Free «The Invasion of Kuwait» Essay Paper

The war between Kuwait and Iraq was one of the controversial wars in history. It was one of the major gulf wars which led to other gulf crises. Indeed, the gulf for a long time has faced a number of crises based on its oil rich land. The gulf consists of Middle East nations which are rich in natural gas and oil. The gulf is also known as the Middle East. The crisis started when Kuwait accused Iraq of stealing its petroleum and petroleum products. Kuwait is in the north of Iraq, and it was stealing its oil and petroleum deposits and reserves. The stealing happened through a slant drilling process which ensured that Kuwait drilled petroleum and oil products from Iraq. Hence, at the height of the crisis, Iraq decided to attack Kuwait. Though, upon investigation it was found that oil and petroleum deposits saga was not the reason for the war (Stengrim, 2009). 

Officially, the invasion of Kuwait stated on August 1990. Within two days the Kuwait Armed Forces was either overrun by the Iraq forces or disappeared in the Saudi Arabia or Bahrain. It is believed that Saddam Hussein, the former leader of the Republic of Iraq, had already been prepared for the war many months before the war. The reasons of the Iraq’s drastic move have been prescribed in different ways. Many people claimed that the reason was former Iraq dictator Saddam Hussein, while others blamed it on the situations of Iraq during that period. The causes of the conflict are based on the above issues. First of all, the war is credited for the result of the long wars between Iraq and Iran. During the war between Iraq and Iran, Iraq strained financially. During the war, Kuwait was the major ally of Iraq, hence it helped it economically by giving it a loan and other financial help. When the war ended, Iraq could not pay the loan, hence it asked Kuwait to forgive the loan; this request was not taken rightly by the Kuwait government. Practically, the Kuwait government was reluctant to give up the loan even after strict negotiations with their counterparts. It is one of the reasons which led to the war (Hassan, 1999).

 

Type of service

Type of assignment

Title of your paper *

Academic level

Pages

Timeframe

Spacing

Currency

  Order now

Secondly, it is believed that the bitter war between Iraq and Kuwait on OPEC strained the relations between these countries. In 1988, on an OPEC meeting, Iraq’s oil minster requested for a further reduction in the oil production quota and higher oil prizes in order to raise enough money to pay its more than over $80 billion loan. Though, Kuwait was reluctant or not interested in the prize issue, hence straining further relations with Iraq. Upon those convictions Iraq accused Kuwait of stealing its oil through slant drilling, which is a major reason for the war. It led to the crisis, but the international community condemned the invasion and declared that Iraq abandon Kuwait immediately. After a series of negotiations which failed, the United Nations made a resolution that Iraq vacate Kuwait immediately or face a war. In January 16, 1991, the United States started a war against Iraq and defeated it (Freedman, 1993). 

The result of the war saw a new government in Iraq and its supporters in the war deported from Kuwait. Indeed, Saddam Hussein apologized for the war after the invasion of Iraq in 2003. It was a war that was never supposed to happen, a war that brought a lot of causalities.