Three causes of Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait

Persian Gulf War

Causes of the Persian Gulf War

International Level

There are three basic things that can be attributed to the cause of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990. The first of these things is that Iraq had long considered Kuwait to be a part of Iraq and that led to several confrontations over the years and continued hostility among the countries. It can also be argued that when Saddam Hussein's attempted invasion of Iran failed, he thought that the invasion of his weaker southern neighbors would be an easier feat to undertake (the Persian Gulf War (1990-1991), 2009).

The second thing to consider has to do with the rich deposits of oil that spanned the badly defined borders of the country. Iraq always claimed that Kuwaiti oil rigs were illegally tapping into the Iraqi oil fields. Unfortunately, Middle Eastern deserts make the definition of borders difficult and this has led to many conflicts in the region over the years (the Persian Gulf War (1990-1991), 2009).

The final thing to look at is the fallout from the First Persian Gulf War between Iraq and Iran that strained relations between Baghdad and Kuwait. That war began with an Iraqi invasion of Iran and turned into a bloody form of trench warfare. Kuwait and many other Arab nations supported Iraq in their fight against the Islamic Revolutionary government of Iran because they feared that Saddam's defeat would cause a wave of Iranian led revolution throughout the Arab world. After the war the relations between Iraq and Kuwait went from bad to worse (the Persian Gulf War (1990-1991), 2009).

It is believed that Iraq had no real intentions of ever invading Saudi Arabia, but it is felt that America had every intention of finding an excuse to send troops to protect the Saudi oilfields. Since 1950 these oilfields had been an American preserve. These was due to an agreement with the King of Saudi Arabia in which the European oil companies were excluded and U.S. oil companies, grouped together as a.R.A.M.C.O., were given a monopoly. The Gulf was considered to have great strategic importance because it contained more than two-thirds of all the oil exported around the world. It was thought that if war were to break out in the Middle East, the matters at stake would have been solely economic and commercial. The problem would have been the access to the sea and a high price of oil on one side and control of the oilfields and a low price of oil on the other side. This scenario would have been disastrous for everyone involved (Economic Causes of the Gulf War, 2006).

The presence of oil in the Gulf region is definitely seen as one of the leading causes of the Persian Gulf War. In this region oil has been used as a weapon for years. The presence of it has made nations rich while those nations without any have been crippled. This weapon has long been fought over between Iran-Iraq, as both nations have tried to obtain a leadership role in the Middle East (the Gulf War." n.d.).

The area of the Persian Gulf has long been a troubled oil rich area and during the 1980s it was American policy to overlook the brutal ways of the Saddam Hussein regime. The U.S. continued to support Iraq in its long, eight-year bloody war against Iran. The United States found itself following the old principle that the enemies of my enemies are my friends. And Iran was seen as an enemy. But in the end the United States could not overlook the fact that they had a vested interest in the Saudi Arabia oil fields. And when the time came that Saddam Hussein threatened to invade Saudi Arabia, the U.S. found that they had an immediate problem of ensuring that Iraqi forces did not seize the major oil fields of Saudi Arabia and thereby acquire control of approximately 40% of the world's oil reserves. This can be seen as one of the major things on an international level that led to President Bush's declaration of war and the U.S. invasion of the Persian Gulf.

Individual Level

The biggest headline of the Bush administration was the Persian Gulf War waged by an international coalition under American leadership. The purpose was to force Saddam Hussein to end his country's hostility against Kuwait. The victory in February of 1991 brought Bush the highest public opinion approval ratings of his presidency. And for a time this overshadowed the controversial questions that had been asked about whether policy mistakes by the United States were partially responsible for the war in the first place (George Bush- the Persian Gulf War, 2008).

The policy that the administration was going to follow was set down in the National Security Directive 26 which was formulated in October of 1989. This directive said: "Normal relations between the United States and Iraq would serve our longer-term interests and promote stability both in the Gulf and the Middle East. The United States should propose economic and political incentives for Iraq to moderate its behavior and to increase our influence" (George Bush- the Persian Gulf War, 2008). The incentives included massive food exports to Iraq which was a huge benefit to American farmers. The administration resisted demands from many human rights activists in Congress to enforce sanctions against Iraq. And they dismissed Saddam Hussein's public threat to destroy half of Israel with chemical warfare as mere show (George Bush- the Persian Gulf War, 2008).

In spite of all the help that the Bush administration offered Iraq, they still found themselves in difficult economic condition. The country was suffering from widespread unemployment. Oil prices were down, which greatly affected national revenue. They were facing high costs in order to repair the damage from the long war with Iran, and they were already deep in debt to other Arab states. In the mid-1990's Saddam Hussein claimed that Kuwait was pumping Iraqi oil from an oil field near the border. He claimed that the entire field rightfully belonged to Iraq and claimed that he would use force to protect it. In July of 1990 Iraqi armed forces began to progress towards Kuwait (George Bush- the Persian Gulf War, 2008).

The Bush administration's response was this movement was to try appeasement and hope that it worked. April Glaspie, who was the American ambassador in Baghdad, was instructed by Bush to tell Saddam that the United States had no position on the differences between Arab states. This position and the absence of any significant American military movement more than likely contributed to Saddam Hussein's decision to invade Kuwait in August (George Bush- the Persian Gulf War, 2008).

The victory in the Gulf War was the high point of President Bush's presidency. Bush often spoke afterwards of a new world order in which all nations would be protected from hostility and the United Nations could function as it had originally been intended. After the war Secretary of State Baker worked hard to bring the Israelis, the Palestinians, and the other Arab countries to a peace table for discussions. President Bush also put pressure on Israel to limit the organization of new Jewish settlements in the territories that they occupied after the 1967 war. In September of 1992 he persuaded Congress to deny Israel's request for $10 billion in loan money that was to be used for new housing for emigrants from the Soviet Union. For this Bush was strongly criticized by those Americans that supported Israel. The pressure that Bush applied eventually worked because in 1992 Israel agreed to restrict the settlements and the loan money that they wanted was approved (George Bush- the Persian Gulf War, 2008).