Research Paper on Operation Desert Storm
Research Paper on Operation Desert Storm
In the beginning of August 1990, Saddam Hussein, president of Iraq, had built up troops on the southeastern border of his country. Everyone knew he was going to order an invasion into the small country of Kuwait, lying just on the other side of the crowded imaginary line. Sure enough, on August 2, troops poured into Kuwait, terrorizing and killing many people (Bratman 5).
Hussein’s main objective seemed to be to get another ten percent of the world’s oil supply that was flowing beneath the teeny country, but it was more than that (Encarta n.p.). After taking the oil, he hoped to reunite his own country with the money he made from additional oil sales (“The War” n.p.). Iraq also owed a large sum of money to Kuwait for expenses in the Iran/Iraq war. Taking over Kuwait would cancel this debt. Hussein also clamed that he had fought the Iranians for the benefit of all Arab nations, and that Kuwait owed him for that. He also somehow convinced himself that Kuwait should be part of his country because it had been a province of the Ottoman Empire, which was based in Iraq. Kuwait became independent just before Iraq itself was formed (Deese 300B). Having considered all of his reasons to invade Kuwait, it almost made sense.
Unfortunately for Saddam, the U.S. wasn’t about to stand around and let this happen. Within hours of the attack, President Bush had started forming a broad-based international coalition (“The Gulf War”n.p.). On August 7, five days after the invasion started, Bush announced he would send troops to the Middle East to help defend Saudi Arabia (Deese 300C). This action came to be known as Operation Desert Shield. Before even that was done, all Iraqi assets in the U.S. such as money and other useful things had been shut down (Bratman 6). When the coalition was organized, the various countries agreed to set the deadline for Saddam and his troops to be out of Kuwait for January 15, 1991 (“The War” n.p.).
Although the United States was a large part of it, neighboring Arab countries also did what they could. Before even joining the coalition, Arabs first tried to solve the problem themselves (Encarta n.p.). The president of Jordan went and talked with Hussein to see if he could get him to back down. When their plan failed,...