Geography Shapes the Course of Iraq War The course of the Iraq War has been shaped immensely by the geography of the region for nearly 40 years. The movement of Iraq forces throughout the region, for better or worse, has had many effects on the way in which the way has gone. For instance, these forces often threatened certain resources needed by many countries and regions. The result of this was often war or conflict, concluding in a devastating amount of casualties. This also left Iraq with debt as well as very low resources such as food and water. The basis of the whole entire war has been on certain aspects of the geography, which has had a result of creating many small wars throughout this whole ordeal as well as many other …show more content…
During this time the United States had supported Iraq. The Western powers also supported Iraq, helping Saddam with the creation of chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons. Although, in 1981 Israel attacked and destroyed a nuclear reactor in which Saddam had hoped to make a bomb. In 1988, both countries eventually agreed to peace. The results of the war were catastrophic with a total of about one million Iraqi and Iranian casualties. Only two years later, Hussein started a war with Kuwait on false claims that it had stolen from Iraq's oilfields. Another one of Hussein's false claims was that he stated Kuwait was Iraq's Nineteenth province. With this said, the first Gulf War was started in 1990 (Eugene 4) Within three days, Iraq had taken over Kuwait and threatened Saudi Arabian oilfields. In response to this, the United States initiated Operation Desert Shield to protect Saudi Arabia. Operation Desert Storm began only 4 months after Iraq's initial intent on invading Kuwait. Within almost 4 days, US forces drove out Iraq all the way from Kuwait to the southern border of Iraq. Due to this invasion, Iraq was ordered to destroy all weapons and factories that held and created non-conventional weapons. For many years, Iraq did not cooperate with UN sanctions. Iraq did not destroy its weapons either. On contrary, it used the UN's oil for food program to acquire even more weapons. Following September 11, 2001, the United States began to make it
The Iraq war was occurred in 2003 between Iraq and the Unites States. The United States invaded Iraq and overthrew Saddam Hussein despite not being backed by the United Nations because they claimed that Iraq had a WMD program and were linked to Al-Qaeda. However, no WMD program nor any direct links to Al-Qaeda were found. After the United States had occupied Iraq for a few months, Islamic extremist groups were founded. The United States goal of overthrowing Hussein was accomplished, but this was the incorrect time to overthrow him, as Islamic terrorist groups came in his place. The short-term effects of the Iraq war were the formation of AQI and the increased tensions between Shi’a and Sunni Muslims. The main long-term effect the Iraq War was an increase in worldwide distrust towards the United States. In conclusion, the Iraq War destabilized the Middle East by going against the UN security council and attacking Iraq, then finding neither a WMD program, nor links to Al-Qaeda, which were the reasons they invaded
What triggered the Iraq War that we are currently still having? During this time in history we were still in the cold war as well Cold War (1945–1991), a lot of events has happened during this time period. I am going to start with the Iran-Iraq war which started in 1980 and ended in 1988. The war began when Iraq invaded Iran, launching a simultaneous invasion by air and land into Iranian territory on 22 September 1980 following a long history of border disputes, and fears of Shia insurgency among Iraq's long-suppressed Shia majority influenced by the Iranian Revolution. (Wikipedia, Iran–Iraq War, 2011). This war had at least a million and half casualties and it severely damaged both their economies, the Iran-Iraq war conflict is often
The Persian Gulf War all started because of one country’s greed for oil. Iraq accused Kuwait of pumping oil and not sharing the benfits, and Kuwait was pumping more oil than allowed under quotas set by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, it decreased the price of oil, Iraq's main export. Iraq's complaints against Kuwait grew more and more harsh, but they were mostly about money. When Iraqi forces began to assemble near the Kuwaiti border in the summer of 1990, several Arab states tried to intervene the dispute. Kuwait didn’t want to look weak so they didn’t ask for any help from the United States or other non-Arab powers for support. Arab mediators convinced Iraq and Kuwait to negotiate their differences in Saudi Arabia, on
On August 2nd, 1990 Iraqi military forces invaded and occupied the small Arab state of Kuwait. The order was given by Iraqi dictatorial president Saddam Hussein. His aim was apparently to take control Kuwait's oil reserves (despite its small size Kuwait is a huge oil producer; it has about 10 per cent of the world's oil reserves ). Iraq accused Kuwait, and also the United Arab Emirates, of breaking agreements that limit oil production in the Middle East. According to Saddam Hussein, this brought down world oil prices severely and caused financial loss of billions of dollars in Iraq's annual revenue.
The Gulf War in 1990 and the invasion of Iraq in 2003 both had a profound impact not just on the countries directly involved - primarily Iraq and the United States (US) - but also on the geo-politics of the world. Arguably, the War ended in a stalemate because the Iraqi regime that had started the War by invading Kuwait remained in power. Perhaps inevitably then, in March 2003 the US and its allies invaded Iraq with the stated aim of overthrowing the regime of Saddam Hussein and destroying that regime's Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD). Some similarities between both Wars are immediately obvious: for example, the same country, the
January 12, 1991 - U.S. Congress passes a resolution authorizing the use of force to liberate Kuwait. Operation Desert Storm begins four days later with air strikes against Iraq. Iraq retaliates by launching eight Scud missiles into Israel.
The Persian Gulf started with the Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein ordering an invasion on Kuwait after accusing them of stealing oil from a neighboring border. This lead to fellow powers like Saudi Arabia and Egypt asking the United States to step in and help them fight against Iraq. Husein started to pose a threat against the United States National Security so the US sent massive air troops known as Operation Desert Storm. This was the beginning of the Persian war.
In August of 1990, Iraq leader Saddam Hussein, invaded the neighboring country of Kuwait in an effort to gain control over there oil reserves and increase Iraqi power because the more oil you have today the more powerful you become as everybody needs oil for almost everything. The United Nations called for Iraq to
The Persian Gulf War started August 2, 1990, when Saddam Hussein ordered the invasion of Kuwait. The main reason Hussein invaded Kuwait was to acquire their oil reserves. This would also cancel the debt that Iraq owes Kuwait. Hussein was also always looking to expand his power (“Persian Gulf War” Britannica). The Kuwaiti army was only around 20,000 soldiers, and Kuwait was captured within hours (Pieart). Iraq built up its troops in Kuwait to about 300,000 soldiers (“Persian Gulf War” Britannica). Together Iraq and Kuwait would account for 40% of the world’s oil
The Persian War began when Iraq leader Saddam Hussein, ordered to take over Kuwait in early August 1990 due to a border dispute and allegations that Kuwait stealing Iraqi petroleum. Therefore, western forces such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt called on The United States for help. By January 1991 the allied coalition against Iraq had reached a strength of 700,000 troops (Encyclopedia Britannica). Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein refused to obey The United States order to withdraw from Kuwait so, President George H. W. Bush announced the start of Operation Desert Storm (ushistory.org); a military operation seizing Iraqi forces from Kuwait. At the end of it all in February of 1991 when Iraq was defeated The Kurds and Shīʿite went into heavy rebellion.
Iraq has seen many hardships over the last few decades. Their hardships started with an eight-year war over territory with Iran which began in 1980. In 1990, Iraq invaded the country of Kuwait, which led to the Gulf War. Then, Iraq ignored sanctions would not comply with the UN Security Council over weapons of mass destruction. This led to the invasion of Iraq which was led by the United States in March of 2003.
The main reason for invading Iraq was because America is concerned about the nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons Saddam Hussein might have. Intelligence indicated Saddam was reconstituting its nuclear weapons program and maintained links to al Qaeda affiliates to whom it might give such weapons to use against the United States. After two years of examining Iraq, the weapon search group failed to find weapon of mass destruction stockpiles or any program to produce them. The Bush administration has expressed disappointment that no weapons or started programs to produce weapons were found, but the White House had been reluctant to call off the search, holding out the possibility that weapons were moved out of Iraq before the war or are hidden somewhere inside the country. But the intelligence official said that possibility is very small. It is very likely if Iraq was holding any kind of weapons that America is concerned about, they would have used it to keep U.S soldiers out of Iraq.
U.S. and other UN member nations began sending troops to Saudi Arabia within the week and the world - wide coalition began to form under UN authority. Allied forces bombed the Iraqi military and use ground forces to quickly liberate Kuwait (Grossman, 16).
While the Iran-Iraq War during the 1980's may have permanently altered the course of progress in Iran and Iraq, the war also altered the resulting permanent involvement of the rest of the world in the middle-east. The rich and complicated history in Iraq has established numerous cultural and ethnic traditions that all play a part in where the country is today. The Iran-Iraq War brought into focus some of those traditions and how they conflicted, while also bringing Iraq and its economic situation into the spotlight. Being on top of some of the most mineral rich soil in the world makes Iraq a major contributor to the world's economy through petroleum and crude oil exports. This, among other reasons, ties nations
Persian Gulf War, also called Gulf War, (1990–91), international conflict that was triggered by Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait on August 2, 1990. Iraq’s leader, Saddam Hussein, ordered the invasion and occupation of Kuwait with the apparent aim of acquiring that nation’s large oil reserves, canceling a large debt Iraq owed Kuwait, and expanding Iraqi power in the region1. The Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein claimed as a reason for the invasion a territorial dispute over the Shatt al-Arab, the waterway which forms the boundary between the two countries2. Saddam Hussein believed that Iran was in turmoil and that his forces could achieve quick victory3.