Presentation done on June 2009 during my year in the USA in the context of the debates and presentations I took part on with my fellow friend (RIP) and always in mind Ron Mullholand. It treats one of the latest chapter in the American history: the first Persian Gulf War.

1. AMERICAN HISTORY
DESERT STORM
Persian Gulf War (1990-1991)
Alex Rayón Jerez
English Language Institute
Wheeling Jesuit University

2. Copyright (c) 2009 Alex Rayón Jerez
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons
“Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike” License. To view a
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http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/es/deed.en_US

3. Table of Contents
Persian Gulf War Briefly
The background
The Invasion
The World Reacts
Operation Desert Storm
The start of the war
Irrational Tactics
The Liberation of Kuwait
Cease-Fire
The Aftermath

4. Persian Gulf War Briefly
Persian Gulf
War Briefly Date: 2 August 1990 – 28 February 1991
The background
Place: Persian Gulf (North of the Arabian Peninsula)
The Invasion
The World Result: Coalition victory
Reacts
Operation Desert
Belligerents: United Nations Coalitions (34 nations)
Storm vs. Iraq
The start of the
war Commanders: Norman Schwarzkopf vs. Saddam
Irrational Tactics Hussein
The Liberation
of Kuwait Strength: 959,600 vs 545,000 soldiers
Cease-Fire
Casualties: 378 vs 25,000 – 30,000 dead
The Aftermath
4

5. The Background
Persian Gulf
War Briefly Saddam Hussein found himself the leader of a
The financially strapped Iraq in 1988
background
The Invasion Just after the war between Iraq and Iran (1980-1988)
The World Iraq pressured Kuwait and Saudi Arabia to forgive
Reacts
the debts, but they refused
Operation Desert
Storm
Saddam's first approach: increase the price of the oil
The start of the
war Kuwait refused, putting forward the loss of customers
Irrational Tactics
Seizing Kuwait and its vast oil reserves, Iraq could:
The Liberation
of Kuwait Erase its war debts with Kuwait
Cease-Fire
End country's economic problems
The Aftermath
Gain control of 10% of the world's oil reserves
5

6. The Background (II)
Persian Gulf
War Briefly Besides, Iraq accused Kuwait of being exceeding production
The quotas and driving oil prices down
background OPEC Members and value of oil exports in 1989-1991
The Invasion 60
The World 50
Reacts
Exports (Billion $)
40
Operation Desert
Storm 30
The start of the 20
war
10
Irrational Tactics
0
The Liberation 1989 1991
of Kuwait Member State
Saudi Arabia Iraq Iran United Arab Emi-
Cease-Fire rates
Venezuela Kuwait Nigeria Libya
The Aftermath Algeria Indonesia Qatar Gabon
6

7. The Background (III)
Persian Gulf
War Briefly Saudi Arabia (recipient of half of the $50 billion Iraq
The owed in war debts) was also an objective for Iraq:
background
The Invasion Taking Saudi Arabia, Iraq would own nearly 40% of
The World the world's supply of oil
Reacts
Operation Desert
Saddam was assured that Western powers and other
Storm Arab nations would not intervene the seize of
The start of the Kuwait, since:
war
Irrational Tactics They were only concerned assuring the sovereignty
The Liberation of Israel
of Kuwait
They disliked Kuwait's emir
Cease-Fire
The Aftermath
7

8. The Background (IV)
Persian Gulf
War Briefly Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries
The
background
The Invasion
The World
Reacts
Operation Desert
Storm
The start of the
war
Irrational Tactics
The Liberation
of Kuwait
Cease-Fire
The Aftermath
8

9. The Background (V)
Persian Gulf
War Briefly
The
background
The Invasion
The World
Reacts
Operation Desert
Storm
The start of the
war
Irrational Tactics
The Liberation
of Kuwait
Cease-Fire
The Aftermath
9

10. The Background (VI)
Persian Gulf
War Briefly
The
background
The Invasion
The World
Reacts
Operation Desert
Storm
The start of the
war
Irrational Tactics
The Liberation
of Kuwait
Cease-Fire
The Aftermath
10

11. The Invasion
Persian Gulf
War Briefly Saddam carried out his threat of invading Kuwait on
The background the morning of August 2, 1990
The Invasion
Iraq's Republican Guard reached Kuwait City before
The World
Reacts daybreak
Operation Desert
Storm After conquering Dasman Palace (the residence of
The start of the Kuwait's emir), the conquest was complete
war
Irrational Tactics
Iraqi troops looted food, medicines and valuable
The Liberation
objects of Kuwait
of Kuwait
Finally, Iraq annexed Kuwait
Cease-Fire
The Aftermath Hussein installed a new governor, “liberalizing” the
Kuwaitis from the Emir
11

12. The World Reacts
Persian Gulf
War Briefly The United Nations condemned almost completely
The background (Yemen abstained) Iraq's action
The Invasion
President Bush and the former European Community
The World
Reacts banned all imports of Iraqi oil
Operation Desert
Storm The Security Council imposed economic sanctions
The start of the on Iraq, cutting trades except for basic needs
war
Irrational Tactics
By a vote 15 to 0, the Security Council declared
The Liberation
Iraq's annexation of Kuwait null and void
of Kuwait
President Bush decided to dispatch troops to Saudi
Cease-Fire
The Aftermath
Arabia, starting what was called Operation Desert
Storm
Under the mandate of the UN
12

13. Operation Desert Storm
Persian Gulf
War Briefly The operation was a defensive move to protect Saudi
The background Arabia against Iraq
The Invasion Concern on the US Congress because the conflict may
The World lead into a war in the Middle East
Reacts
Operation Besides, Vietnam's war was still on mind
Desert Storm
Thirty three countries joined the United States
The start of the
war Many Iraq's Arab neighbors joined the coalition
Irrational Tactics
Saddam maneuvered to grab their support again, stating
The Liberation
of Kuwait that he would not leave Kuwait until Israel leave the
Cease-Fire control of territories seized in the wars of 1967 and 1973
The Aftermath Arab nations didn't follow Saddam
Much of the world nations were aligned against Iraq
13

14. The start of the war
Persian Gulf
War Briefly The deadline of the United Nations (January 15th)
The background approached with no solution in sight
The Invasion On the border between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia,
The World
Reacts
545,000 Iraqi and 467,000 Allied troops faced
Operation Desert The war over air, ground and sea (basically with
Storm
American ships) started with new and innovative
The start of the
war
weaponry
Irrational Tactics Little resistance was encountered from Saddam's
The Liberation small air force of 550 planes
of Kuwait
Cease-Fire As a result, the Allies controlled the skies over both Iraq
The Aftermath and Kuwait
14

15. The start of the war (II)
Persian Gulf
War Briefly As a response, and accomplishing his threat, Saddam
The background unleashed his Scuds against Israel
The Invasion
In spite of the inaccuracy of these missiles, some of
The World
Reacts them hit Israel and Saudi Arabia
Operation Desert
Storm
President Bush prevented the Israeli retaliatory action
The start of the – This action could turn the conflict into an Iraq-Israel war
war
– Under this war, the Arab members of the Coalition could
Irrational Tactics side with Iraq
The Liberation
of Kuwait American Patriot antimissile missiles arrived to
Cease-Fire provide protection against this attack (not so
The Aftermath effective)
Only a handful of these Scuds missiles reached their
target 15

16. Irrational Tactics
Persian Gulf
War Briefly Saddam ordered to hide away his air force and took
The background some irrational tactics, such as:
The Invasion Released Kuwaiti oil trying to put out of service
The World
Reacts
Saudi's desalinization plant
Operation Desert Attack on the an abandoned Saudi city just to try to
Storm
impress his Arab neighbors
The start of the
war – The Allies force the withdraw of Iraqis with
Irrational bombs from jets and ships in the Gulf
Tactics
The Liberation
These Saddam's actions defy logical explanation
of Kuwait
The showed the world the image of a desperate leader
Cease-Fire
with no definite plan
The Aftermath
16

17. The liberation of Kuwait
Persian Gulf
War Briefly After air success, came the ground campaign
The background
Bush issued an ultimatum to Saddam: withdraw from
The Invasion Kuwait or face a massive ground attack
The World
Reacts Surprisingly, the ground war lasted mere 100 hours
Operation Desert – Desert Storm Operation was over by February 27
Storm
The start of the While Iraqi troops were surrendering in the desert, others
war in Kuwait City were raping and looting
Irrational Tactics
The Liberation
They thought the allied would arrive later than they
of Kuwait did, so a massacre occurred
Cease-Fire – As many as 10,000 retreating Iraqis were killed (highway of
The Aftermath death)
Kuwaitis knew that American were their heroes
17

18. The liberation of Kuwait (II)
Persian Gulf
War Briefly
The background
The Invasion
The World
Reacts
Operation Desert
Storm
The start of the
war
Irrational Tactics
The Liberation
of Kuwait
Cease-Fire
The Aftermath
18

19. Cease-Fire
Persian Gulf
War Briefly Allied and Iraqi commanders met at Kuwait's border to
The background discuss the terms of the cease-fire
The Invasion Iraq agreed to reveal the location of land mines
The World
Reacts Iraq must release all POWs to the Red Cross
Operation Desert
Storm On April 6, Iraq accepted the terms of a permanent
The start of the
cease-fire, being on April 11 when the Security Council
war declared the Persian Gulf War over
Irrational Tactics
The permanent cease-fire imposed three terms to Iraq
The Liberation
of Kuwait 1. Declare null their annexation to Kuwait
Cease-Fire
2. Accept liability for war damages
The Aftermath
3. Reveal the location chemical, biological and nuclear
weapons (what would cause the war on 2003)
19

20. The Aftermath
Persian Gulf
War Briefly Coalition victory
The background
Removal of Iraqi invasion force from Kuwait
The Invasion
The World Heavy Iraqi casualties and destruction of Iraqi and
Reacts
Kuwaiti infrastructure
Operation Desert
Storm Internal rising against Saddam Hussein brutally
The start of the
war
suppressed
Irrational Tactics Establishment of US military presence in Saudi
The Liberation Arabia
of Kuwait
Cease-Fire Imposition of UN sanctions against Iraq
The Aftermath
Palestinian expulsion from Kuwait
20

21. The Aftermath (II)
Persian Gulf
War Briefly Coastlines along the Persian Gulf were polluted
The background
Oil slick stemming from sunk tankers by Iraq
The Invasion
The World
Long-term effect on marine life and other wildlife
Reacts
US and its allies troops did not leave the Gulf
Operation Desert
Storm
The Kurds in the north and the Shiite Muslims in the
The start of the
war
south of Iraq were trying to oust Saddam from power
Irrational Tactics All these attacks failed
The Liberation
of Kuwait Saddam maintained in the power until 2003
Cease-Fire – He was executed on 2006 due to the commitment of several
The Aftermath humanity crimes along this dictatorship
21

22. Bibliography
Hazen, Walter A. Desert Storm, [1994]. Instructional Fair, TS Denison,
Grand Rapids, MI
Goldstein, Joshua S. International Relations, [1994].
HarperCollinsCollegePublishers, New York, NY
Operation Desert Storm [online]. URL:
http://www.historycentral.com/desert_storm/
Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988) [online]. URL:
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/iran-iraq.htm
Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries [online]. URL:
http://www.opec.org/home/
Saddam Hussein Biography [online]. URL:
http://www.who2.com/saddamhussein.html

23. END OF THE PRESENTATION