On August 2, 1990, Iraq, under the leadership of Saddam Hussein, a brutal dictator, invaded neighboring Kuwait, a major oil producer in the Middle East region. This invasion consolidated a large portion of the Persian Gulf oil supply under the control of an anti-American regime and threatened to disrupt the flow of oil from Saudi Arabia, which controlled more than a fifth of the world’s proven oil supplies. President George H. W. Bush declared, “This aggression will not stand.” A 30-nation coalition, led by the United States, attacked Iraq and restored the Kuwaiti monarchy.
Iraq’s invasion came after Kuwait unilaterally increased its oil production, which led to a drop in world prices. This drop in the value of its chief export came as Iraq struggled to repay loans borrowed from the Kuwaiti and Saudi regimes during the Iran-Iraq War of 1980-88. Kuwait and Saudi Arabia refused to forgive Iraq’s debts. Ironically, many of Hussein’s weapons had come through American aid when the United States supported the regime in the late 1980s. The Ronald W. Reagan and Bush administrations had approved nearly $1 billion in economic and technical aid to the government of Hussein.
With the invasion of Kuwait, the United Nations (UN) authorized a trade embargo on Iraq and sent a quarter of a million troops, mostly Americans, to defend Saudi Arabia, in a military operation called Desert Shield. General Norman Schwarzkopf headed the operation. Eventually the UN military force grew to 550,000 troops.
Congress debated at length the issue of using force to dislodge the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait. Congressional Democrats generally opposed military action and called for time to let the economic boycott work; Republicans called for military action. On January 12, 1991, Congress narrowly approved the use of American troops in the Persian Gulf. Only a few Democratic senators, including Albert Gore, Jr. (D-Tenn.), supported military intervention. Four days later, Operation Desert Storm began.
Following weeks of air strikes, on February 23, 1991, General Schwarzkopf sent 200,000 troops into Iraq. Although coverage of the war was censored by the Pentagon, television carried much of the war live to American homes. Within five days after the invasion, Hussein accepted a cease-fire. As Iraq withdrew from Kuwait, it set fire to the oil fields and dumped huge quantities of crude oil into the gulf.
The United States lost only 148 Americans in the six-week conflict, while more than 100,000 Iraqi soldiers and citizens died. Bush’s approval rating reached 90 percent, but he was later criticized for failing to remove Hussein from power. Still more criticism mounted when it was revealed that the administration had assisted several purported eyewitnesses to falsify their congressional testimony of accounts of Iraqi atrocities. Further criticism came when the administration encouraged the Kurdish minority in Iraq to revolt against the Hussein regime, which led to their brutal suppression by Iraqi soldiers.
Following his defeat, Hussein continued to refuse to allow UN inspectors to search for weapons of mass
President George H. W. Bush meets with U. S. troops in the Persian Gulf, 1991. (George Bush Presidential Library)
Destruction being built by Hussein’s regime. This led the William J. Clinton administration to launch periodic air strikes against Iraq. Nonetheless, Hussein expelled the UN inspectors in 1998, which led to further American air-strikes. Hussein remained a thorn in the side of the United States, and many observers accused Hussein of continuing to develop biological and chemical weapons of mass destruction and continuing to harbor and train terrorists. As a consequence, the Middle East continued to be one of the world’s most volatile regions as the United States entered the 21st century.
World History
