United States Gulf War
Introduction
The United States Gulf war took place in 2nd August 1990 and it lasted up to 28th February 1991. The war was named Operation Desert shield since it was a way which was fought in the desert. This war was fuelled by Iraq’s decision to invade its oil rich neighbour Kuwait. The main objective of Iraq which was under the rule of Saddam Hussein was to invade Kuwait and take over the oil in the country. This did not however come with a lot of opposition from most of the Middle East countries which backed Kuwait. Saudi Arabia, asked different countries to offers support to Kuwait since it could not be able to fight against Iraq’s strong army. This therefore saw many countries such as Egypt and other Middle East countries offering support to Kuwait but their efforts bore no fruits. The U.S under the rule of President Bush therefore pledged to send its troops in Kuwait in order to offer support against being exploited by Iraq. The U.S through the NATO therefore joined in the war. Russia also supported NATO’s support in the war but it did not offer its own troops to fight against Iraq which was its business partner. Most countries were against Iraq simply because it only wanted to exploit Kuwait of its oil and live it bare. This therefore made the U.S to be furious and us the super powers, the country had to make an effort in making sure that Kuwait is not invaded by its selfish neighbour Iraq. This paper is therefore going to talk about the U.S participation in the Gulf war and the advantages and disadvantages of the war on Iraq and its neighbouring Arab countries.
Iraq also wanted to invade Saudi Arabia and declare it a part of Iraq, thus being able to control all businesses in the country. In 17th January 1991, the U.S made its first attacks on the Iraq in the town of Baghdad (McNeil at a, 6). This led to the collapse of the town as it was reduced to nothing since the US had the best weapons. On the other hand, across the Saudi Arabia, Iraq border, soldiers from different countries in the world mostly from the Arab states and the NATO had been deployed in order to make sure that Saudi Arabia is not invaded by Iraq. Iraq was therefore weakened on both sides and this made it easier for the US to be able to win victory over Iraq (Mirra, 12). The country was faced by different attacks ranging from aerial attacks, missile attacks and this really weakened the strong nature of the Iraq soldiers thus making it hard for them to be able to invade Saudi Arabia as it had planned. The British and the U.S soldiers used air attacks to destroy Iraq’s mercenaries. Destroying its chemical and nuclear weapons, the weapons plants in Iraq were also destroyed thus further weakening the military power of the country. The communication systems between the civilians were also destroyed thus no one could be able to communicate with each other in the country (Yetiv, 7). The power plants were also destroyed in the country thus bringing the activities of the country into a halt. The economy of the country was at the verge of collapsing since no activities were not taking place in Iraq. Iraq was therefore losing at lot since the country was now suffering from attacks from many countries and its economy was rapidly dropping thus leading to many problems in the country.
The U.S later decided to seize fire since it had really affected Iraq. A very huge number of Iraq’s soldiers of about three hundred thousand in number were consequently killed. Most of Iraq’s soldiers had escaped from Kuwait while others had surrendered but this war had left the country in problems. Most of the country’s property and lives had been lost. Iraq was therefore reduced to nothing as it could not be able to protect itself against any attacks from its enemies. Each and everything in the country was therefore reduced to nothing and the country could only depend on donors in order to be able to cater for its needs (McNeil at a, 7). Immediately after the withdrawal of the U.S soldiers from Iraq, Kuwait and other Arab countries were now at ease since their dominating enemy had been reduced to nothing and could not therefore be able to carry out any attacks in any of the countries. Iraq therefore had no future since it could not be able to carry out activities since each and everything that it had, had been destroyed. After the war, the country was then followed by a series of rebel attacks against the President Saddam Hussein who was later hanged after being charged and found to be guilty of treason (Mirra, 14). During civil war in the country, which was against the rule of Saddam Hussein, the country was at a standstill since no one could be able to conduct any activities in the country at ease. The country consequently depended on the support of other countries in order to be able to run smoothly since it could not be able to sustain itself. The country had acquired loans from different banks in order to sustain the war that it had highly invested in. After the war, the country had amassed a loan of $37000 (Yetiv, 8). This money could only be paid if the country had a stable economy thus being able to pay for its debts. The country was now swimming in a pool of debts and nothing could change without it depending on other countries for financial support.
According to my point of view, the U.S did the right in order to support Kuwait and Saudi Arabia against being invaded by Iraq (Yetiv, 10). This is consequently Iraq was taking the advantage of its week neighbours thus invading and reclaiming land. Iraq had taken 300000 soldiers to Kuwait, showing that it had actually taken over the country (Mirra, 16). It could therefore control all of the activities that were carried out in the country and this included mining and selling oil to other countries. Iraq had therefore taken over Kuwait and did not even think about the affair of the country. This was very wrong simply because Iraq was only concerned with the way that it could be able to increase its wealth through invading and taking over other countries (McNeil at a, 8). Iraq claimed that Kuwait was stilling oil from Iraq at its border and it was therefore more than willing to do anything in order to regain its stolen oil by Kuwait. This was a sentiment which was actually wrong since Iraq was looking for a way in which it could be able to attack and take over the oil mines in Kuwait.
The main problem that was facing Iraq was that the prices of oil had gone down simply because the United Arab Emirates countries had increased the supply of crude oil in the market. This made it hard for Iraq to be able to get a lot of revenue from oil thus it had to look for alternative ways of making sure that it gains a lot of revenue from Oil (Yetiv, 12). Due to increase in oil in the market, enmity was therefore created between Iraq and the Arab countries. Thus Iraq was mainly interested in making sure that it controlled the oil trade in the world. This therefore meant that it had to attack its neighbours and stop them from mining excess oil for export. Furthermore, it wanted to dictate the way oil is supposed to mined and regulated in the market thus being able to increase the profits gained from the sale of oil (Mirra, 18). After invading Kuwait, Iraq was also determined to invade Saudi Arabia which is also among the largest producers of oil in the world (McNeil at a, 9). This was another way of obtaining the oil mines in Saudi Arabia and making sure that it controls oil trade all over the world without any whatsoever opposition. The only way that Iraq could be stopped from its evil activities was therefore being attacked by different countries. This really weakened the country and it therefore had no choice but to retreat from the war since it had utilized all of its resources on war.
On the other hand, the U.S Gulf war was not done in the right way as it led to the loss of lives and property destruction in Iraq (Mirra, 20). In particular, the city of Baghdad was reduced to nothing thus making it hard for the country to be able to continue with its activities peacefully. Moreover, due to the air attacks that both the U.S and the British army on Iraq, it led to massive deaths of innocent people who were not even involved in the war (McNeil at a, 9). The destruction of power plants in the country made it hard for people to continue with their daily activities, meaning that all the activities in the country had been paralysed. The U.S and all the other countries which had participated in the war could have looked for other alternatives of making sure Iraq does not invade Kuwait. War was supposed to be last alternative and the country could not have suffered as it suffered after being attacked by very superior forces. Thus the U.S and the forces which participated in the war were not justified to participate in that war without at least trying peaceful means (Yetiv, 14).
Conclusion
The U.S gulf war had a lot of both negative and positive results since the Arab countries were able to live peacefully. The Arab countries were frightened with the way Iraq was conducting its activities and this consequently made them to be at ease since they could be affected by Iraq’s inhuman behaviour. The war allowed Kuwait to be able to reclaim its land thus being able to control its activities without any problems. On the other hand, there were many lives which were lost in Iraq during the Persian Gulf since the airstrikes targeted anyone thus leading to death of very many people in Iraq. Property of worth Billions was also destroyed in the country.
Work Cited
McNeil, Rebecca B., et al. "An Assessment Of Survey Measures Used Across Key Epidemiologic Studies Of United States Gulf War I Era Veterans." Environmental Health: A Global Access Science Source 12.1 (2013): 1-19. Academic Search Premier. Web. 29 Apr. 2016.
Yetiv, Steve A. "Misperceiving U.S. Foreign Policy In The Gulf: Raising The Hidden Costs Of U.S. Dependence On Oil." Journal Of International Affairs 69.1 (2015): 141-155. Business Source Complete. Web. 29 Apr. 2016.
Mirra, Carl. "The Mutation Of The Vietnam Syndrome: Underreported Resistance During The 1991 Persian Gulf War." Peace & Change 36.2 (2011): 262-284. Academic Search Premier. Web. 29 Apr. 2016.
