A (Very) Brief History of the Middle East Part 5

Alright, after yesterday’s (considerably important) tangent, we’re back to where we left off with Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait and the Gulf War. Let’s start with the reasoning behind the invasion, and then we’ll get into the war itself.

The Causes

1) Military Strength: From the time Saddam Hussein assumed the “presidency” of Iraq he was hell-bent on making the nation a military powerhouse, and the armed forces consumed as much as 35% of every dollar earned. In the early ‘80s he began investing heavily in nuclear, chemical and biological technology (so much so that Israel attacked in ’81 to set back the weapons development program). This, coupled with extensive military experience stemming from the war with Iran, made Iraq’s military arm formidable and turned Iraq into the dominant presence in the Middle East. But maintaining this force was expensive, and this leads to factor two.

2) Economic Pressures: The cost of the Iran-Iraq war and the cost of maintaining the army Saddam built during this war forced Iraq to borrow extensively from its oil-producing Middle East neighbors (the U.S. was also a major lender), leaving Iraq heavily burdened with debt. The already existing debt, combined with continued military investments, resulted in a 40% inflation rate and a stagnant standard of living (and you better believe the people of Iraq – you know, the ones who “elected” “president” Hussein – were becoming restless). Iraq had oil of its own, but this didn’t produce enough revenues to meet their spending habits. To make matters worse, Kuwait and the other oil states began to lower oil rates and increase production beyond the agreed upon levels. This forced Iraq to follow suit or risk losing even more revenue. Basically, Saddam was on the verge of a national crisis and needed a quick fix. The solution was clear, because…

3) Saddam flat out did not like Kuwait: Kuwait made an easy target for Saddam. It had been a British Protectorate and when it was granted independence the borders were created somewhat arbitrarily (they’re not easily defensible and the population is not inherently cohesive). It is small (1.9 million people) and its military was virtually non-existent. It didn’t help that they had been somewhat of an irritant to Saddam for years. In addition to lowering the price of oil, Kuwait had had the audacity to require Saddam to pay back the money he borrowed during the Iran-Iraq war. Saddam claimed he had saved the region from Iran and deserved special considerations (cancelling the debt.) Kuwait disagreed. Saddam also accused Kuwait of drilling diagonally across the border to tap into Iraq’s oil reserves.

It’s Go Time

In late July of 1990 Iraq started building up its forces along the Iraq-Kuwait border, and on Aug 2 three Iraqi divisions of the elite Republican Guard crossed the border to be met by…oh wait, Kuwait’s army didn’t exist. They reached the capitol four hours later, declared the annexation of Kuwait (justifying it on the grounds that Kuwait was once a part of Iraq and should be again), and waited for the world’s reaction.

Naturally, the rest of the world responded with shock and alarm. With Kuwait, Saddam controlled 20% of the world’s oil. Iraq also started amassing troops on the Kuwait-Saudi Arabia border (Saddam also had a list of grievances with the Saudis, including border disputes, Saudi Arabia’s relationship with the U.S., and the $26 billion that Saddam owed them). It was not in the best interest of Saudi Arabia, or the rest of the world (Saudi Arabia possessed an additional 20% of the world’s oil), to have a powerful Iraqi army threatening attack and many believe the reaction by the U.S. and the coalition force had as much to do with this as it did with the liberation of Kuwait.

The U.S. immediately deployed troops to Saudi Arabia in “Operation Desert Shield.” Iraq had committed many atrocities of war in the invasion of Kuwait, and it could be safely assumed that this would continue. CIA intelligence also suggested that Iraq was on the verge of developing nuclear capability. It was already known that they possessed chemical and biological technology (no kidding, glad we kept our copy of the receipt).

The world was spurred into action. In the first decision it had made since it’s inception in 1945, the UN authorized the use of allied force to expel Iraq from Kuwait. 660,000 troops from 34 countries were sent to the region (the U.S. represented 74%) as quickly as possible. Strategists felt that if Saddam deployed his troops to Saudi Arabia before a proper defense could be assembled, there would be little to stop him. As it was, he hesitated, and this proved costly. By the time he acted the coalition forces had been deployed.

His troops were quickly forced out of Kuwait and in January of 1991 Bush, advised by Colin Powell and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, decided to go on the offensive and take the war to Iraq in “Operation Desert Storm.”

The war in Iraq kicked off with a major air offensive (anyone else remember watching “Operation Shock and Awe?”) that destroyed Iraq’s ability to defend against future air assaults by destroying radar installations, command and control centers, air bases and hangars. Iraq responded with an unsuccessful air raid of their own (F-1 Mirage fighters sent to bomb a Saudi oil refinery were shot down by the Saudi Air Force) and by shielding targets with human hostages. When these strategies failed, the Iraqi Air Force fled to Iran in hopes that their jets would one day be returned (they never were…idiots.)

The ground campaign kicked off in February and coalition forces cut off Iraq’s one avenue of retreat, a four-lane highway that would become known as the “Highway of Death.” Bush and Powell determined that the objectives had nearly been met, and remaining Iraqi forces were allowed to retreat as negotiations were held.


I realize that a blog is truly inadequate to discuss the causes and events of a war as complex as this. I hope that I gave a useful synopsis, and maybe piqued your interest to research a little further (if you find anything I missed, please post a comment).

Tomorrow I’ll take a look at a question that has plagued researchers and strategists since the resolution of “Operation Desert Storm:” Did we pull out too soon?

Thanks for Reading.