Gulf War Essay Research Paper The United

Gulf War Essay, Research Paper

The United States of America was justified in taking a dominate military role in the Persian Gulf crisis. This role was justified due to Saddam Husseins invasion of Kuwait, the threat of chemical warfare and the encouragement of the United States Congress and the United Nations Security Council. This conflict grew out of tension over oil, with Iraq claming that Kuwait was pumping oil from a field on the Iraq – Kuwait border and not sharing the profit that arose from this field. In the beginning, Americans and the world only assumed at worst the Iraqi s would seize the border to intimidate Kuwait into settling their differences. What happen was a different story with the Western world stepping into what Saddam Hussein himself called, the mother of all battles.

Saddam Hussein had given his word to both Egypt s President and Saudi Arbia s King Fahd that he would not invade the neighboring country of Kuwait. However his word turned out to be just a smokescreen for the planned invasion. This bluff along with Saddam s treatment of the Kuwait citizens and Kuwait s poor military protection were all reasons why the United States was justified in its military actions. Saddam had told, the American ambassador to Baghdad, April Glaspie that he would not resort to force as long as negotiations were proceeding to resolve a recently renewed border dispute with Kuwait 1 On July 27, a United States satellite saw Iraqi trucks carting supplies towards troops that were gathering on the Iraq – Kuwait border. Kuwait still did not believe that an invasion was possible even after the Americans told them, four days before the invasion, that the Iraq forces on the border appeared to be in battle formation and been issued ammunition. 2. At this point, Saudi Arbia s King Fahd, telephoned Saddam and sent his foreign minister to Baghdad, but Saddam assured them that his troops were merely conducting seasonal exercises 3 Yet on August 2, many people in Kuwait awakened to distant explosions and then twelve hours after it began, Saddam controlled the airport, the central bank, the radio and television station and all key government buildings 4. So much for his word. Saddam used gruesome tactics in his treatment of the people of Kuwait. For example, in one case, sixty-seven women an children who had sought shelter in a cave to escape artillery shelling were knowingly incinerated 5 There were stories of looting, rape, torture and executions. There were stories of a man who disappeared one day only to turn up the next day with his head wrapped in the Kuwaiti flag and they had fired three bullets into his skull 6 Kuwait as a country was not prepared for the invasion. The size of the military was estimated at somewhere between 16,000 to 20,000 troops. Only about 90 out of the 200 tanks that the country owned were operation, the rest were in storage, in training or undergoing repairs. 7 The Kuwaiti military was outnumbered 26 to 1 and by 11 am on the day of the invasion the foreign minister received a call from the military compound that Kuwait was lost; these message was, Say good-bye to Kuwait. We ve run out of ammunition. 8

The threat of chemical warfare was a real concern during the gulf crisis. Two reasons for the concern was the stockpile and production of the chemical weapons along with the stockpile of nuclear weapons Saddam was rumored to have. There were also orders for these chemical weapons to be used but they never were. The production of chemical weapons started as early as the 1970 s when Iraq asked for help in building, what they called a pesticide plant. 9 This pesticide plant was used to make four toxic chemicals that were similar to those chemicals in nerve gas. By 1990, analysts agreed that Iraq was capable of producing more than 1,000 tons of chemical agents a year. 10 Iraq was said to have been trying to develop warheads to place on its extended – range Scud missles. 11 After Iraq invaded Kuwait, there was talk and expectations that Saddam may unleash chemical weapons 12 Another concern was the building of nuclear weapons. By 1981, Saddam had acquired some nuclear fuel and this increased his taste for the ability to be a nuclear power. He began to approach other country to buy compointants that would help continue his nuclear program. Over the years this included gas furnaces that could be used in the production of the nuclear – weapons production. At the beginning of the Gulf war, George Bush made it clear that he intended to knock out Saddam Hussein s nuclear bomb potential. 13 The allied forces were prepared to encounter the chemical weapons, they went to battle with, bulky protective suits, gloves, boots, and antidote syringes. 14 Reports had shown that Saddam ordered his military to imploy chemical weapons when the ground troops advanced on them however, Saddam never carried out his threat to use chemicals. There are theories on why these weapons were not used, one of these being that the ground war came and went so quickly that Iraqis never had an opportunity to use them 15 Whatever the reason, the American s announced on the first day of the cease-fire that, Saddam no longer poised a military threat 16 and that Iraq s capability to manufacture nuclear weapons had been neutralized 17

On January 12, 1991, the United States Congress voted in favor of giving President George Bush the authority to go to war to liberate Kuwait from Iraq. Th