THE PERSIAN GULF WAR AUGUST 1990 - 28 FEBRUARY1991

CAROLINE GATHOGO

DATE 9/30/15
INSTRUCTOR: JULIE BLASE

PRINCIPIA COLLEGE
DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCEINCE

This paper attempts to draw reality about the Persian Gulf War that took place from
August 1990 up to February 1991. It specifically respond to the core questions, what led to
Persian Gulf War? Who were involved in the conflict and what theories can best explain the war
in terms of International system? Its core controversial subject are Iraq bankruptcy from its eight
year war with Iran, Saddam Hussein Iraq president invades Kuwait to control its large oil
reserves, United States declaring war to Iraq as they speculate Iraq was creating nuclear
weapons, and the consequences Iraq faced when the United Nations established heavy economic
sanctions on Iraq.1
The Persian Gulf War emerged when Iraq needed cash as it was in debt. It had a debt of
Ninety billion US dollar after its long war with Iran during the 1980. This had to do with the
1000- year rivalry between the competing nation states and the Islamic sects.2 Also its oil
industry was interrupted when Iran had destroyed its southern oil field and blocked its export
trade through the Gulf as Iraq is a landlocked country. Moreover, Kuwait and the United Arab
Emirates failed to concur with Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) on
the moderate output of oil.3 Therefore, oil prices went down as well as Iraq owns oil revenue.
The Iranians viewed Hussein as their strong enemy and the feelings were reciprocal. In
fact, Iran was led by Shiites who were a foreign force who disliked the Sunni from Iraq. They
were politically a dominant state and wanted to control over the Gulf region. However, Saddam
Hussein feared Iranian Shiites were going to destabilize every Sunni Arab state from Iraq to

Schwab, Orrin. The Gulf wars and the United States shaping the twenty-first century. Westport, Conn: Praeger
Security International, 2009, 20-21.
2
Smith, Philip. Why War? : The Cultural Logic of Iraq, the Gulf War, and Suez. Chicago, IL, USA: University of
Chicago Press, 2010. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 29 September 2015, 99-102.
3
Khadduri, Majid, and Ghareeb, Edmund. War in the Gulf, 1990-91 : The Iraq-Kuwait Conflict and Its Implications.
Cary, NC, USA: Oxford University Press, USA, 2001. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 29 September 2015, 80-82.

Morocco. That is when Hussein saw the opportunity to seize Kuwait and its vast oil reserves, he
wasted no time. Since the first decades of freedom from the reign of Ottoman Empire, the Iraqis
had claimed Kuwait as a province of Mesopotamia and a rightful part of Iraq.4 After Iraq attained
independence from Great Britain in 1932, the Iraqi had attempted to conquer Kuwait. None of
these attempts succeeded because of the protection of Kuwait by the Britain. The withdrawal of
British colony from the Persian Gulf in the 1970s left Kuwait open to potential invasion by its
more powerful neighbors. When Hussein ordered his Republican Guard divisions to invade
Kuwait he was acting as egoistic and self-destructive dictator. He was also projecting the Kuwait
as the nineteenth province of Iraq and this was to be noted by the International System.5
After Iraq seized Kuwait, one of the biggest question worldwide was how will the United
States will respond. Would Washington send major forces to the Gulf and stop Saddam Hussein?
United States was seen in the political world as the Greatest Supper power. For the U.S. the
Persian Gulf War was a test. Furthermore, in the world politics states such as Japan and German
were seen rising in the rank. However the United States emerged as the worlds sole remaining
super power by getting involved. Since 1945, America was the only Western country who could
project its power around the world. With the First Gulf War reality continued and it was seen by
the extent to which the Western Europe and Japan showed their dependence upon the American
forces to defeat regimes which threatened to dominate the Persian Gulf through military
coercion.6 To fight a war with global implication it required the mobilization of the international
community which George H.W. Bush together with his government had to create. They saw the

Schwab, Orrin. The Gulf wars and the United States shaping the twenty-first century. Westport, Conn: Praeger
Security International, 2009, 34-35.
5
Ibid Schwab, Orrin, 34-35
6
Yetiv, Steve A.. Persian Gulf Crisis. Westport, CT, USA: Greenwood Press, 1997. Accessed September 29, 2015.
ProQuest ebrary, 47-48.

innovation of Kuwait as a serious breach of international law and a major threat to the worlds
economic system. In less than six months, the Iraq invasion of Kuwait allowed the Bush
administration to mobilize a global coalition of regional and global allies to fund and supply a
modern military force to retake the country. In a very short order, James Baker who was the
Secretary of State was able to establish a military alliance with Great Britain and France. Also
American also got political support from Western European Nations as well as Japan and major
Arab states, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Syria was of great value to the United States than
direct military contributions.
In addition, Husseins response to the quick military response to the invasion was
included the taking of Western hostages, which in the months prior to the war, numbered in the
thousands. His deceitfulness and brutality in his treatment of his northern Kurdish population and
the ruthless manner the Iraq had fought their eight years of war with Iran, suggested that Hussein
was such of the evil character that he had to be defeated and removed from power.7

Ibid Schwab, Orrin, 45-48.