Causes and Effects of the Persian Gulf War Essay -- Operation Desert S

Causes and Effects of the Persian Gulf War The Persian Gulf War, often referred to as Operation Desert Storm, was perhaps one of the most successful war campaigns in the history of warfare. Saddam Hussein, leader of Iraq, invaded Kuwait in 1990. In 1991, after weeks of air strikes, US ground forces entered Iraq and Kuwait and eliminated Iraqi presence in 60 hours. Why Would Iraq invade Kuwait? Kuwait supplies much of the world’s oil supplies, and when Hussein invaded Kuwait, he controlled 24% of the world’s oil supplies (O’Hara). Though this is a good reason, it is not the only one. Iraq’s real excuse for annexing Kuwait was that he believed that Kuwait was producing more oil than it was supposed to, taking out of Iraq’s profits. Also, Iraq was $80 billion in debt to Kuwait, and Iraq thought that the debt should be forgiven (Brown). After Iraq attacked Kuwait, the United States and other countries feared that Saudi Arabia would be next and that the world’s oil supply was in jeopardy. This was the spark that leads to the Persian Gulf War. There was also controversy with Iraq even before the invasion of Kuwait. Iraq was suspected of developing chemical weapons. The United Nations had often asked to check their weapons supplies to prevent Iraq from gaining great military power. When Iraq refused to let the UN inspectors into the country, suspicion was raised. One final thing that began the Persian Gulf War was Iraq’s development of the SCUD Missile. Though n...