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Angeles and Toronto). A feeling of jealousy arose from this. Kuwaitis were

buying Iraqi land very cheaply because of the crumbling economy. All foreign

purchases of land would soon end.

By the end of 1988 Iraq had defaulted on loan payments to the United

States, Canada, Australia and Britain. They were being rejected time after time

for credit. Saddam required a large and quick influx of money. There was only

one way that Hussein thought that this could be accomplished – to invade Kuwait.

2:03 a.m. August 2, 1990 … Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait. A massive

force of 120,000 troops, 1000 tanks, 900 Armoured Personnel Carriers and Mi-24

Hind attack helicopters were used [Beyond the Storm, page 100]. It was all-out

use of military power that showed little mercy. There were many more forces than

were needed to take this small country. The reason for this, (besides Saddam’s

power-hungry characteristics), was that the Iraqis were disillusioned after it

took longer than expected to defeat the Iranians. Hussein was basically doing

this to ensure that the Kuwaitis could not resist. Five days before the

invasion, satellite pictures picked up the formations of Iraqi troops.

Foreign officials had been phoning Baghdad asking for an explanation to

this massive deployment of troops. Hussein insisted that it was merely routine

seasonal exercises and he had no intention of invading Kuwait.

Global conflicts had already begun because of this. The United States

Treasury Department ordered a freeze of all Iraqi and Kuwaiti assets in the

United States (which totalled over $30 billion [Times Magazine, Aug. 29, 1990].

Russia not only did the same but cancelled all future arms sales to Iraq. This

greatly put a hole in their income but the decision gained respect from other

leaders world wide. The United States fell under pressure trying to reach other

foreign leaders before Saddam did. Fortunately, President Bush won this race and

received nearly unanimous support from foreign leaders. Soon after, in the early

months of 1991, the new league of nations formed by the United States gave

Saddam Hussein an ultimatum: either get out and have a chance to survive or stay

in and suffer the consequences of war. He chose to stay, thinking that his

country would come out victoriously against the rest of the world. Little did

Saddam know that choosing to stay would cause Iraq to crumble even more and lead

to disastrous effects on the environment.

Then came the hundred hour ground war. This completely annihilated the

Iraqi strategic capabilities, it’s missile sites, arms factories and advancing

forces. The allied forces flew approximately 100,000 sorties, that averages out

to one bombing run a minute throughout the whole campaign [Beyond the Storm,

page 91]. This month long air campaign broke up the fighting capability of the

Iraqi forces and their morale. When the air attacks did not cause a Kuwaiti

withdrawal, the ground attack began. By surrounding the Iraqis in the desert,

many surrendered. The ones occupying Kuwait City tried to flee but were gunned

down by allies as they tried to leave the city. It was defeat for the Iraqis.

As some of the Iraqi troops left Kuwait, they torched 600 of Kuwait’s

950 oil wells [Outlaw State, page 139]. Black smoke dimmed the sun all the way

to Saudi Arabia and Iran. Black rain fell in the Middle East for months, even

after all the well fires had been put out. Millions of gallons of oil had been

spilled into the Persian Gulf. Wildlife was killed off. Fish died, birds died,

plants died. The oil present in the Gulf was over 250% more than that in Alaska,

years ago [Outlaw State, page 72]. The coastlines were destroyed, covered in

thick black oil. The oil was so concentrated that in some areas of the gulf the

oil was over a meter thick. The coastlines were littered with mines intended to

defend against an attack by the United States Marines that never came. Bodies

littered the streets of Iraq and Kuwait. There was a great rebuilding process

ahead for the Kuwaiti and Iraqi economies.

By invading Kuwait, Saddam had broke promises to three distinct peoples.

To his own people, to his Arab “brothers” and to the rest of the world . He had

promised his citizens of Iraq a better life after the long war with Iran. He had

also promised economic stability. Instead Saddam gave his people unemployment, a

war that destroyed their country, crushed nationalism, and a broken economy. To

his Arab brothers he promised that Iraq would lead them to greatness and develop

a military power that would equal Israel. His military visions led to Arab

attacking Arab on the battlefield. To the world he broke international law after

international law. He repeated himself that he would not invade Kuwait. Many

world leaders believed him and thought of him as a reliable trading partner

until this war.

This proves to many that the Hitlers and Stalins of the world are not

gone from the global scene. Saddam Hussein is a modern day figure modeling these

two. All the negative outcomes of the Persian Gulf crisis were either directly

or indirectly his fault. Unfortunately, Saddam Hussein is still the leader of

the now-crumbled country of Iraq. No doubt he will be looking for another quick-

fix to the economic problems Iraq must currently possess. Hopefully, it is not

the same method he

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