1st Persian Gulf War• On August 2, 1990, Iraqi

president, Saddam Hussein, ordered his army to invade Kuwait.

• At the time Kuwait produced over ten percent of the world's oil.

• The War itself only lasted a little over a month. (Jan to Feb of 1991)

• Saddam Hussein tells rest of world not to get involved

• U.S. and the U.N. demand Saddam withdraw his armies

• Economic sanctions/naval blockade put on Iraq

• Iraq continues to invade Kuwait

• U.S. begins deploying troops in Saudi Arabia

The United Nations responded by forming a UN coalition of countries, led by the United States, which drove Saddam’s forces out of Kuwait in 1991.

• 34 countries contributed to helping Kuwait

• U.S. was 73% of the 956,600 troops

• Soviet Union supplied Iraq with missiles

• Arab nations allied with the U.S.

•King Fahd of Saudi Arabia asks for U.S. protection from Iraq after Iraq invaded Kahfji

• U.S. doesn’t want Iraq to gain control of Saudi oil

• U.S. launches Operation Desert Shield to protect Saudi Arabia

• Operation Desert Storm is then launched

• It was the air campaign where Iraqi forces were bombed

At the invitation of its king, coalition forces fighting against Iraq were based in Saudi Arabia, and US military bases remained there until after 9/11/2001.

This is a map

from 2002.

The Saudi Arabian monarchy supported this move because they felt their own border with Iraq was threatened by Saddam’s aggression. Notice the location of Saudi oil fields.the King allowed the US to build military bases in his nation.

• Saddam orders his forces to fire missiles at Israel

• Goal was to provoke Israel into fighting back

• Would cause Arab allies to withdrawal their troops

• U.S. offers protection from missiles

• Shoots them down so Israel won’t fight back

• Ground war is launched but only lasts 100 hours

• Iraqi soldiers gave up without a fight

• The Alliance took back Kuwait

• As the Alliance continues to bomb retreating Iraqi forces, rebellion broke out in Saddam’s regime

• Iraq agrees to ceasefire on March 3, 1991

Retreating Iraqi’s set fire to oil wells in Kuwait, because their view was that U.S. interests were only based on oil in the Middle East. This created a major environmental disaster.

•Though the Persian Gulf War was successful in freeing Kuwait Hussein remained in power.

•UN sanctions, or limitations, were placed on Iraq’s oil sales

•This was done to limit Saddam’s military spending and thus lessen his military threat to other nations.

UN sanctions also required that UN Weapons Inspectors be allowed inside any Iraqi facility to investigate and make sure no weapons of mass destruction (WMDs*), were being made there and that the ones he previously had (chemical weapons) were destroyed.

* WMDs - include chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons. These are seen as being different from conventional weapons

Also, no-fly zones were established to protect the Kurds and Shia Muslims in the north and south of Iraq from more of Saddam’s attacks.

9/11/2001

This event makes our government extraordinarily sensitive to possible threats from the Middle East.

After 9/11 with fear of further attack from groups from the Middle East, the US administration came to believe that Saddam Hussein was still hiding WMDs and that there were ties between Iraq and members of the terrorist group Al Qaeda.

For these reasons, the US tried to gain UN support in invading Iraq, but the UN did not vote to support the US invasion.

This invasion was never sanctioned by the UN, and several of our allies refused to participate. Those who did formed what was called The Coalition of the Willing.

By 2003 continued Iraqi failure to obey the UN resolutions resulted in the US-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003 and the overthrow of Saddam Hussein’s regime.

US in Iraq• Saddam Hussein was developing nuclear

weapons and offering aid to Al-Qaeda

• This was called Operation Iraqi Freedom

• Hussein’s government collapsed quickly because many Iraqis felt his was a cruel leader

As it turned out, Saddam was bluffing about his WMD capacity to keep Iran from attacking, but we were also fooled, to Saddam’s detriment.

U.S. and Iraqi security forces have had to struggle with Iraqi and Islamic insurgencies and sectarian violence that military and civilian planners had failed to foresee.

Some US forces remain in Iraq today, trying to restore poor infrastructure and helping to support an elected government

While simultaneously dealing with the insurgency which escalated into what at one point amounted to a civil war within Iraq between the Sunnis and Shia.

Religious and Ethnic Conflict

Different religious andethnic groups arecompeting with eachother for power

No WMDs or pre-9/11 ties to Al Qaeda have ever been found, though Al Qaeda moved into Iraq during the war.

Continued Fighting

• Insurgents, now including Al Qaeda, continue attacking our US forces, and fighting still exists between Iraqi groups, especially between the Shia and the Sunni Iraqis, but involving the Kurds, as well.

Current Situation

The situation hashowever, recentlyimproved enough that theU.S. is slowly removingtroops from the nation, The Iraqi government istaking more and moreresponsibility for runningthe country

But currently, Sunni-Shiaviolence is on the rise,and it seems that moreIraqis are joining the AlQaeda network there.

Iraq’s Oil Fields

Vocabulary

•insurgency – a disorganized revolt; rebellion within a group, as by members against leaders. Also, an organized rebellion aimed at overthrowing an official government through the use of guerilla attacks; a revolt against a recognized government that does not reach the proportions of an organized revolution.

•insurgent - a person who takes part in an armed rebellion against a government; a member of an irregular armed force that fights a stronger force by sabotage and harassment, a guerrilla.