Persian Gulf War

Origins of the Crisis

Iraq had a history of being an aggressor nation under Hussein's leadership. From 1980 to 1988, Iraq fought a fratricidal war against Iran to determine which country would dominate the region. In that conflict, the Iraqi military used a range of illegal chemical and biological weapons. Hussein was also notorious for repressing ethnic minorities in consolidating his power in Iraq. However, his expansion efforts had strained the resources of the Iraqi economy. The occupation of Kuwait was intended to pump additional resources into his depleted treasury. Moreover, Hussein was irritated that Kuwaiti oil production was driving prices below market value.

Although Kuwait was important to the United States, Hussein did not believe America would go to war over it. April Glaspie, the American ambassador to Iraq, failed to disabuse Hussein of such notions with her ambiguous warnings about the United States protecting its friends in the region. In any event, the Bush administration equivocated because the United States had no regional defense treaties that mandated a defense of Kuwait. Hussein interpreted this to mean that an invasion would result in, at most, economic and political sanctions.

Operation Desert Shield

The U.S. military had substantial naval and air forces in the region, but not enough ground power to roll back or contain the Iraqi Army, and even if it had, the Bush administration faced a challenge in preparing the nation for the most significant ground combat since the Vietnam War. In determining the scale of its response, the United States was initially concerned with safeguarding its relationship with its most important ally in the region, Saudi Arabia.

The buildup of forces was called ”Operation Desert Shield”; it was the first real test of a mobilization concept developed in the 1980s called the ”Rapid Deployment Force.” The idea was to have a few units ready to deploy at a moment's notice. The Army kept its airborne divisions at peak effectiveness; they had top priority for staff replacements and new equipment. The Marine Corps prepositioned a lot of heavy equipment, for example, tanks, trucks, and artillery, at bases overseas, including Diego Garcia, an isolated island in the western Indian Ocean. Troops could more easily be moved into position and then matched up with their equipment.

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