The Persian Gulf War

Saddam Hussein, Iraqi leader ordered the invasion and occupation of neighboring Kuwait in early August 1990. Kuwait's' leader, Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah accused Iraq of stealing petroleum through slant drilling. Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah al Ahmad al Sabah said Iraq had been pumping oil from Kuwaiti oil fields despite repeated Kuwaiti protests 'Iraq has a rich record in its violations of Kuwaiti territory, a record supported by facts,' he said. (source) 

Saddam Hussein justified these actions by claiming that Kuwait belonged to Iraq in the first place, and it had unfairly carved out by the League Of Nations, besides he was not willing to stop embezzling petroleum from Kuwaiti and they would shortly attack and invade the land that previously belonged to them. Kuwaiti did not receive the response they expected from Iraq, as a result, Sheikh Jaber decided to raise this dispute to the Arab League. Iraqi Foreign Minister Tareq Aziz Wednesday accused Kuwait in his own letter to the Arab League of deliberately dumping crude on an already saturated world market, causing Iraq a big loss in revenue through the resulting drop in oil prices.The Arab League decided to push the problem to the side and it was remained unsolved for a while.

Many days passed and no progress was made, so Saddam Hussein decided to take the matter into his own hands and plot out an attack. Once Saddam Hussein seized Kuwait it caused an international riot with the United States being the most opinionated. Approximately six weeks after Iraq executed the invasion President George H.W Bush stood in front of Congress to discuss the response the US would have towards the attack. Iraq will not be permitted to annex Kuwait, Bush told the lawmakers in the presence of foreign diplomats, including the Iraqi ambassador. And that's not a threat, not a boast. It's just the way it's going to be. (Bush).President Bush sent 430,000 troops to Saudi Arabia to lead the United Nations Coalition and protect Kuwait from attacks made by Iraq.

Cite this page