The Invasion Of Kuwait By Iraq Politics Essay

The Invasion Of capital of capital of capital of capital of capital of Kuwait By Iraq Politics EssayThere atomic number 18 numerous another(prenominal) reasons behind Iraki invasion of Kuwait. Some of the most primary causes thought to be behind this invasion is Iraq had always considered Kuwait as a natural part of Iraq which was carved out of it due to British imperialism. After signing theAnglo-Ottoman Convention of 1913, theUnited Kingdomsplit Kuwait from the Ottoman territories into a separatesheikhdom. Iraqi government excessively argued that the Kuwaiti Emir was very unpopular among the people of Kuwait. Hence they claimed themselves to be the liberators of the Kuwaiti people, providing them with greater economic and political freedom by overthrowing the Emir.After the Iran-Iraq War, the parsimoniousness of Iraqwas struggling to recover. Civil and military debt of Iraq had crossed its state budget. Most of its ports had been ruined in the state of war, embrocate field s had already beenmined, and traditional cover customers had been lost. In spite of having a total land area of just 1/25th of Iraq, Kuwaits coastline was twice as long as Iraqs and its ports were more or less of the busiest in the Persian Gulf region. The Iraqi government concluded that by seize Kuwait, it would be able to solve most of its fiscal enigmas of Iraq consolidate its regional authority. Also, it is thought that with ibn Talal ibn Talal Hussein Husseins attempted invasion of Iran defeated, he sought easier conquests a make believest his creaky southern neighbors. Kuwait because of its relatively small size was seen as an soft target by the Iraqi government.Kuwait had heavily funded the 8-year-longIraqi-Iran war. By the cadence the war had ended, Iraq was not in a financial position to give the $14 billion it had borrowed from Kuwait to finance its war.Iraqs point of view that the war had prevented the rise ofIranianinfluence in theArab World did not go down well with the Kuwait regime. Therefore Kuwait was reluctant to rationalise the debt. It created strains in the dealinghip in the midst of the ii Arab countries. During late 1989, several authoritative meetings were held between the Kuwaiti and Iraqi leaders but they were unable to submit the deadlock between the two and reach to a joint savvy regarding the repaying of the debt by Iran. According to reports, Iraq tried to repay its debts by raising the prices of oil throughOPECs oil production cuts. However, Kuwait, a member of the OPEC, prevented a spherical increase in rock oil prices by increasing its own petroleum production, thus lowering the price and preventing recovery of the war-crippled Iraqi economy.This was seen by many in Iraq as an act of aggression, further distancing the countries. The collapse in oil prices had a catastrophic impact on the Iraqi economy. According to precedent Iraqi Foreign MinisterTariq Aziz, every US$1 rove in the price of a barrel of oil ca used a US$1 billion drop in Iraqs annual revenues triggering an acute financial crisis in Baghdad.It has been estimated that Iraq lost around US$14 billion a year due to Kuwaits oil price strategy. It created a further continue in the relations between the Iraqi and Kuwaiti governments.Iraq accused Kuwait of stealing Iraqi oil throughslant drilling, however some Iraqi sources indicatedSaddam Husseins decision to attack Kuwait was make still a few months before the actual invasionsuggesting that the regime was at a lower place feelings of severe time pressure. Therich deposits of oil lined the ill-defined echo of Iraq and Kuwait. Iraq constantly claimed that Kuwaiti oil rigs were illegally tapping into Iraqi oil fields. The problem was aggravated by the fact that the Middle Eastern deserts cook up border delineation difficult and this has caused many conflicts in the region.Kuwait and many other Arab nations had supported Iraq against the Islamic Revolutionary government of Iran during the Iran-Iraq war, fearing that Saddams defeat would revolutionise an Iranian revolution throughout the Arab world. Following the end of the war, relations between Iraq and Kuwait deteriorated with a lack of gratitude shown from the Baghdad government towards the Arab nations for their help in the war.Options that could have been adopted to stop the warThe conflict resolution lift attributes escalation primarily to the failure of communication between the U.S. and Iraqi governments. The U.S. should have made its own views clearer in the condition that Iraq declared war on Kuwait. repair up to the point of war America kept its stand ill-defined as to what action it would take in an event of war. Saddam was actuate by this fact and decided to invade Kuwait.The balance of power among the adversaries is also an important factor. Kuwait would have been empowered by improving its relations with potential ally Jordan. It would have helped Kuwait to defend itself better against Iraq and probably would have acted as a deterrent for the Iraqi attack on Kuwait.The Arab countries could have acted as intermediate and helped the two countries to reach a mutual decision. The disinterest shown by the Arabs in the earlier stages of the conflict encouraged Saddam to go ahead with the conceptionned invasion.Even after the invasion of Kuwait there was a strong opinion in the intelligence community, as well as the Middle Eastern community, that the invasion of Kuwait by Saddam should be handled in an Arab context, not by Western powers.A end was quickly put forward by the Saudi-Arabians that could have produced a peaceful insularity of Saddams forces from Kuwait. The proposal was for Kuwait to take on Iraq to remove two Kuwaiti islands that were blocking the entrance to Iraqs seaport. The islands were barren islands that were owned by Kuwait they did nothing for Kuwait and they blocked the precious little access that Iraq had to the sea.The proposal was seen as a human face saving measure for Saddam that would allow him to withdraw from Kuwait and still declare a victory. At the alike time the action would have provided assistance to the Iraqi economy. But the American government rejected the proposal as it justifiably wanted Iraq to gain nothing from the conflict.The war and its consequencesOn August 2 Iraq went ahead with plan of invasion of Kuwait with four of its elite Iraqi Republican apology Divisions. Commandos were deployed by helicopters and boats to attack the Kuwait City. In support of these divisions a squadron of cc Mi-25helicopter gunships, several units ofMi-8andMi-17transport helicopters, as well as a squadron ofBell 412helicopters were deployed.Kuwait was caught unaware by the invasion and did have its forces on alert. Kuwaiti forces tried to resist but they were vastly outnumbered. The Emir of Kuwait, Jaber Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-shahfled into the Saudi desert. After a decisive victory of his troops Saddam installed Alaa Hussein Ali as the Prime Minister of Kuwait.The Iraqi invasion and occupation of Kuwait was unanimously condemned by all majorworld powers. Even countries traditionally considered to be close Iraqi allies, such asFranceandIndia, called for immediate withdrawal of all Iraqi forces from Kuwait. States had issued an ultimatum to Iraq to withdraw its forces from Kuwait by January 15, 1991 or face war. After series of failed negotiations between major world powers and Iraq, theUnited States-led compactlaunched a massivemilitary assaulton Iraqi forces stationed in Kuwait in mid January 1991. By January 16, the Allied planes were targeting several Iraqi military sites and the Iraqi Air Force was said to be decimated.Hostilities continue until late February and on February 25, Kuwait was officially liberated from Iraq.On meet 15, 1991, the Emir of Kuwait returned to the country after spending more than 8 months in exile.During the Iraqi occupation, about 1,000 Kuwaiti civilians were kill ed and more than 300,000 residents fled the country.