Middle East

• The Middle East has been a centre of conflict for the past 50 years.

• This is in large part due to two factors1. Oil2. The Creation of Israel

The Creation of Israel

• After WWII the Jewish population of Europe was homeless.

• The victors and the UN decided to create a Jewish homeland

• In 1948 UN resolution created the state of Israel

• Israel had been created where the state of Palestine had been

• Israel was surrounded on all sides by Arab states who were not happy about the creation of Israel

• This had been called for years by Zionists

• The Arab nations attacked in hopes of taking over the young nation state

• Despite being horribly outnumbered the Israeli’s were more organized and tougher than the Arabs

• The Israelis were able to hold off the Arabs

• The Israelis now began to get aid from the Americans

• The tension between the Arabs and the Israelis continued to grow and culminated in two small conflicts

Arab-Israeli War of 1948

The Six Day War • War was fought over a six day period in June of 1967

• Fearing that war would start soon the Israelis launched a preemptive strike on the Egyptians, Jordan and Syria

• Within six days the Israelis had captured the West Bank, Golan Height and the Sinai Peninsula

• This vastly increased the size of Israel but also served to heighten the tension between the two countries

Yom Kippur War

• On October 2nd 1973, during the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, Egyptian and Syrian Forces attacked Israel

• Initially the Israelis took heavy losses and the Arab countries were taking back territory lost in 1967

• But the American supplied Israelis gradually took back territory and defeated the Egyptians

• The Israelis were prepared to cross the Suez Canal and attack Egypt but were pressured by the Americans to stop

Current Problems in Israel• The Palestinians are still trying to take

back their nation• They do not have the means to put

together an army so they must use other methods

• The Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) has fought for the cause for over thirty years using terror, combat and political pressure to try and accomplish their goals

• Car Bombs, Gun attacks and Bus Bombs are frequently carried out against the citizens of Israel

• Which has led the Israelis to conduct military operations against the Palestinians in their country

• The situation has been very tense for years and has led to the threat of an all out war between the Israelis and the rest of the Arab world

                                                                                                                                       

                                                            

                                                            

                                                            

                                                                                                           

                                                            

Iraq and the United States

• In 1972 Saddam Hussein became the president of the nation of Iraq

• From 1980-1987 Iran and Iraq engaged in a bloody war. Iraq was supported and supplied by the US

• In August of 1990 Hussein and his army invaded Kuwait in an attempt to get

larger oil reserves• The US and UN warned Saddam that he

had until January 15th, 1991 to get out ofKuwait

                                                

                              

Operation Desert Storm

• The United States began the war with an intense bombing campaign which lasted about six weeks and targeted the infrastructure of Iraq and Saddam’s troops

• Then the coalition forces launched a ground assault on Iraqi ground forces in southern Iraq and Kuwait

Ground Campaign

• The ground campaign lasted about four days

• The Coalition forces simultaneously launched a massive offensive against the Iraqi positions in Kuwait and southern Iraq

• After six weeks of intense bombing the Iraqi troops were hungry and generally unwilling to fight. They surrendered by the thousands

• George Bush ended the war before they had a chance to remove Saddam Hussein

• As the Iraqis retreated they set fire to oil wells in Kuwait

Highway of death

                                                                                                                                                                    

Gulf War II 2003-

• Following the attacks on the WTC and the invasion of Afghanistan the Americans turned their attention back toward Saddam Hussein and his regime in Iraq

• The American publicly accused Hussein of aiding Osama Bin Laden and having weapons of mass destruction

• The Bush administration talked at length about the need to remove Saddam and eventually talked themselves and the country into attacking Iraq

The Conflict Begins

• The American opened with several days of extremely intense bombing of the main cities in Iraq, they called this offensive ‘Shock and Awe’

• The Americans followed this up with a full scale invasion of the Iraqi nation

• The U.S. Army aided by the Coalition of the Willing moved into Southern Iraq with the goal of moving into Baghdad and capturing Saddam

• The US faced little resistance and moved into Baghdad with minimal loses

• The US forces toppled the government of Iraq but Saddam was not to be found

• May 1st, 2003 Bush declares major combat operations over and the war won

Since the war ‘ended’

• In the five years since fighting ended more U.S. troops have died then in any conflict since Vietnam

• The United States is now involved in a conflict which looks very much like Vietnam

• Bush has been forced to deal with considering imposing conscription to help them win the war

Similarities to Vietnam

1. They don’t know who they are fighting• There is no clear opponents to direct

their operation against2. The Morale of the Troops is low• They don’t believe in what they are

fighting for3. Public Opinion is Turning• The Public is tiring of sending their

boys to die