1. 20th Century Battlefields: Gulf War
By The Military Channel (2007)

2. Iraq Invades Kuwait 2 August 1990 Why? Iranian Revolution
Saddam is threatened and uses territorial dispute as a reason to invade Iran
Iran-Iraq War
War causes massive debt for Iraq
Iraq accuses Kuwait of slant drilling and purposely driving down the price of oil by producing more than their assigned quota, so Iraq requests diplomatic solution, and a plan to reduce debt owed to Kuwait
Kuwait refuses to help Iraq so Iraq invades Kuwait

3. U.N. Responds Iraq holds 10% of world’s oil Kuwait holds 10%
And Saudi Arabia held 20%
This means if Iraq continued south from Kuwait into Saudi Arabia then Iraq could control nearly half of the known oil reserves in the world
U.N. calls for withdrawal because they could not accept a brutal dictator to control so much of the world’s oil

4. Saudi Arabia
6 August 1990 Saudi Arabia invites the Americans to stage inside Saudi Arabia where they could prepare an invasion into Kuwait to repel Iraq in the case that Iraq would not leave Kuwait (Operation Desert Shield)
Biggest deployment of U.S. troops since WWII gets underway immediately following the invitation
Initially consists of 250,000 troops from the U.S. and U.K.
The U.N. coalition would ultimately consist of 39 nations contributing anything form troops to money to territory (See handout CNN Fast Facts)
The major issue with this is that Saudi Arabia is the spiritual home of Islam and the sheer presence of troops from the non- Muslim countries of the coalition could offend devout Muslims around the world

5. IraqI Action in Kuwait
Iraqi troops put down any resistance from Kuwaitis
Carry out public executions
Loot shops, houses, and factories
Hostages taken to Baghdad as propaganda to get the world to believe that they are being treated well

6. U.N. Resolution and the Plan
After months of military build-up and deliberations the security council of the U.N. sets a deadline of 15 January 1991 for Iraq to withdraw
Keep ground troops out of combat because of the chemical potential of Iraq
Carry out massive air attack (6 aircraft carriers and 400 planes)
One week before the deadline there were 750,000 coalition troops staged in Saudi Arabia

7. Iraq Refuses to Withdraw
17 January 1991 Operation Desert Shield becomes Operation Desert Storm
U.K. bombs Iraqi runways
U.S. bombs factories, weapons caches, and communication facilities
U.S. utilizes new aircraft technology never seen in war, the F- 117 Stealth Bomber which is invisible to Iraqi radar and uses laser-guided bombs accurate within 10 feet of its target
Cruise missiles shot form U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf target power stations
The bombings basically cripple Iraq’s Air Force and remains grounded throughout the fight against the coalition

8. Iraqi response
18 January 1991 Iraq attempts to break up the coalition by firing SCUD missiles at targets within Israel
If Israel would retaliate the hope of Iraq was that the several Arab states would back out of the coalition because they would not want to be seen as allies with Israel
No one is killed by the initial SCUD attacks, but they continue throughout the war and cause 74 deaths in Israel and extensive property damage
Israel tells the coalition that they will not retaliate as long as the coalition agrees to hunt down the SCUD launchers and destroy them

9. SCUD hunt
The U.S. and U.K. attempted to bomb suspected SCUD missile launchers
The U.K. sent in special forces to seek out the launchers and destroy them or locate them for bombers
There were an estimated 20 launchers, but a post-war analysis could not confirm that any launchers were destroyed
2 U.K. pilots were shot down and taken hostage during these operations and put on T.V. by Iraq to condemn the war

10. Iraq’s next move (Battle Of Khafji)
Iraq attempts to force the coalition to fight on the ground because Saddam saw that as the only way to win since they were unable to fight from the air
29 January 1991 Iraqi units invade the Saudi town of Khafji
The invasion of Khafji was seen by U.S. spy planes but there were no available bombers close enough to stop the Iraqis from getting to Khafji
Coalition troops led by U.S. Marines fought their way into Khafji
Coalition drove out the Iraqis and took control of the town with the help of air support by 1 February 1991
25 U.S. KIA and 43 from the coalition

11. Coalition Continues Aerial Attacks
On 13 February 1991 the U.S. made a fatal mistake
Intelligenge indicated that the Al-Amiriyah Bunker was occupied by Iraqi commanders, but it was actually serving as an air-raid shelter for civilians
408 civilians died in the bombing
Pictures of the aftermath were broadcast around the world
The U.S. shifts its policy- stop bombing inside cities, and start focusing only on military units
Ultimately the incident forced the U.S. to begin the ground combat in order to fully drive out Iraqi troops and decrease the risk of killing more civilians

12. Iraq Retaliates Saddam orders Kuwaiti oil fields to be set on fire
Besides retaliation against the coalition for the Al-Amiriyah bunker bombing the oil fires were also said to be set for retaliation against Kuwait for slant drilling and driving the price of oil down prior to the war

13. The Coalition Responds
22 February 1991 George H.W. Bush offers Iraq the chance to leave Kuwait within 24 hours
Saddam still refuses, and on 24 February the ground war begins
forces first attack from the south (used primarily as deception)
The main attack would be the left hook from the west into Iraq
The southern forces experienced very little resistance; tired, shell-shocked, and hungry Iraqi conscripts had no real will to fight and surrendered en masse
The left hook encountered the more elite Iraqi units (Republican Guard) but their tanks could not match the capabilities of the American tanks, but the Republican Guard would fight all the way back to Kuwait City and then retreat

14. Last days of War
25 February 1991 Iraq fires a SCUD successfully at a coalition base in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia killing 28 U.S. troops
26 February Saddam orders Iraqi troops to retreat, Iraqis steal whatever vehicle they could find and begin to leave and the coalition bombs the retreating troops
Approx. 10,000 are killed in the bombings, becomes known as the highway of death and puts pressure on Bush to end the war because the images are broadcast and look horrific and inhumane

17. Last days of war cont…
27 February 1991 The Republican Guard still has one last fight in them
They engage U.S. and Saudia Arabian troops in several tank battles in Kuwait City
Iraq loses the battle and retreats
28 February George H.W. Bush declares a cease fire
War is over
Coalition deaths=494 (200 Kuwait)
Iraqi deaths= 20,000-35,000
Iraqi civilian deaths=3,664

18. Aftermath
Bush encouraged Iraqis to rise up against Saddam but Republican Guard crushed the rebellions within a month and Saddam stayed in power for another 15 years
The Gulf War was said to be the most shocking moment in Osama bin Laden’s life, and it resulted in several attacks against American interests, culminating in the events on 9/11/2001
U.S. declares Global War on Terror: U.S. invades Afghanistan as a result of 9/11 to take out the Taliban Government and Al-Qaeda. The Taliban was providing a safe haven for the Al-Qaeda terrorist network led by bin Laden

19. Aftermath cont…
U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003 as part of the Global war on terror and captured Saddam on 13 December 2003
He was put on trial for crimes against humanity and genocide, convicted and then hanged on 30 December 2006
The war in Afghanistan ended 31 December 2014 (bin Laden captured and killed 1 May 2011)
The war in Iraq ended 18 December 2011

20. ME in Iraq