Justifications for the First Gulf War.
by
sulaimanmalomar (student)
Sulaiman M. Al-Omar
The Right to Defend an Allies
Did you know Iraq invaded Kuwait on August 2, 1990, because Iraq was in debt 80 billion dollars from the conflict between Iraq and Iran? Saddam Hussain was a cruel leader who wanted to pay off his country’s debt but didn’t know how so he invaded Kuwait. He thought that by invading Kuwait, he could steal the oil and pay off the debt. Instead of creating “the 19th province of Iraq”, Iraq was quickly defeated with the help of the United States. The United States of America had the right to help Kuwait and defeat Iraq.
Because of previous conflicts with Iraq, the United States knew what Iraq was capable of. Before the Gulf War, the United States of America already had a bad confrontation with Iraq when Iraq helped the Soviet Union in the Cold War. As History in Focus states, “Washington's pro-Israeli stance and its role in the Camp David Accords of 1978, and London's support for the conservative Gulf monarchies, were also resented by Baghdad.” Because of USA’s stance on Palestine in the 1970’s Iraq would not work with the US and other countries. However, in the war between Iraq and Iran, the USA supported Iraq because Iran was a nuclear threat. These conflicting notions of defending and opposing Iraq led to the US opinion that Iraq was capable of great harm. When Iraq invaded Kuwait, the USA had to stop Iraq because Saddam Huissan would not quit until he got what he wanted. Even when Saddam Huissan knew he lost the war, he still wanted Kuwait to lose money by destroying its oil supply. As the Daily Green states, “More than 1 billion barrels of oil were burned, causing noxious plumes of smoke and creating a large-scale environmental disaster. An additional 10 million barrels were poured into the Persian Gulf, poisoning the animal and marine life in the area”(the Daily Green). This shows what Saddam was capable of.
