Persian Gulf Crisis, 1990-1991: How Saddam Hussein’s Greed and Totalitarian Quest for Power Led to the Invasion of Kuwait, World Conflicts and the Degredation of Iraq Joseph Stalin. Fidel Castro. Adolf Hitler. Saddam Hussein. These names are all those of leaders who have used a totalitarian approach to leading a nation. Stalin and Hitler ruled in the early to mid-nineteen hundreds. Like Fidel Castro, Saddam Hussein is now. Saddam Hussein belongs to the Baath Party of Iraq. This party adopts many techniques similar to those used by Stalin and Hitler. Saddam Hussein conceived a plan to invade Kuwait.
It was, perhaps, one f the worst mistakes he could have made for his own reputation and for his country. The invasion of Kuwait as well as the world’s response to it, the environmental disaster it caused, and the degradation of Iraq were completely the fault one man and his government: Saddam Hussein and his Baath Government. One of Hussein’s weaknesses is negotiating. Negotiating in his terms is to fight it out with as much carnage as possible until his side comes out “victoriously”. Repeatedly, Saddam and his government break international convention laws.
During his war fought with Iran, the Iraqi army used chemical eapons on the Iranian troops and even on their own Iraqi population. This was seemingly overlooked by the rest of the world because most nations didn’t want to see the Ayatollah’s Islamic revolution rise. Iraq often obtained foreign arms support from other nations because of this. It wasn’t until the invasion of Kuwait that the rest of the world seemed to realize the danger that Iraq posed to its own people and to the Arab states surrounding it. Through poor planning, Saddam Hussein made three major mistakes that enabled an easy defeat of the Iraqis.
The first mistake was that he captured all of Kuwait at the same time, nstead of leaving it as a border dispute. This might have kept it from becoming an international affair. The second error was that Hussein positioned his troops too close to the Saudi Arabian border. Because of this, other nations feared that Saddam’s aggression was endless. The third mistake was that Hussein miscalculated the world’s response. He overestimated the Arab “brotherhood” and by doing so, didn’t realize that the rest of the world would try to stop him.
He also overestimated his own country’s military power, and believed that he could annihilate military superpowers like the United States, Britain and France. Saddam Hussein’s ultimate dream was to possess a nuclear bomb. Most of the world believed that Iraq didn’t have the resources and materials to manufacture one. Despite a failed attempt at building two reactors in the late seventies, Saddam was determined to hold nuclear capability. He tried again in 1989 to purchase three high-temperature furnaces from a New Jersey company, claiming that they were to be used for prosthetic limbs for Iran-Iraq war vets.
The deal was called off after the company, Consarc, was warned by the Pentagon. Despite this, Iraq was still rich with weapons. Between 1975 and 1990, his Arab nation had spent $65 billion in arms [Macleans, June 3, 1991]. In the five years before the Kuwait invasion, Iraq was one of the world’s largest purchaser of arms. In those five years, Saddam had bought ten percent of all weapons sold around the world. By 1990, Hussein’s Iraqi army had 5,500 tanks (mainly Russian), 8000 Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs), thousands of various missiles (ground-to-air), 70 MiG 23s, 25 MiG 29s and 15 Su 24s [Outlaw State, page 89].
Saddam’s quest for power by now was almost complete, except for nuclear capabilities and a naval power. Most of this support of foreign arms came during he Iran-Iraq war, against the Ayatollah’s Islamic revolution. $500 million of the $65 billion was spent on high-tech equipment purchased from the United States. It is ironic that some of the missile sites that were set up by the United States would later become bombing targets during the Gulf War, in 1991. There were two primary reasons that Saddam Hussein wanted to invade Kuwait.
The first reason was so that Iraq would have a navy and eventually be classified as a naval superpower because Kuwait situated on the Persian Gulf. His quest for power would nearly be fulfilled by doing this. Hussein thought that Iraq would be unstoppable with a navy. The other reason was that the oil fields could greatly improve the Iraqi economy that had suffered during the Iraq-Iran war. It is at this point that his greed comes into picture. Since most industry had to be stopped during this war, Saddam had a reason to develop a new military industry.
The citizens were glad to support this because of a strong sense of nationalism that had developed after an Iranian “defeat. ” New missiles were developed including the Scud. Despite the weapon industry flourishing, the economy became increasingly worse. Many Iraqis had travelled to Kuwait, which was a country left virtually unscathed after the Iran-Iraq war. They realized what the Kuwaiti “oil-money” could buy, for Kuwait had one of the best incomes per capita in the world. Its major cities were similar to those in North America (such as New York, Los Angeles and Toronto). A feeling of jealousy arose from this.
Kuwaitis were buying Iraqi land very cheaply because of the crumbling economy. All foreign purchases of land would soon end. By the end of 1988 Iraq had defaulted on loan payments to the United States, Canada, Australia and Britain. They were being rejected time after time or credit. Saddam required a large and quick influx of money. There was only one way that Hussein thought that this could be accomplished – to invade Kuwait. 2:03 a. m. August 2, 1990 … Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait. A massive force of 120,000 troops, 1000 tanks, 900 Armoured Personnel Carriers and Mi-24 Hind attack helicopters were used [Beyond the Storm, page 100].
It was all-out use of military power that showed little mercy. There were many more forces than were needed to take this small country. The reason for this, (besides Saddam’s power-hungry characteristics), was that the Iraqis were disillusioned after it ook longer than expected to defeat the Iranians. Hussein was basically doing this to ensure that the Kuwaitis could not resist. Five days before the invasion, satellite pictures picked up the formations of Iraqi troops. Foreign officials had been phoning Baghdad asking for an explanation to this massive deployment of troops.
Hussein insisted that it was merely routine seasonal exercises and he had no intention of invading Kuwait. Global conflicts had already begun because of this. The United States Treasury Department ordered a freeze of all Iraqi and Kuwaiti assets in the United States (which totalled over $30 billion [Times Magazine, Aug. 9, 1990]. Russia not only did the same but cancelled all future arms sales to Iraq. This greatly put a hole in their income but the decision gained respect from other leaders world wide. The United States fell under pressure trying to reach other foreign leaders before Saddam did.
Fortunately, President Bush won this race and received nearly unanimous support from foreign leaders. Soon after, in the early months of 1991, the new league of nations formed by the United States gave Saddam Hussein an ultimatum: either get out and have a chance to survive or stay in and suffer the consequences of war. He chose to stay, thinking that his ountry would come out victoriously against the rest of the world. Little did Saddam know that choosing to stay would cause Iraq to crumble even more and lead to disastrous effects on the environment. Then came the hundred hour ground war.
This completely annihilated the Iraqi strategic capabilities, it’s missile sites, arms factories and advancing forces. The allied forces flew approximately 100,000 sorties, that averages out to one bombing run a minute throughout the whole campaign [Beyond the Storm, page 91]. This month long air campaign broke up the fighting capability of the Iraqi forces and their morale. When the air attacks did not cause a Kuwaiti withdrawal, the ground attack began. By surrounding the Iraqis in the desert, many surrendered. The ones occupying Kuwait City tried to flee but were gunned down by allies as they tried to leave the city.
It was defeat for the Iraqis. As some of the Iraqi troops left Kuwait, they torched 600 of Kuwait’s 950 oil wells [Outlaw State, page 139]. Black smoke dimmed the sun all the way to Saudi Arabia and Iran. Black rain fell in the Middle East for months, even after all the well fires had been put out. Millions of gallons of oil had been spilled into the Persian Gulf. Wildlife was killed off. Fish died, birds died, plants died. The oil present in the Gulf was over 250% more than that in Alaska, years ago [Outlaw State, page 72]. The coastlines were destroyed, covered in thick black oil.
The oil was so concentrated that in some areas of the gulf the oil was over a meter thick. The coastlines were littered with mines intended to defend against an attack by the United States Marines that never came. Bodies littered the streets of Iraq and Kuwait. There was a great rebuilding process ahead for the Kuwaiti and Iraqi economies. By invading Kuwait, Saddam had broke promises to three distinct peoples. To his own people, to his Arab “brothers” and to the rest of the world . He had promised his citizens of Iraq a better life after the long war with Iran.
He had also promised economic stability. Instead Saddam gave his people unemployment, a war that destroyed their country, crushed nationalism, and a broken economy. To his Arab brothers he promised that Iraq would lead them to greatness and develop a military power that would equal Israel. His military visions led to Arab attacking Arab on the battlefield. To the world he broke international law after international law. He repeated himself that he would not invade Kuwait. Many world leaders believed him and thought of him as a reliable trading partner until this war.
This proves to many that the Hitlers and Stalins of the world are not gone from the global scene. Saddam Hussein is a modern day figure modeling these two. All the negative outcomes of the Persian Gulf crisis were either directly or indirectly his fault. Unfortunately, Saddam Hussein is still the leader of the now-crumbled country of Iraq. No doubt he will be looking for another quick- fix to the economic problems Iraq must currently possess. Hopefully, it is not the same method he used in the invasion of Kuwait.