-Iraq War Consequences

• Iraq was devastated and poor and was in a ton of debt to Kuwait. Kuwait started pestering Iraq about paying back their debt.

• Iraq army grows from 190,000 to 1 million troops 

  • When you have that kind of army as a leader you become a bit reckless 

• because most of the Iraqi soldiers were veterans of the Iran-Iraq war they didn’t want to fight again and when the coalition ground troops came in they didn’t put up too much of a fight 

Origins: Oil disputes

• Kuwait was exceeding the OPEC oil production quota (making Iraq and other countries lose money from oil) and Saddam threatened that if they continued he would take military action 

  • Kuwait announced they would scale back their oil collection late july 

• Hussein also accused Kuwait of slant drilling and demanded they pay $10 billion 

  • Kuwait counteroffered $500 million

  • Hussein doesn’t accept and invades shortly after

Gulf war: August 2, 1990

• Iraq invades Kuwait

  • Kuwait didn’t have much of a military and Iraq had installed a puppet government within 2 days

• UNSC meets and unanimously denounces the invasion and calls for a complete withdrawal of Kuwait 

  • Resolution 660

  • Western states feared Iraq would continue into Saudi Arabia

Operation Desert Shield

Coalition buildup/defensive deployment to protect Saudi Arabia

Operation Desert Storm

Starts Jan 16, 1991

• Iraq misses the deadline and the coalition begins their attack

• Drops bombs on Iraqi forces for 38 straight days as troops from 29 countries (mostly US) surge into the Persian Gulf region 

• In response, Iraq launches missiles to Saudi Arabia and Israel 

  • To get Israel to join so the Arab countries would leave the coalition and attack Israel instead 

• February 24, 1991: coalition forces land ground troops in Kuwait and quickly overwhelmed Iraqi soldiers there 

What day did the gulf war end

Feb 27, 1991

• While retreating, Iraqi forces destroyed everything they could. Starting oil fires some lasted up to 10 months. This cost Kuwait at least $1.5 billion

Outcomes of the Gulf War

• The embargo placed on Iraq wasn’t lifted when the war ended cause Iraq to drop deeply into poverty

• Shiites and Kurds rebellions and US interactions

• Saddam Hussein: Middle East Peacemaker

• Post Cold war turning point

• Baghdad was left standing and lead to 2003 Iraq war

Outcomes: Shiites and Kurds rebellions

• encouraged by Bush

• Saddam responded with extreme brutality

  • Lead to Kurdish refugee crisis 

• Caused/allowed the US to continue keeping a close watch on Iraq (no fly zones)

  • US suspected Saddam of having weapons of mass destruction and Clinton ultimately orders 1998 Operation Desert Fox 

  • And eventually the US invasion that began 2003 Iraq war

Outcomes: Saddam Hussein Peacemaker

• US/Bush focus on resolution 242 leading to all sorts of peace (Oslo) because Hussein linked 678 with 242 and Bush had to promise Syria he would look into it after the war if they would join the coalition 

  • This is why Saddam Hussein can be argued as the greatest peacemaker in the middle east

Outcomes: post cold war turning point

Demonstrated a new US-led international order in which the UN Security Council could authorize collective action against aggression.

Outcomes: Baghdad

• Was left standing

  • UN mandate was limited to liberating Kuwait

  • fear of fracturing the coalition

  • fear of Iraqi state collapse

  • uncertainty over post-Saddam Iraq
    

•  It was a successful war/operation because the aims were limited: push Saddam out of Kuwait (not remove him completely)

Gulf War Airpower

• you can get a lot done from the air but you still need ground troops. Air opens up opportunity but doesn’t finish the job

• Instant Thunder

• Daryl G. Press

• John T. Correll

Instant Thunder

Strategic bombing concept/framework used in the air campaign portion of operation Desert Storm 

• Operation Desert Storm opened with a 38 day air campaign

Airpower: Daryl G. Press

airpower contributed to coalition victory but its importance was massively exaggerated and the defeat was primarily an overwhelming ground coalition superiority

• Disagrees with the claim that the air campaign destroyed Iraq before the ground war even started 

• Airpower is not sufficient, decisive and wasn’t even strictly necessary for the coalition’s victory. 

  • Believes the coalition still could have crushed Iraq without the airpower 

  • Airpower hurt Iraq but not enough to explain the extremely one-sided ground outcome

Evidence of Press’ claim that Airpower hurt Iraq but not enough to explain the extremely one-sided ground outcome

• Iraq could still maneuver and units still fought 

• Command systems still functioned 

• Supplies still reached troops

Airpower: John T. Correll

The 38 day air campaign

• Destroyed Iraq’s command and control system 

• Closed down the bridges and supply routes 

• Put Iraqi airforce out of commission 

• Reduced Iraqi troop strength by at least half

Gulf War standard for airpower has loomed ever since

US and Gulf War

• Before Iraq invaded Kuwait and it was first a money dispute the US were went to for help and they said “we’re staying out of this”

• Bush increased American soldiers stationed in Saudi Arabia to 400,000

• Bush appeals to NATO and gains support from many countries in case Iraq ignores Res 678

  • Saudi Arabia, UK, France, Egypt offered to fight if needed. Others offered some sort of support 

• Operation Desert Shield and Storm 

• United States is a big part of Israel not responding to being attacked because US warned/demanded them to stay out of it completely

Gulf War UN Reslutions

• 660: condemn Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait 

• 661: economic sanctions and trade embargos 

• 664: Iraq must release hostages

• 665: initiate blockade on Iraq 

• 678: allows Iraq one more chance to follow past resolutions and offers Jan 15 ultimatum 

  • After this was issued. They met in Geneva where Hussein linked 678 with 242