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U.S._troops_in_the_Persian_Gulf photo by U.S. DOD-

Top 10 Sensational Facts about the Gulf War

The gulf war was an armed campaign executed by a United State led coalition force made up of nearly one million service personnel from 35 countries. The forces were assembled to expel the Iraqis who had invaded Kuwait.

When Saddam Hussein failed to adhere to the United Nations Security Council’s demands to withdraw from Kuwait in mid-January 1991, the Persian Gulf war began.

 Though the gulf war ended, its lingering effects in the Persian Gulf and around the world paved the way for conflicts and tension that strained Iraq and made it isolated from the rest of the world.

Here are the top 10 sensational facts about the Gulf War.

1. The invasion of Kuwait was propelled by debts from Iraq

The gulf war is no doubt one of the most dreadful wars fought in the Persian peninsula and was driven by desperation as a result of debts owed by Iraq.

Iraq owed $80 million in foreign debt as a result of the Iran-Iraq war that transpired between 1980 to 1988.

After the Iran-Iraq war, Iraq was drowning in debts and Saddam Hussein demanded Saudi Arabia and Kuwait wave his $30 billion debt.

He believed the debts were a result of his aid in protecting Kuwait from Shia Iranian forces for eight years and therefore the need for the forgiveness of the debt. The Iraq-Kuwait dispute also arose from Iraq’s claim to Kuwait territory.

Kuwait had been part of the ottoman empires province of Basra and Iraq claimed the rightful ownership of Kuwait’s territory. Saddam Hussein also accused Kuwait of stealing Iraq’s oil through slant drilling.

Iraq’s economy revived around oil production and Saddam hoped to repay his debts by raising the price of oil through OPEC oil production cuts.

To his disappointment, Kuwait increased production and repeatedly produced more than its quota leading to low prices of oil in an attempt to leverage a better resolution of its border dispute with Iraq.

2. Operation desert storm was effective by 1990

USAF aircraft of the 4th Fighter Wing during the gulf war photo by US Air Force-

As a result of failed negotiation, Iraq retaliated by immediately ordering an invasion which started on August 2, 1990, with the bombing of Kuwait’s capital.

On January 16, 1991, president Gorge Bush announced the start of what would be called Operation Desert Storm, a military operation aimed to expel Iraqi forces from Kuwait.

The UN gave Iraq a deadline to withdraw by 15 January 1991 and with no action from Iraq, the operation took full control. The coalition forces began a five-week bombardment through air and sea.

The coalition forces drove Iraq from Kuwait and advanced into Iraq and finally ceasing fire within 100 hours.

War has a gown of consequences of causalities and the gulf war had its share, Iraq faced the highest loss and lost tens of thousands of soldiers while the coalition forces were in hundreds.

3. There was the 1991 Kurdish uprising

The uprising of Kurdish People in Kurdistan Region photo by برووسک –

After the liberation of Kuwait, US president Gorge Bush urged the Iraqi people to resist the Saddam regime and this sparked rebellion across the country.

This statement opened a gateway to an uprising across Iraq, from the south by Shiite groups and the Kurds in the north staged their uprising for autonomy.

The Kurds were under the command of Massoud Barzan, leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party.

The Peshmerga who were trained into hard guerrillas managed to infiltrate a Saddam-oriented Kurdish militia. The rebels were able to capture some towns including the oil center of Kirkuk.

Saddam retaliated by battering Kirkuk with artillery and especially targeting hospitals. The rebels were forced to retreat into the mountains and they claimed Saddam’s force fought them with chemical weapons.

4. Fake bases and units were built to fool the Iraq army

During the early onset of the Gulf war, the coalition used deception cells to create imagery that could be interpreted as a preparation to attack near Kuwait “boot hill” which was the opposite end of the Kuwait border.

It was a brilliant network of fake camps operated by only several dozen soldiers. With war tactics being key, the fake camp had compute-controlled radios, messages were passed between fictions headquarters sections.

Smoke generators and loudspeakers playing pre-recorded tank and truck noises were displayed to deceive the enemy.

5. Iraq’s army was the third largest in the world in 1991

Iraq’s army was billed as the world’s fourth largest army and boasted a million military personnel in 1991.

Under the governance of Saddam, Iraq had a growing domestic arms-producing industry that produced everything from rifles to ballistic missiles and advanced naval lines.

When Saddam invaded Kuwait there were 120,000 soldiers, though only a third were professional fighters and 2000 tanks.

With so much on his side, one would think he would win the war but Iraq lost the war. The war reduced Iraq’s ground force to 23 divisions and the air force to less than 300 aircraft.

6. Economic sanctions were imposed on Iraq in 1990

Iraq fought eight years of war with Iran and before it could pick itself up the gulf war began. The United Nations Security Council imposed economic sanctions on August 6, 1990, prohibiting all imports and exports to Iraq with an exception of medicine.

Due to these harsh sanctions, the Iraqi economy was disabled and this exposed its people to deteriorating living conditions, inflation, and low salaries making life hard to digest.

7. A jihad war was declared against the US-led coalition

American servicemen examine an Iraqi BRDM-2RKhb photo by Unknown author-

Saddam initiated to convey a more Islamic, religious appearance in Iraqi media portraying himself in religious centers and showing his support for the Palestinian cause.

All his efforts were aimed at reframing the war as a struggle against western imperialism and Israel scheming.

His plan backfired and was condemned by sheik Abdul Aziz _bin Baz, the Saudis leading interpreter of Islamic law.

8. Oil was used as a weapon by Iraq in 1991

The use of oil as a chemical weapon isn’t new in the sphere of war, though not as ideally preferred.

The world’s largest oceanic spill of petroleum transpired during the gulf war when the Iraqi military purposefully released almost 1.0 million tons of crude oil into the Persian Gulf from several tankers to slow the advance of the coalition forces.

The Iraqi engineers dug trenches filled with oil and ignited them to prevent the coalition forces from advancing.

The oil fires set by Iraq destroyed 85% of Kuwait’s wells and the spills they made have never been cleaned from the Saudi Arabian shores.

9. The funds to free Kuwait were propelled by propaganda.

Nayirah al-Ṣabaḥ during her false testimony photo by C-SPAN-

When Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait at the onset of the gulf war, many Americans knew very little about the Americans’ stand on the war.

Kuwait had an image problem then and with the efforts of Hill and Knowlton, a New York-based PR firm a campaign for Citizen for free Kuwait took effect.

Media is a weapon of its own and the campaign took advantage and fanned flames of propaganda across all means of media channels.

A hearing held by the Congressional Human rights Caucus in October 1990 played a major role in making the case for the war.

A young woman named, Nayira falsely testified unbeknownst to the world on how Iraqi troops ripped scores of babies out of incubators and left them on the floor to die.

It wasn’t until 1992, that her testimonies proved as propaganda aiming to gain the sympathy of the public and that in fact, she was the daughter of Kuwait’s ambassador, Saudi Nasir al _Sabah.

10. A ceasefire was declared by President Bush in 1991

The Iraq invasion of Kuwait ended in August 1990 and ended with the liberation of Kuwait by coalition forces.

With its undeniable defeat, Iraq subsequently agreed to the United Nations’ demands in February 1991. U.S President Bush announced a ceasefire in the gulf.