2+The+Gulf+War

Invasion of Kuwait: Hussein accused Kuwait of oil left and "overproduction" from the Rumailia Oil Field around July 17 1990. And Eight days later on the April 25th the Ambassador of Iraq which was Glaspie basically told Hussien that the "dispute" between Iraq and Kuwait was Arab's problem and not the United States. But on August 2, 1990 Hussien decided to invade Kuwait anyway, and President George Bush "freezed" the Iraq and Kuwait assets. Soon, the United Nations called on Hussein to withdraw. But everyone was pretty sure that that would not be happened and by August 8th Iraq went into Kuwait and took all of their territory. President Bush and the UN decided to authorize their military and reserve, and get ready for what may come.

UN Action: After Iraq invaded Kuwait, the United States started to make advances right away. On August 6th, 1990 King Fahd of Saudi Arabia asked for US Military help to hold off Iraq. Two days later, initial US Air Force Fighter plans landed in Saudi Arabia. Plans were in progress for air campaign and other war efforts. Israeli stresses to Washington the high likely hood of Iraq invading their country as well if war begins. Less than a month later on September 18, 1990 Army planners begin working on the first ground offense plans. Then on October 31, 1990 President Bush decides to double the amount of army troops in Saudi Arabia, and this decision is kept secret for several days. On November 29, 1990 the UN Security Council takes action and authorizes use of "all means necessary" to eject Iraq from Kuwait. Equipment arrives in early December 1990 but a peaceful agreement is attempted first with Tariq Aziz, the prime minister of Iraq. The attempt was unsuccessful and Congress authorized use of force on January 12, 1991.

Desert Storm: 
 * 5 1/2 weeks of bombing: Once the UN's deadline was up for the Iraqis to withdraw from Kuwait on January 15, 1991, the Allied side made their move. At 2:38 AM on January 17, local time, the Allies started an Apache helicopter attack on major military targets within Iraq and Kuwait. They bombed major military targets so they Iraqis would not be able to continue the war. In response, Saddam Hussein launched SCUD missiles at targets in Israel and Saudi Arabia. Hussein did this to try to provoke the Israelis to attack the Arab world and cause the attention that he was getting to switch to the conflict with Israel. Although the Israelis wanted to attack they did not since President Bush said he would protect them from the SCUD missiles. U.S. Patriot missile batteries were placed in Israel and were able to shoot down the SCUDs. Another hope of Hussein with the SCUD missiles was to distract the Allied forces from directly attacking Iraq. This failed because the Allies continued to cause devastation to the Iraqis with the air strikes and missile attacks.
 * 100 hours ground: The ground war started on February 23, 1991. The Allied forces were able to get through the Iraq forces easily. They had little trouble because the Iraq forces gave up or the Allied force were much stronger than the Iraqis. On February 25, there was a SCUD missile launched from Iraq that hit barracks in Dharan, Saudi Arabia. The missile caused 28 American deaths. Meanwhile, the Allied troops continued advancing. On the 26th of February, the Iraq troops set oil fields on fire in Kuwait and then retreated. The troops were leaving through the Iraq-Kuwait highway and they were bombed heavily by Allied forces. This became known as the Highway of Death. The Allied force got to within 150 miles of Baghdad but they withdrew from the Iraq border. On the 28th, President Bush called for a cease-fire and the ground war was over.

End of the War:

The Gulf War involving America, Iraq and allies of Kuwait, from January 16 to February 28, 1991, lasted 44 days altogether. The war had 3 main phases: 1) Iraq's occupation of Kuwait, 2) The diplomatic game and sanctions against Iraq, 3) The allied war against Iraq.

On February 27, 1991, the first Gulf War came to an end when the Iraqi government announced acceptance of the UN resolution. Later that day, US president George Bush announced that the war was officially over. Approximately twelve years later, Bush sent troops into Iraq starting the second Gulf War which resulted in the capture and execution of Saddam Hussein.

Effects of the War:  media type="file" key="gulf war.m4a"
 * The cost of the war to the United States was calculated by the United States Congress to be $61.1 billion.
 * The Persian Gulf War was a heavily televised war. For the first time people all over the world were able to watch live pictures of missiles hitting their targets and fighters taking off from aircraft carriers. This impacted American citizens because they could now experience the war without physically being involved.
 * Post War Syndrome: Nineteen years after the first Gulf War, a congressionally mandated panel released a report on Nov. 18 that concluded an illness suffered by veterans exposed to certain toxins during the war is real. The government previously did not consider the illness a physical condition separate from shell shock or war stress, as ar syndrome. (http://impactgulfwar.blogspot.com/ )
 * The Gulf War was one of the most environmentally devastating wars ever fought. Iraq dumped approximately one million tons of crude oil into the Persian Gulf, thereby causing the largest oil spill in history. (http://www.lenntech.com/environmental-effects-war.htm )

Sorces:


 * http://www.desert-storm.com/War/chronology.html
 * http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/02/0218_050218_tv_bombs.html
 * http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/gulf/cron/
 * http://www.historyguy.com/GulfWar.html
 * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_War