The
History Guy (1990-1991)
(1990-1991) AND The
first major conflict involving the United
States since Vietnam proved to be a
catharsis of sorts for the American
military and public. Just as the
Spanish-American War of 1898 gave the
nation a "short victorious war" following
the angst of the Civil War, the Gulf War
lifted the U.S. out of a self-conscious,
post-Vietnam malaise. However, just as the
short war of 1898 quickly led to the
bloody Philippine-American
War,
the Gulf War's dark legacy soon reared
it's ugly head; the Gulf War Syndrome
plagues veterans and the No-Fly
Zone War,
kept
alive the violence and confrontation as a
lead-in to the current Third
Persian Gulf War,
also known in the U.S. as the
Iraq
War. There
are nearly as many links dealing with
Gulf
War Syndrome
as there are on the war itself. This
is not really a surprise, considering the
relative brevity of the war compared to
the serious long-term consequences of the
disease from which many veterans
suffer. Page
Menu
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on the menu bar below to navigate this
page. Name
of Conflict
|
Belligerents
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| Conflict
Type
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Conflicts
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|
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Casualties
| Sources
| Links
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Battle
of Khafji
| Saddam
Hussein
NAME
OF CONFLICT: The Second Persian Gulf
War **UN
nations in red
denote
actual combat involvement. Israel did not
participate in an offensive manner, but
suffered Iraqi missile attacks. vs. Iraq (Jordan,
Yemen and the Palestine Liberation
Organization gave moral support to
Iraq) ENDED:
March 3, 1991- Iraq accepts
cease-fire TYPE(S)
OF CONFLICT: Inter-State CONCURRENT:
(Related conflicts occurring at the
same time) SUCCESSOR:
(Related conflicts that occur
later) Iraqi
Kurdish Revolt of 1991 No-Fly
Zone War
(1991-2003) The
Third Persian Gulf War
(2003-Present)--AKA
"The Iraq War" There are
three basic causes to the Iraqi invasion
of Kuwait in 1990. First, Iraq had long
considered Kuwait to be a part of Iraq.
This claim led to several confrontations
over the years (see below), and continued
hostility. Also, it can be argued that
with Saddam
Hussein's
attempted invasion of Iran defeated, he
sought easier conquests against his weak
southern neighbors. Second,
rich deposits of oil straddled the
ill-defined border and Iraq constantly
claimed that Kuwaiti oil rigs were
illegally tapping into Iraqi oil fields.
Middle Eastern deserts make border
delineation difficult and this has caused
many conflicts in the region. Finally,
the fallout from the First Persian Gulf
War between Iraq and Iran strained
relations between Baghdad and Kuwait. This
war began with an Iraqi invasion of Iran
and degenerated into a bloody form of
trench warfare as the Iranians slowly
drove Saddam Hussein's armies back into
Iraq. Kuwait and many other Arab nations
supported Iraq against the Islamic
Revolutionary government of Iran, fearful
that Saddam's defeat could herald a wave
of Iranian-inspired revolution throughout
the Arab world. Following the end of the
war, relations between Iraq and Kuwait
deteriorated; with a lack of gratitude
from the Baghdad government for help in
the war and the reawakening of old issues
regarding the border and Kuwaiti
sovereignty. Iraq-Kuwait
Relations Prior to the 1990
Invasion. 1973,
March- Iraq occupies as-Samitah, a
border post on Kuwait-Iraq border.
Dispute began when Iraq demanded the
right to occupy the Kuwaiti islands of
Bubiyan and Warbah. Saudi Arabia and
the Arab League convinced Iraq to
withdraw. 1980-1988-
Kuwait supports Iraq in the First
Persian Gulf War with Iran. Amid
growing tension between the two Persian
Gulf neighbors, Saddam Hussein concluded
that the United States and the rest of the
outside world would not interfere to
defend Kuwait. On August 2, 1990, Iraqi
forces invaded Kuwait and quickly seized
control of the small nation. Within days,
the United States, along with the United
Nations, demanded Iraq's immediate
withdrawal. U.S. and other UN member
nations began deploying troops in Saudi
Arabia within the week, and the world-wide
coalition began to form under UN
authority. By January
of 1991, over half a million allied troops
were deployed in Saudi Arabia and
throughout the Gulf region. Intense
diplomacy between U.S. and Iraqi officials
failed to bring an Iraqi withdrawal, so,
on January 16, 1991, Allied forces began
the devastating bombing of Iraq and her
forces in Kuwait. The Allied bombing
sought to damage Iraq's infrastructure so
as to hinder her ability to make war while
also hurting both civilian and military
morale. To counter the air attack, Saddam
ordered the launching of his feared SCUD
missiles at both Israel and Saudi Arabia.
He hoped to provoke the Israelis into
striking back at Iraq, which he theorized
would split the Arab nations from the
anti-Iraq coalition due to the ongoing
hostility between Israel and the Arab
world. Israel came very close to
retaliating, but held back due to
President George Bush's pledge to protect
Israeli cities from the SCUDs. As a result
of this promise, U.S. Patriot missile
batteries found themselves deployed in
Israel to shoot down the SCUDs. Another
result of the SCUD launches was to divert
Allied air power from hitting the Iraqi
army to hunting for the elusive mobile
missile launchers. Even so, the Allied air
strikes and cruise missile attacks against
Iraq proved more devastating than
expected. When the
Allied armies launched the ground war on
February 23, the Iraqi occupation forces
in Kuwait were already beaten. Cut off
from their supply bases and headquarters
by the intense air campaign, thousands of
Iraqi soldiers simply gave up rather than
fight, as the Allies pushed through Iraq's
defenses with relative ease. In the few
cases where the more elite Iraqi forces,
such as the Republican Guard, stood and
fought, superior American, British and
French equipment and training proved the
undoing of the Soviet-equipped Iraqis.
By
February 26, U.S. and Allied Arab forces,
along with the underground Kuwaiti
Resistance, controlled Kuwait City and
Allied air forces pounded the retreating
Iraqi occupation army. In southern Iraq,
Allied armored forces stood at the
Euphrates River near Basra, and internal
rebellions began to break out against
Saddam's regime. On February 27, President
Bush ordered a cease-fire and the
surviving Iraqi troops were allowed to
escape back into southern Iraq. On March
3, 1991, Iraq accepted the terms of the
cease-fire and the fighting
ended. 1.
Saddam's second war of foreign conquest
ended even worse than the first one. Iraq
again stood defeated with the liberation
of Kuwait. 2. Despite
the crushing defeat and subsequent Shiite
and Kurdish rebellions, Saddam's
government retained a strong grip on power
in Iraq. 3. As a
result of the cease-fire terms, Iraq had
to accept the imposition of "no-fly zones"
over her territory and United Nations
weapons inspection teams sifting through
her nuclear and other weapons programs.
4. The
economic
and trade sanctions begun during the war
continue to the present day, contributing
to severe economic hardship in Iraq. Some
reports say hundreds of thousands of
children have died due to the sanctions.
There are no indications that the
government
or military suffer undo
hardships. 5. While
the world (and the United States and
Europe), concentrated on Iraq, Syria moved
to crush the last resistance to her de
facto control of Lebanon, thus ending that
country's long civil war. It is believed
that Syria's President Assad was given a
free hand to deal with Lebanon in return
for joining the war in Kuwait. It's also
believed there was a cash
for annuity
payment agreed upon 6. When
Yemen declared sympathy for Iraq, Saudi
Arabia expelled upwards of a million
Yemeni guest workers, causing economic
hardship in Yemen and increased tension
between the two neighbors. See
Saudi-Yemen
Border Conflict
page. CASUALTY
FIGURES: Update
as of August 2, 2009 Iraq:
Original figures listed 100,000 Iraqi
military dead, but more recent estimates
place Iraqi dead at 20,000 military and
2,300 civilian. United
States: 148 killed in action, 458 wounded,
and one Missing In Action (MIA). Also, 121
Americans died through non-combat
incidents. The one
MIA (compared to 1,740 MIA in the Vietnam
War), was Navy pilot, Captain Michael
"Scott" Speicher was shot down and was
neither rescured, nor was a body found
until, on August 2, 2009, the Pentagon
announced that U.S. Marines stationed in
Iraq had found Speicher's
remains. See also:
U.S.
identifies remains of pilot missing in
Persian Gulf War--LA
Times, Aug. 2, 2009 Ironically,
or perhaps intentionally, the Pentagon
announced the recovery of Speicher's on
the 19th anniversary of Saddam Hussein's
invasion of Kuwait, which occurred on
August 2, 1990, and sparked the following
19 years of war between the U.S. and
Iraq. SOURCES: 1.
Desert-Storm.com:
military presence allied
forces 2.
Schwartzkopf, Norman H. It Doesn't Take
A Hero. New York: Bantam Books,
1992. PBS
Online - Frontline Story on the Gulf
War Operation
Desert Storm Debriefing
Book Canada's
Participation in the
War--Part
of a website maintained by the Canadian
military. Fratricide
at Umm Hajul
- Desert Storm friendly fire incident and
cover up. Iraqi
Invasion of Kuwait: An Eyewitness
Account
- the author was involved in the events
leading up, during, and after the invasion
by Iraqi forces. *Fascinating
account of the Iraqi invasion and
preceeding events. Target
Baghdad
- aviation photo gallery. "Thunder
and Lightning"- The War with Iraq
--
From the U.S. Naval Historical Center home
page. The
Battle Of Khafji: An Overview and
Preliminary Analysis Saudi
Town Reclaimed--Washington
Post article on the Battle of
Khafji. Lessons
learned in the savage 1972 Eastertide
Offensive paid off at the Battle of Khafji
almost two decades
later.--Interesting
analysis of the Khafji battle as told by
Marine General Boomer. ABCNews.com:
Saddam Hussein
- Provides biographical background and
links to news stories. BBC
News: Saddam Hussein - His Rise to
Power Biography
of President Saddam Hussein, President of
the Republic of
Iraq
- From the Republic of Iraq Ministry of
Foreign Affairs. CNN.com:
Hussein - The Man the U.S. Loves to
Hate
-Analyzes Hussein's background and
motives. CNN.com:
Transcript of Saddam Hussein's Speech to
Iraqis
- From September 3, 1996. Emergency
Net: Hussein
- Offers biographical
background. Iraq
Today: Saddam Hussein's
Speech
- Provides text of President Hussein's
speech on the 11th anniversary of the
Great Victory Day. Megastories:
Saddam's Early Life, the Lust for
Power
- Provides background on Hussein and his
family. MSN
Encarta Encyclopedia: Saddam
Hussein
- Features career overview. Saddam
Hussein and His
Profile
- Critical analysis of Hussein's
leadership. Saddam
Hussein, President of
Iraq
- Features personal and professional
background. Who
2: Saddam Hussein
- Features background and annotated
links. Frontline:
The Survival of
Saddam
- Portrait of Saddam Hussein's life and
the secrets behind his leadership.
Features interviews, rare photographs, and
Saddam "music videos." A recent
article written by Seymour Hersh for New
Yorker magazine ignited a controversy over
the use of appropriate force by General
Barry McCaffrey at the Battle of Rumaylah.
Below are links for further
research. Overwhelming
Force
- Text of the article by Seymour
Hersh. Don't
Believe Them
- Opinion piece by Lew
Rockwell. Probing
a Slaughter: A U.S. assault on Iraqi
troops was 'a grouse shoot'but was it an
excessive use of
force?
--Newsweek article from May 29,
2000. Salon:
Gulf War Crimes?
- Discusses the story and McCaffrey's
responses. H-War
Discussion Network: Principle of
Proportionality--
This is a military history discussion
group which discussed the Hersh article
and McCaffrey's actions in the war. The
general principle of "what is the
appropriate amount of force?" is debated.
Click on the link and then scroll down the
page to the discussion thread for
"principle of proportionality." Yahoo's
Full Coverage on the McCaffrey
controversy--
Get the latest news on this
issue. Official
Government
Resources CDC
Persian Gulf War Study Fact
Sheet
- Department
of Veterans Affairs Dept.
of Veterans Affairs Gulf War Fact
Sheet--Includes
information on Programs available for Gulf
War Veterans. Gulf
War Veteran's
Homepage--Dept.
of Veterans Affairs web page on Gulf War
Vets. GulfLINK--Office
of the Special Assistant for the Gulf War
Illnesses. An official Dept. of Defense
site. SVAC
Hearing Testimony--
UNITED STATES SENATE COMMITTEE ON
VETERANS' AFFAIRS. Hearings on Persian
Gulf War Illnesses. Senate
Veteran's Affairs Committee Press
Releases Gulf
War syndrome linked to
chemicals--UPI,
April 13, 2009 Gulf
War Veteran's Resource Page Cover-Up
of Gulf War Syndrome: A Question of
National Integrity--Analysis
and documents from a vet regarding alleged
government cover-ups related to Gulf War
Syndrome. Burning
Semen Syndrome-
A survey site run by a doctor who is an
Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine
at the University of Cincinnati.
Gulf
War Syndrome
Cover-up
- From Covert Action quarterly. Gulf
War Syndrome & James Iredell
Moss--Information
on Dr. Moss and his research into
GWS. Yahoo's
Full Coverage: Gulf War
Syndrome--For
the latest news on GWS. Gulf
War Veterans Links American
Gulf War Veterans
Association
Gulf
Veteran Resource
Pages
- the first and primary source of
information on the Web for Gulf War
Veterans suffering the mysterious
collection of maladies known as Gulf War
Syndrome. Gulf
War Veterans of
Wisconsin
- assists Wisconsin residents affected by
the complexities of Gulf War related
illnesses. Keeps the public informed of
issues that affect their veterans'
well-being. Middle
East/Arab Links KuwaitOnline-
Internet source for Kuwait
information. National
Committee for Missing and POW's Affairs -
Kuwait
The
History Guy: Issues: Iraq-U.S.
Conflict--The
History Guy's page containing links to
many Iraq sources. Part of this website's
Politics section. The
Iraq Foundation --"is
a non-profit, non-governmental
organization working for democracy and
human rights in Iraq, and for a better
international understanding of Iraq's
potential as a contributor to political
stability and economic progress in the
Middle East."*Descriptive
statement is from the Iraq Foundation
website. DOD
101: United States Military
Operations--
Fascinating website run by the Federation
of American Scientists. On this site you
will find tons of data on US military
operations going back decades. Iraq
History--
A very detailed accounting of
Iraqi/Mesopotamian history covering
Biblical times to the Present. UNSCOM--
The United Nations Special Commission, the
organization that conducts the weapons
inspections in Iraq. This page is part of
the UN website. Iraqi
Rulers--Part
of the Iraq4ever website. Lists the rulers
of Iraq from independence to the
present. Iraq
History--Part
of the Iraq4ever website. Includes quite a
bit of detail on the history of Iraq and
the Mesopotamia region. Personal
Accounts of the
War An
Iraqi lieutenant's War
Diary Diary
of the Gulf War --account
of life in Israel during the
war. Diary
of Robert Werman
--account of life in Israel during the
war. From
Green Bay to the Persian Gulf: the 432nd
Civil Affairs Company in Operation Desert
Storm
"The
History Guy" is a Registered Trademark. Contact
the webmaster
Please
cite this source when appropriate: Lee,
R. "The History Guy: The Second Persian Gulf
War" http://www.historyguy.com/GulfWar.html Links and
Resources Read
the History Guy Weblog and the
War
and Conflict
Journal--New Earthquake
Adds to Haiti's Tragic
History--posted
Jan. 13, 2010 Yemen
With al-Qaida Threat May Be
New Front In
War--posted
Jan. 4, 2010 al-Qaida
in North Africa
Strikes--posted
Dec. 31, 2009 Attempt
to Bomb Northwest Airlines
Flight 253 on Christmas Day
2009--posted
Dec. 26, 2009 Joseph
Stalin: History's
Villain--posted
Dec. 22, 2010 Military
Coups in
Turkey-A
listing of military coups in
modern Turkey
(1960-1997). Comparing
America's Wars Duration in
Months-A
look at America's wars and
comparing their length in months.
War
in
Afghanistan--Details
on the origins of this ongoing
war; part of the War on
Terror Ethiopia-Somalia
War of
2006*New*--A
brief description of the
Ethiopia-Somalia War which began
in 2006, and is a part of the
larger Somali Civil
War. Ethiopia-Somali
Wars and
Conflicts*New*--Listing
the wars and conflicts between
Ethiopia and Somalia Iraq
War: Links and
Resources*New*--Links
and resources on the Iraq
War. Iraq
War: Prisoner Abuse and Abu
Ghraib Links and
Resources*New*--Links
and resources on the Iraq War's
biggest scandal. Iraq
War: Battles and
Campaigns*New*--Links
and resources on Iraq War battles
and military
operations. Israel-Lebanon/Hezbollah
War of
2006--*New*--Details
and analysis on the warfare along
the Lebanese border which began
in July, 2006! Israel-Lebanon
Conflict--*New*--Background
information on the decades-long
warfare and conflict along the
Israel/Lebanon border. Israeli-Palestinian
Conflict--*New*--Background
information on the long-running
warfare between Israel and the
Palestinians! Israeli-Palestinian
Battles and
Campaigns--*New*--Specific
information on the warfare raids,
battles, terrorist attacks, and
retaliations between Israel and
the Palestinians! Wars
of
2006--*--Wars
and conflicts of 2006! Pages
on Middle Eastern
History Site
Map--revision
in progress 
Copyright
© 1998-2010 Roger A. Lee and History Guy
Media; Last Modified: 02.06.10
|
McCaffrey
Controversy
|
Gulf
War Syndrome
|
Gulf
War Veterans
Links
|
Middle
East/Arab Links
|
Personal
Accounts of the WarALTERNATE
NAMES: The Gulf War (US), Operation
Desert Storm (US)
BEGAN:
August 2, 1990 -Iraqi invasion of
Kuwait
PREDECESSOR:
(Related conflicts that occurred
before)
The
First Persian Gulf War
(1980-1988)--AKA "The Iran-Iraq
War"
Lebanese
Civil War (1975-1991)
Iraqi
Shiite Revolt of 1991
1961-
Iraq (President Qasim) threatens
Kuwait, invoking old Ottoman claims.
Britain supports Kuwait and Iraq backs
down.
Desert-Storm.com
A very informative and well-designed site
on the Gulf War.GulfLINK
Declassified
Documents
- Recently declassified military and
CIA documents concerning Gulf War
Illnesses.
Iran
War Creeping Upon
Us--posted
Jan. 16, 2010