American history: persian gulf war (1990 1991). Operation desert storm

AMERICAN HISTORY

DESERT STORM

Persian Gulf War (1990-1991)

Alex Rayón JerezEnglish Language InstituteWheeling Jesuit University

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Table of Contents

Persian Gulf War BrieflyThe backgroundThe InvasionThe World ReactsOperation Desert StormThe start of the warIrrational TacticsThe Liberation of KuwaitCease-FireThe Aftermath

4

Persian Gulf War Briefly

Date: 2 August 1990 – 28 February 1991

Place: Persian Gulf (North of the Arabian Peninsula)

Result: Coalition victory

Belligerents: United Nations Coalitions (34 nations) vs. Iraq

Commanders: Norman Schwarzkopf vs. Saddam Hussein

Strength: 959,600 vs 545,000 soldiers

Casualties: 378 vs 25,000 – 30,000 dead


The background

The Invasion

The World Reacts

Operation Desert Storm

The start of the war

Irrational Tactics

The Liberation of Kuwait

Cease-Fire

The Aftermath

5

The Background

Saddam Hussein found himself the leader of a financially strapped Iraq in 1988

Just after the war between Iraq and Iran (1980-1988)

Iraq pressured Kuwait and Saudi Arabia to forgive the debts, but they refused

Saddam's first approach: increase the price of the oil

Kuwait refused, putting forward the loss of customers

Seizing Kuwait and its vast oil reserves, Iraq could:

Erase its war debts with Kuwait

End country's economic problems

Gain control of 10% of the world's oil reserves


The background

The Invasion

The World Reacts



Irrational Tactics


Cease-Fire

The Aftermath

6

The Background (II)

Besides, Iraq accused Kuwait of being exceeding production quotas and driving oil prices down


The background

The Invasion

The World Reacts



Irrational Tactics


Cease-Fire

The Aftermath

1989 1991

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

OPEC Members and value of oil exports in 1989-1991

Saudi Arabia Iraq Iran United Arab Emi-rates

Venezuela Kuwait Nigeria LibyaAlgeria Indonesia Qatar Gabon

Member State

Exp

orts

(Bill

ion

$)

7

The Background (III)

Saudi Arabia (recipient of half of the $50 billion Iraq owed in war debts) was also an objective for Iraq:

Taking Saudi Arabia, Iraq would own nearly 40% of the world's supply of oil

Saddam was assured that Western powers and other Arab nations would not intervene the seize of Kuwait, since:

They were only concerned assuring the sovereignty of Israel

They disliked Kuwait's emir


The background

The Invasion

The World Reacts



Irrational Tactics


Cease-Fire

The Aftermath

8

The Background (IV)

Organization of the Petroleum Exporting CountriesPersian Gulf War Briefly

The background

The Invasion

The World Reacts



Irrational Tactics


Cease-Fire

The Aftermath

9

The Background (V)


The background

The Invasion

The World Reacts



Irrational Tactics


Cease-Fire

The Aftermath

10

The Background (VI)


The background

The Invasion

The World Reacts



Irrational Tactics


Cease-Fire

The Aftermath

11

The Invasion

Saddam carried out his threat of invading Kuwait on the morning of August 2, 1990

Iraq's Republican Guard reached Kuwait City before daybreak

After conquering Dasman Palace (the residence of Kuwait's emir), the conquest was complete

Iraqi troops looted food, medicines and valuable objects of Kuwait

Finally, Iraq annexed Kuwait

Hussein installed a new governor, “liberalizing” the Kuwaitis from the Emir


The background

The Invasion

The World Reacts



Irrational Tactics


Cease-Fire

The Aftermath

12

The World Reacts

The United Nations condemned almost completely (Yemen abstained) Iraq's action

President Bush and the former European Community banned all imports of Iraqi oil

The Security Council imposed economic sanctions on Iraq, cutting trades except for basic needs

By a vote 15 to 0, the Security Council declared Iraq's annexation of Kuwait null and void

President Bush decided to dispatch troops to Saudi Arabia, starting what was called Operation Desert Storm

Under the mandate of the UN


The background

The Invasion

The World Reacts



Irrational Tactics


Cease-Fire

The Aftermath

13


The operation was a defensive move to protect Saudi Arabia against Iraq

Concern on the US Congress because the conflict may lead into a war in the Middle East

Besides, Vietnam's war was still on mind

Thirty three countries joined the United States

Many Iraq's Arab neighbors joined the coalition

Saddam maneuvered to grab their support again, stating that he would not leave Kuwait until Israel leave the control of territories seized in the wars of 1967 and 1973

Arab nations didn't follow Saddam

Much of the world nations were aligned against Iraq


The background

The Invasion

The World Reacts



Irrational Tactics


Cease-Fire

The Aftermath

14


The deadline of the United Nations (January 15th) approached with no solution in sight

On the border between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, 545,000 Iraqi and 467,000 Allied troops faced

The war over air, ground and sea (basically with American ships) started with new and innovative weaponry

Little resistance was encountered from Saddam's small air force of 550 planes

As a result, the Allies controlled the skies over both Iraq and Kuwait


The background

The Invasion

The World Reacts



Irrational Tactics


Cease-Fire

The Aftermath

15

The start of the war (II)

As a response, and accomplishing his threat, Saddam unleashed his Scuds against Israel

In spite of the inaccuracy of these missiles, some of them hit Israel and Saudi Arabia

President Bush prevented the Israeli retaliatory action– This action could turn the conflict into an Iraq-Israel war– Under this war, the Arab members of the Coalition could

side with Iraq

American Patriot antimissile missiles arrived to provide protection against this attack (not so effective)

Only a handful of these Scuds missiles reached their target


The background

The Invasion

The World Reacts



Irrational Tactics


Cease-Fire

The Aftermath

16

Irrational Tactics

Saddam ordered to hide away his air force and took some irrational tactics, such as:

Released Kuwaiti oil trying to put out of service Saudi's desalinization plant

Attack on the an abandoned Saudi city just to try to impress his Arab neighbors

– The Allies force the withdraw of Iraqis with bombs from jets and ships in the Gulf

These Saddam's actions defy logical explanation

The showed the world the image of a desperate leader with no definite plan


The background

The Invasion

The World Reacts



Irrational Tactics


Cease-Fire

The Aftermath

17

The liberation of Kuwait

After air success, came the ground campaign

Bush issued an ultimatum to Saddam: withdraw from Kuwait or face a massive ground attack

Surprisingly, the ground war lasted mere 100 hours– Desert Storm Operation was over by February 27

While Iraqi troops were surrendering in the desert, others in Kuwait City were raping and looting

They thought the allied would arrive later than they did, so a massacre occurred– As many as 10,000 retreating Iraqis were killed (highway of

death)

Kuwaitis knew that American were their heroes


The background

The Invasion

The World Reacts



Irrational Tactics


Cease-Fire

The Aftermath

18

The liberation of Kuwait (II)


The background

The Invasion

The World Reacts



Irrational Tactics


Cease-Fire

The Aftermath

19

Cease-Fire

Allied and Iraqi commanders met at Kuwait's border to discuss the terms of the cease-fire

Iraq agreed to reveal the location of land mines

Iraq must release all POWs to the Red Cross

On April 6, Iraq accepted the terms of a permanent cease-fire, being on April 11 when the Security Council declared the Persian Gulf War over

The permanent cease-fire imposed three terms to Iraq

1. Declare null their annexation to Kuwait

2. Accept liability for war damages

3. Reveal the location chemical, biological and nuclear weapons (what would cause the war on 2003)


The background

The Invasion

The World Reacts



Irrational Tactics


Cease-Fire

The Aftermath

20

The Aftermath

Coalition victory

Removal of Iraqi invasion force from Kuwait

Heavy Iraqi casualties and destruction of Iraqi and Kuwaiti infrastructure

Internal rising against Saddam Hussein brutally suppressed

Establishment of US military presence in Saudi Arabia

Imposition of UN sanctions against Iraq

Palestinian expulsion from Kuwait


The background

The Invasion

The World Reacts



Irrational Tactics


Cease-Fire

The Aftermath

21

The Aftermath (II)

Coastlines along the Persian Gulf were polluted

Oil slick stemming from sunk tankers by Iraq

Long-term effect on marine life and other wildlife

US and its allies troops did not leave the Gulf

The Kurds in the north and the Shiite Muslims in the south of Iraq were trying to oust Saddam from power

All these attacks failed

Saddam maintained in the power until 2003– He was executed on 2006 due to the commitment of several

humanity crimes along this dictatorship


The background

The Invasion

The World Reacts



Irrational Tactics


Cease-Fire

The Aftermath

Bibliography

Hazen, Walter A. Desert Storm, [1994]. Instructional Fair, TS Denison, Grand Rapids, MI

Goldstein, Joshua S. International Relations, [1994]. HarperCollinsCollegePublishers, New York, NY

Operation Desert Storm [online]. URL: http://www.historycentral.com/desert_storm/

Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988) [online]. URL: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/iran-iraq.htm

Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries [online]. URL: http://www.opec.org/home/

Saddam Hussein Biography [online]. URL: http://www.who2.com/saddamhussein.html

http://www.historycentral.com/desert_storm/

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/iran-iraq.htm

http://www.opec.org/home/

http://www.who2.com/saddamhussein.html

END OF THE PRESENTATION

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American history: persian gulf war (1990 1991). Operation desert storm