Amanda Alvarado, Sabrina Nunez, Cortney Mitchell, and Jonah Rodriguez The Gulf War

August 2nd, 1990 Saddam Hussein accused Kuwait of stealing oil, Iraqi tanks swept into Kuwait, waging an “economic war”. Military forces invaded and occupied Kuwait, as U.S. involvement was immediate. Sheikh Jaber Al Sabah, the emir of Kuwait met with the then Secretary of Defense, Richard Cheney.

Long Term Causes Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990 The Shi’ites came to power in Iran and their claim was to Shi’ite spiritual leadership, not to muslims Propaganda against Saddam Hussein Iran supported Kurdish people in Iraq in their struggle against Iraq government

Long Term Causes cont. Hussein invaded Iran Iraq owed debts to Kuwait and Saudi Arabia U.S. supported Iraq during the 1980’s o gave them food, supplies, and fire arms o France also gave Iraq weapons The Soviet influence was waning under Mikhail Gorbachev, the U.S. stepped in

Short Term Causes a British journalist was executed in Iraq for “spying” British intercepted items of technology that were necessary for long term missiles and WMD Saddam made a threat to use chemical weapons against Israel

Short Term Causes cont. Iraq was in economic crisis and needed Kuwait to help o Saddam requested cancellation of wartime loans and wanted extra money, he was refused. o Iraq requested that Kuwait keep to the OPEC quotas for oil output so that they could receive more money on high oil prices Iraq claimed Kuwait stole oil from Rumaila field

Causes of U.S. involvement act of aggression by one U.N. country to another Iraq would have too much influence in OPEC possibility of an attack on Saudi Arabia all of this was leading to regional instability among the Arab states.

Nature of the War- operations and strategies Before the UN voted to approve another resolution, the US involved itself in Saudi Arabia in an operation called Desert Shield This “prewar” phase was a precaution to protect Saudi Arabia from Iraqi invasion, thus protecting American interest in oil Operation Desert Storm came to be after the resolution was approved

Operation Desert Storm pretty much the entire war four developments: precision-guided munitions night-vision devices space-based systems “stealth” technology

Desert Storm con’t Air warfare tech-superiority of the US 89% of US missiles hit their targets “smart” bombs o thermal imaging, laser designation systems o were able to drop bombs with night cover thanks to developments in night vision technology  = air supremacy

Desert Storm con’t Land warfare sophisticated tank technology o used GPS to navigate through the desert o nightvision  allowed for around the clock combat AirLand Doctrine o airstrikes took out mines, then the land strike would come in; this successfully drove Iraq from Kuwait

Desert Storm con’t Sea Warfare coordination was key six carrier battle groups (US contributed most to sea effort) small space to work with enforced embargo, supported airstrikes, diversion

●Iraq had been defeated and forced to pull out of Kuwait ○No real change in the Middle East ●“New world order” proposed by President Bush, not too accurate. ●Wars started - USSR & Yugoslavia Effects of the Gulf War

●USA >150 killed in action ●1,500 men died due to illness, accidents, or friendly fire Environmental Damage ●Very large impact due to the war ○Accusations on Iraq million gallons of crude gas. Casualities

Desert Storm ●Lead to a new world unipolar order ●USA becomes dominant role with world problems ●Ultimately led to the Iraq War of 2003 ●Removal of Saddam Hussein from power Political Effects

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