The Gulf War: Kuwait Invasion and Its Aftermath (1990 - 1991)
The Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988) placed immense financial strain on Iraq, with estimates suggesting the country accrued around $26 billion in formal foreign debts and another $40–50 billion in informal loans from Gulf states like Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Iraq's economy, devastated by the war, was further burdened by the need to rebuild its damaged infrastructure. Inflation rates soared, living costs rose, and public discontent grew, prompting Saddam Hussein to seek a solution.
After unsuccessfully appealing to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) for debt relief, Saddam turned his attention to Kuwait. He accused Kuwait of overproducing oil and driving prices down, further harming Iraq’s fragile economy. Additionally, Saddam claimed Kuwait was slant-drilling into Iraq’s Rumaila oil field, which he argued amounted to theft. In response, he demanded compensation or debt relief for the “stolen” oil. However, Kuwait dismissed the claims and refused to offer any concessions. Saddam eyed Kuwait’s substantial financial reserves, estimated at $100–120 billion in foreign investments, along with its oil wealth, which amounted to approximately 94 billion barrels of oil (around 10% of global reserves at the time). He believed that by controlling Kuwait, he could settle Iraq’s massive war debts. On July 25, 1990, U.S. Ambassador April Glaspie communicated a message from U.S. Secretary of State James Baker to Saddam, indicating that the U.S. had no firm stance on intra-Arab conflicts, including the dispute between Iraq and Kuwait. Saddam interpreted this message as tacit approval to proceed with his plans, viewing it as a carte blanche. However, Glaspie later clarified that she had warned Saddam against taking military action.
On 2 August 1990 Saddam invaded Kuwait, and the ruling Al Sabah family fled. Kuwait was fully occupied after only two days. On 8 August 1990, Iraq announced that Kuwait was officially annexed as its 19th governorate. Saddam appointed Ali Hassan al-Majid, also known as “Ali Anfal”, as the governor. The invasion was immediately met with international condemnation, including resolution No. 660 by the UN which called on Iraq to withdraw its troops and restore Kuwait’s sovereignty. UN resolution No. 661 threatened with sanctions if Iraq refused. Saddam refused all resolutions, even the following. But the sanctions started, which were to be on hold until 2003. The UN resolution No. 678 adopted on 29 November 1990 offered Iraq one final chance until 15 January 1991 to implement resolution No. 660 and to withdraw from Kuwait. The USA already started with the so-called Operation Desert Shield, the military buildup from August to January. The majority of the Arab League decided to support the UN resolution No. 660, some countries even joined the coalition.
On 16 January 1991, a 35-country coalition led by the US launched Operation Desert Storm. The operation started with a 6-week aerial and naval bombardment, targeting both military and civilian infrastructure inside Iraq. Saddam answered by firing missiles at Israel and Saudi Arabia. Israel was not part of the coalition but for Saddam both onslaughts were considered a military stroke to provoke other directions of defence and to split the international coalition, which was of no avail. As a result of the coalition’s bombings in 1991, nearly all of Iraq’s electrical production facilities were damaged. Targets included anti-aircraft facilities, command and communication facilities, military sites, missile-launching sites, research facilities such as the Tuwaitha Nuclear Research Center and the Muthanna State Establishment (part of Iraq's chemical weapon program), oil production facilities, governmental buildings as well as telecommunication centres, television stations and major bridges such as the 14th July and Al Sharafiya Bridge. They repeated destructive bombing sorties targeting for example key government buildings in Baghdad and often missed the targets, such as in the 1991 bombing of the civilian shelter in Al Ameriya in Baghdad that killed 408 civilians. Within six weeks, more infrastructure was destroyed than in eight years of the Iran-Iraq War. More importantly, the destruction of the country’s electrical generating capacity led to a public health catastrophe because hospitals could function without electricity. A decade of harsh suffering of the whole Iraqi population began.
In contrast to the First Gulf War, the Second Gulf War received a massive media response. Protests against the war took place all over the world. On 28 February 1991, Saddam had to surrender and on 3 March 1991 the ceasefire declaration was signed in a tent at the airfield of Safwan in Iraq that the Second Gulf War had ended. Iraq had hundreds of thousands dead civilians and military – figures vary greatly, depending on the source. At the end of this war, the country was militarily and economically far behind the initial conditions of the first Gulf War in 1980, and additionally under sanctions.
This article was written by Hella Mewis and is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0.
