Gulf War (1990–1991)

The 1990–91 conflict between Iraq and an American-led international coalition organized under UN auspices, which ostensibly settled the issue of the Iraqi seizure of Kuwait on August 2, 1991. The Gulf War inaugurated the permanent introduction of U.S. ground and air forces in a region frequented only by naval forces. Thus, U.S. foreign policy became more entangled with the relations and problems of Islamic states than ever before.

Background and Origins

Known in the region as the Second Gulf War, the 1991 Gulf War originated from the Iran-Iraq War of 1980–88 (the First Gulf War). Both conflicts began with a surprise attack by Iraqi forces ordered by Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

In the aftermath of the fall of the shah of Iran in 1979, the time looked perfect in the eyes of Saddam Hussein for a quick, crippling strike against Iran. Hussein no doubt thought that such a strike would settle various border issues and quell any incipient revolt among Iraq's large Shia Muslim population, which might rally to the new Iranian fundamentalist faction.

The Iran-Iraq War went badly and consumed much blood and resources on both sides, each of which resorted to chemical weapons to avert military collapse. In July 1988, Iran agreed to a UN-sponsored truce, and both sides ceased hostilities. Less than two years later, however, Iraq seized Kuwait, partly out of a need to recover financially from the ravages of the First Gulf War.

Kuwait had loaned Hussein's government $14 billion during Iraq's conflict with Iran, and the country was loathe to forgive any of the loan, as Hussein had requested. Encouraged by quarrels with Kuwait over borders and drilling into the Rumelia oil fields, Hussein determined to settle the issue by outright conquest.

Following the Iraqi seizure of Kuwait, U.S. President George H. W. Bush ordered the U.S. Central Command to reinforce and defend Saudi Arabia and the lower Persian Gulf states, in concert with a growing coalition of nations determined to resist and ultimately expel the Iraqi forces from Kuwait. In doing so, President Bush responded to the urging of British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, who had taken a similar tough stance against the Argentine seizure of the Falkland (Malvinas) Islands in 1982.

Thanks to international support from the United Nations and material and military contributions to the coalition effort, the United States led a defensive effort to safeguard the remaining Arab states of the Persian Gulf region from Iraq. The United States, despite an announced defense cutback at the end of the Cold War, benefited immensely from major military infrastructure in the region, particularly in Saudi Arabia, that had been built to defend the area against Soviet invasion.

Air and naval bases, storage facilities, barracks, and operations centers had all been built by Persian Gulf states and U.S. contractors. The U.S. Central Command had been formed in the aftermath of the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and had received most of the planned reinforcements, equipment, and exercises in the American defense establishment since then. Thus, deployment plans made for defending the Persian Gulf against the Soviet Union sufficed, with minimal changes, to set massive forces and support in movement for the Gulf.

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