The history of the Gulf War (1990-91)

Hartford Web Publishing is not the author of the documents in World History Archives and does not presume to validate their accuracy or authenticity nor to release their copyright.

The origins of the war

U.S. dealt blows to imperialist rivals in 1990-91 Gulf war: By Jack Barnes, in New International, based on a talk given 30 March 1991. The assault against Iraq was the first of Washington's wars since World War II in which it sought to use its military might to deal blows, indirect but palpable, to U.S. imperialism's rivals, especially in Bonn, Tokyo, and Paris.
How the USA created the Gulf crisis: Extract from The Cruellest Hoax, by Kirsten Cale, 30 April 1991. In February 1990 the Washington Centre for Strategic and International Studies advised Saddam to adopt a more aggressive stance in OPEC and as a result the Kuwaitis protested, precipitating rows over oil quotas and prices which culminated in the Iraqi invasion. On 5 August, 1990, days after the invasion, Saddam told the Americans You did this. We accepted $25 a barrel.
The Evil Empire at work: By Sam Marcy, Workers World 23 August 1990. The Wall Street Journal says U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia to protect the integrity of the world's oil supply, but actually to protect the profits of a handful of multinational. The threat is not Saddam Hussein, but profiteers.
How Washington manufactured a war crisis: By Huda M. al-Yassiri, The Baghdad Observer, 8 May 1996. American news consumers were dazzled and deluded by manipulators of satellite photos of Kuwait taken five weeks after August 1990 to justify the deployment of US troops to Saudi Arabia, al-Jumhuriya daily newspaper reported. The Amercan advertising company, Nolton, fabricated and aired stories on Iraqi troops that were said to be massing on the Saudi border to justify the massive deployment of US troops to the Gulf.

The course of the war

The night death was roaming: By Huda M. al Yassiri, The Baghdad Observer, 17 January 1996. Early on January 17, 1991, the United States began an unprecedented missile and bombing campaign across Iraq, primarily a war against civilian life. The bombs were the equivalent of seven Hiroshimas and killed indiscriminately across the country. The bombing was clearly designed to break a whole country and its population for a long time to come.
Gulf War Veterans Association has further evidence of Reischstag Syndrome by U.S. secret government & military agencies: American Gulf War Veterans Association, press release 19 Febuary 2003. Numerous reports from veterans stating that US forces were responsible for the setting of the oil well fires at the end of the Gulf War. There was intentional misinformation given to the American people to generate support for Desert Storm often created by advertising agencies such as Hill and Knowlton.
Allies Deliberately Poisoned Iraq Public Water Supply In Gulf War: The Sunday Herald (Scotland), 17 September 2000. The US-led allied forces deliberately destroyed Iraq's water supply during the Gulf War - flagrantly breaking the Geneva Convention and causing thousands of civilian deaths. Since the war ended in 1991 the allied nations have made sure that any attempts to make contaminated water safe have been thwarted.
One of greatest atrocities of modern war: Except from The Opening Guns of World War III, the lead article in issue no. 7 of New International (1991), by Jack Barnes. We may never know the actual numbers of toilers killed in Iraq and Kuwait during the six weeks of incessant allied air and sea bombardment and the murderous one-hundred-hour invasion launched by Washington Feb. 24, 1991. But the one common media estimate that as many as 150,000 human beings were slaughtered is conservative.
1991 massacre of thousands of fleeing Iraqi troops was part of U.S. 'total war': 8 Febuary 2003. The March 2 1991 assault on the retreating Iraqi column at Rumaila, Iraq, two days after cease-fire in Gulf War. It killed an estimated 150,000 peole, and caused additional great suffering. Washington seized on Baghdad's invasion of Kuwait in August 1990 to launch a war aimed at overthrowing the Iraqi government and installing a regime subservient to U.S. imperialism, but it failed to acheive this aim.
Washington's Murderous 1991 Assault On Iraq: By Jack Barnes, The Militant, 28 December 1998. The U.S.-organized carnage against the Iraqi people is among the most monstrous in the history of modern warfare. Death and dislocation continue today, as does the imperialists' culpability for them. A common media estimate is that 150,000 dead is probably conservative. In the final 48 hours, Washington ordered the killing of the fleeing Iraqi soldiers, who were putting up no resistance and many unarmed. Civilians from Iraq, Kuwait, and immigrant workers were killed along with them.

The fall-out of the war

The use of depleted uranium (DU) in modern war

Iraq's children: Paying Washington's price with their lives—Albright says it's worth it: By Felicity Arbuthnot, UK, Iraq Action Coalition, 10 February 1998. Gulf War reduced Iraq to a pre-industrial age for a considerable time to come. The impact of DU ordinance. Birth deformities and cancers. Psycological impact on children. Clean water and health care destroyed by the Gulf War. UN Convention on Human Rights of the Child ignored.
Most Americans don't realize how heinous our own government has been in its foreign policy: Commentary by Charley Reese, Orlando Sentinel, 26 November 2000. The U.S. and its allies deliberately destroyed Iraq's water supply and in the nine years since have deliberately prevented it from being repaired by keeping out the equipment and chemicals necessary. Evidence that the water supply system was the intentional target. Medical consequences. An illegal war on civilians.
Definition, Causes of Syndrome Are Elusive: By David Brown, Washington Post, 21 January 2003. What the Gulf War Syndrome is and what explains it remain issues of maddening uncertainty and rancorous disagreement, despite a decade of research. Researchers have established that Gulf War veterans have not died or been hospitalized at higher rates, but it is much harder to know how many subsequently became chronically ill. The VA sample suggests that as many as 160,000 men and women consider themselves to be in less than optimal health since the war.
Chemicals used to protect soldiers in 1991 Gulf War can damage testes, animal studies show: By Mohamed B. Abou-Donia, Ph.D., Duke University Medical Center, 9 January 2003. A combination of chemicals given to protect Gulf War soldiers against deadly diseases and nerve gas may have inadvertently damaged their testes and sperm production and may have caused infertility, sexual dysfunction, and other genitourinary symptoms. The study was funded by the Department of Defense.