SUMMARY
Iraq invaded Kuwait on 2 August 1990, following a dispute over Iraq’s debt to Kuwait from the Iran-Iraq war and over oil production. A number of UN Security Council resolutions were passed before USA together with over 30 supporting countries launched Operation Desert Storm and Operation Sabre in early 1991. Following these operations, Iraq announced its withdrawal from Kuwait on 26 February 1991 and a UN Observation Mission (UNIKOM) was formed.
IN DEPTH
Background to the invasion
In the 1930s the nationalistic Iraqi King Ghazi stated that Kuwait should be an integral part of Iraq, arguing that Kuwait had been a part of Iraq during the reign of the Ottoman Empire before it was carved out of the country by the colonial Great Britain. The claim was later reiterated by some of King Ghazis successors, one of whom even massed troops on the border of the recently independent Kuwait in 1961. The threat, however, was repelled by British troops sent to protect Kuwait. In 1973, Iraqi troops escalated the dispute by intruding into Kuwaiti territory temporarily occupying a military post.
Although more nationalistic sentiments originated from the dispute back in the 1930s oil was the main factor behind the territorial dispute in the 1990s. During the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s, Kuwait provided financial support to Iraq, which subsequently left Iraq in debt to Kuwait. This financial dimension was an important cause for the outbreak of war, as Iraq demanded that Kuwait should cancel the debt and compensate Iraq for losses incurred when Kuwait had exceeded OPEC quotas during the Iran-Iraq War. Kuwait was also accused of overproduction of oil as well as of stealing oil from Iraq in the disputed border areas between the countries. In July, Kuwait agreed to lower its production to appease the Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, but when Kuwait did not agree to pay Iraq $2.4 billion for the "stolen" oil, or to raise the price of oil from $18 to $25 a barrel, the stage was set for the conflict.
Iraq invades Kuwait in 1990
Before the Iraqi invasion, talks were held at an OPEC meeting and at a bilateral meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on 31 July. Some of Baghdads demands were met but others could not be facilitated. As there seemed to be a lack of credible outside pressure (the US Ambassador had on one occasion told the Iraqi President Saddam Hussein that the United States had no opinion on Arab-Arab conflicts), Iraq went ahead with the invasion on 2 August 1990. On the first day Iraqi forces reached the capital and by the third day the Kuwaiti forces were defeated.
On the same day as Iraq invaded Kuwait, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 660, which demanded the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of all Iraqi forces in Kuwait. Although subsequent resolutions appealed for a negotiated solution of the conflict, a consequence of the fact that the withdrawal had to be unconditional was that the UN had to strengthen its bargaining position to back the demands. UN Security Council Resolution 678 dealt with this as it authorized the allies of Kuwait to use all means necessary to implement the previous resolutions on the subject, unless Iraq, before the end of 15 January, fully complied with the ten resolutions that had been passed so far. Another coercive tool used by the UN was economic sanctions that were imposed on Iraq through Resolution 661.
Immediately after the invasion President Mubarak of Egypt and King Hussein of Jordan tried to combine their diplomatic efforts in order to mediate a solution to the conflict that would allow Iraq to withdraw its forces in a manner that could save his face. They managed to postpone the coalitions war efforts and the Arab Leagues condemnation of Iraq for some weeks. They did not, however, succeed in arranging any constructive negotiations between the parties.
Operation Desert Storm
On 9 January 1991, eight days before the United States joined the armed conflict, the Secretary of State James Baker met with Iraqi foreign minister Tariq Aziz in Geneva to discuss the possibility of a negotiated settlement. The negotiations led nowhere and operation Desert Storm, the air assault on Iraqi forces and installations, began. The operation was conducted by a US-led Coalition, to which over 30 countries contributed troops in order to support the fight against Iraq. The Coalition utilised stealth aircrafts, precision bombs and missiles and succeeded in destroying an immense amount of Iraqi military hardware. The number of human casualties caused by the Coalition’s assault - both military and civilian - has been the matter of intense debate. As the massive bombings did not lead to the end of the conflict, the Desert Sabre ground war operations were started on 24 February. Soon after the coalition had initiated the ground war the Iraqi defences fell apart and on 3 March Iraqi officers and Allied commanders, such as H. Norman Schwartzkopf, met to negotiate a cease-fire, resulting in the so-called Safwan Accords.
The Soviet Union tried to mediate after the Desert Storm air operations began on 17 January by proposing that a cease-fire should be declared, even before the withdrawal of the Iraqi forces from Kuwait. US President George H.W. Bush, who reportedly did not want to negotiate in a way that might seem to reward an aggressor, continued to demand a complete and unconditional withdrawal from Kuwait. Iran presented a peace plan of its own in February that called for a cease-fire; the end of the embargo; withdrawal of all foreign troops and a replacement of Iraqi forces in Kuwait with an Arab peacekeeping force; and an end to emigration by Soviet Jews to Israel. All parties rejected this proposal.
Iraq withdraws from Kuwait in 1991
After Iraq had announced the withdrawal of its forces on 26 February and accepted all resolutions, the Security Council passed Resolution 687. Issued on 3 April, the resolution included the terms of the cease-fire and the settlement of the conflict and imposed a UN-observed demilitarised zone between the countries. Following a report from the Secretary General about the details, Resolution 689 of 9 April 1991 confirmed the UN Iraq-Kuwait Observation Mission (UNIKOM). The settlement further required Iraq to get rid of its Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) and to end its WMD programmes. Shipments of any kind of military material to Iraq were also banned. Several rounds of weapon inspections followed. The process was distinguished by a lack of confidence between the parties, with Saddam accusing the inspectors of being American or Israeli spies and the inspectors or the Americans accusing the Iraqis of hiding aspects of its WMD programme. Disputes about UN inspections and Iraq’s WMD programme would eventually lead to a confrontation between the US and Iraq over a decade later (see “Iraq v. USA, UK, and Australia”).
