The Persian Gulf War

The Persian Gulf War: Iraq

Effects on Iraqi Army After the War

A Presentation By:

Allison

Danielle

Drew

Mark

Gracie

Tate

Iraq's Economy

• Before the war the Iraqi army was estimated at 1 million soldiers.

• After the war the Iraqi army was estimated at 65-70 thousand men.

• Iraqi forces tried to impliment the Soviet Military Doctrine but failed due to lack of communication.

• Iraq had largely financed the war effort through loans, and owed around $37 billion to Gulf creditors in 1990.
• President Saddam Hussein asked the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait to cancel the debt they held, arguing that the loans should be considered payments to Iraq for protecting them. He tried and topple Iraq’s rich, but militarily weak, neighbor Kuwait's economy.
• They soon set fire to 789 individual oil wells in Kuwait causing a two year halt in their economy.
• There were provisions that Iraq was required to follow including sanctions and payment of reparations for war damages.

Background of the Persian Gulf War

• Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein ordered the invasion and occupation of neighboring Kuwait in early August

• 1990 Hussein defied United Nations Security Council demands to withdraw from Kuwait by mid-January 1991, and the Persian Gulf War began with a massive U.S.-led air offensive known as Operation Desert Storm.

• Though the long-running war between Iran and Iraq had ended in a United Nations-brokered ceasefire in August 1988, by mid-1990 the two states had yet to begin negotiating a permanent peace treaty.

• Hussein broke off the negotiations after only two hours, and on August 2, 1990 ordered the invasion of Kuwait.

Etc.

Effect of war on Iranian Society and Economy

• The 36th parallel was created to stop Iraqi military from crossing it in order to stop the flow of refugees.

• Hussein's refusal to accept the UN's offer of small sales of Iraqi products left the military weak and desolate.

Iraqi Invasion of Kuwait and Allied Response

• U.S. President George H.W. Bush immediately condemned the

invasion, as did the governments of Britain and the Soviet Union.

• On August 3, the United Nations Security Council called for Iraq to

withdraw from Kuwait.

Etc. Continued

This was the result from the sanctions 1990-2003

• The embargo destroyed what was left of the Iraqi military's mass destructive weapons.

• The weakened military had a rattled leadership after the UN political propaganda.

• The loss of the war showed how weak and unprepared the Iraqi military was.

The Gulf War Begins

• On November 29, 1990, the U.N. Security Council authorized the use of “all necessary means” of force against Iraq if it did not withdraw from Kuwait by the following January 15.

• Early on the morning of January 17, 1991, a massive U.S.-led air offensive hit Iraq’s air defenses, moving swiftly on to its communications networks, weapons plants, oil refineries and more.

• The Iraqi air force was either destroyed early on or opted out of combat under the relentless attack, the objective of which was to win the war in the air and minimize combat on the ground as much as possible.

What did these sanctions include?

• Children became extremely malnourished and ill
• As many as 576,000 children died by the end of the Persian Gulf War
• Between 1990 and 1998, over one fifth of Iraqi children stopped enrolling in school
• Literacy rates dropped

How did the Persian Gulf War affect Iraq's citizen's?

Aftermath of the Persian Gulf war

• Extreme restrictions on imports & exports
• Little came in, nothing went out
• Iraqi economy was highly dependent on oil export which was taken out by the trade embargo
• Lack of clean water
• Chlorine was not allowed to purify water because it could have been used to make chemical gas
• Medical supplies was restricted and rationed
• Hospitals had to reuse bandages if possible
• Disease became prominent due to lack of medication

The Sanctions-- Trade Embargo

Why were the sanctions put into place?

• The original sanctions against Saddam were put into place to compel Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait in 1990.
• The sanctions were kept in place, even after Saddam was driven out, due to mistrust.

• Uprisings by the Kurds and Shiites
• Saddam forcefully oppressed them
• There were no-fly zones
• US and Britain patrolled the skies
• UN regulated Iraqi weapons inspections.
• Saddam was not forced from power
• US was vital ally in maintaining the stability with the Middle East and maintain a large-scale
• Military presence in the region to this day

Who suffered the most from these sanctions?

• Civilians-- especially children.