Mrs. DeNeal’s War and Conflict Class Rest of the year packet Name: ____________________ Packet People: Print this PDF for the work assigned from the dates above. Make sure that you staple or clip this packet together. If it is NOT stapled, please write your name and DeNeal at the top of EACH page. I miss you and you know how to reach me. Seniors: Please only do #1-5 since you do not have the same end date as the rest of the student body. To sign up for Remind texts if you have not: Send a text to: 81010 Text this message: @warandc Checklist: 1. Persian Gulf War/Desert Storm Questions 2. George Bush Biography Questions 3. Desert Storm Slides Assignment 4. Saddam Hussein Biography 5. Osama Bin Laden Biography 6. 9-11 Reading and Questions 7. Before and After 9-11 8. George Bush Speech Analysis 9. September 11th Music Activity (do not do #9 and 10) The Persian Gulf War, also called Operation Desert Storm, was conflict in the Middle East in 1991. In the previous year, the nation of Iraq had invaded and conquered its neighbor, Kuwait. Despite international condemnation, Iraq’s dictator, Saddam Hussein, refused to evacuate. American President George Bush helped create an allied Coalition of over 30 nations that ultimately expelled Iraqi forces after a six-week air war and a 100-hour ground campaign… HISTORICAL BACKGROUND The nation of Iraq is a relatively young Middle Eastern country in an ancient land called Mesopotamia. Iraq has endured a turbulent history with frequent wars and revolutions. What became Iraq was created after World War I with the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Initially, a mandate (temporary colony) of the British Empire, plans were developed for the eventual independence of several Arab states across the Middle East. By the 1920’s, Iraq (along with Jordan, Kuwait, Syria, Lebanon and Israel) was carved out of this territory. Iraq’s territory combined three main Muslim populations, two which were ethnically Arab. The other main ethnicity, the Kurds— who were mostly Sunni Muslims— dominated northern Iraq; the Arab Shias dominated southern Iraq; and the Arab Sunnis controlled central Iraq around the capital city, Baghdad. The Kurds were 15% of the population; the Shias were 60%; and the Sunnis were 20%; the remaining 5% were other minority groups that included Turks, Armenians and Assyrians. Iraq became an independent monarchy in 1932 under king Faisal I, although the young nation still was largely controlled by the British. Faisal’s grandson, Faisal II, grew increasingly unpopular and was overthrown and murdered by anti-monarchist military forces— led by Abd al-Karim Qasim— in 1958. Qasim established the Three main population groups in Iraq © 2020 Premier History Materials Republic of Iraq. However, in 1963, Qasim was overthrown and executed, and by 1968 the national socialist Ba’ath Party (modeled after the Nazi party) surged into power, led by General Ahmed Hassan Al-Bakr and his main deputy, Saddam Hussein. EMERGENCE OF SADDAM Al-Bakr and Hussein instituted the Ba’ath Party (Ba’ath means “regeneration”) agenda which was industrialization, socialism, development of oil resources, militarism and Arab nationalism with Sunni leadership. Iraq’s economy expanded dramatically and land was redistributed to peasant farmers. Iraq also became an ally and trading partner of the Soviet Saddam Hussein Union, thereby obtaining an impressive arsenal of Soviet military hardware. Hussein was the driving force behind all these developments although he did not technically rule the country until Al-Bakr’s death, in 1979. Although called the president, Saddam Hussein emerged as the all-powerful and brutal dictator of Iraq. SADDAM’S IRAQ Symbol of the Iraqi Ba’ath Party. The Arabic script, in Saddam’s handwriting, After a series of cross-border raids, Hussein declared war on the says: “God is Great” and “The Iraqi Islamic Republic of Iran in 1980. The Iran-Iraq War lasted until Republic” 1988 and killed 1.5 million people. Initially, Iraq gained the support of many nations, including the United States, as Iran was— at that time— deemed the greater overall threat. However, concerns over a wider war ended foreign support and led to international pressure to end the conflict. The war against Iran ended inconclusively, but it revealed the cruelty Saddam displayed against his enemies. In order to stem the tide of the Iranian offensives, Hussein used deadly chemical weapons. While claiming to thwart a rebellion, Hussein also ordered the use of chemical weapons against the Kurds in northern Iraq, and the Shia population of southern Iraq. Hussein murdered perhaps 250,000 of his own people during his reign of terror. Despite these atrocities, Hussein had total control of the government, economy, military, courts and Iraqi media. All these institutions defended and promoted Saddam Hussein as a strong leader and the defender of Arab people, particularly Sunni Arabs, Iraqi Kurdish victims of a poison gas attack in 1988 worldwide. © 2020 Premier History Materials KUWAIT IN THE CROSSHAIRS Saddam next turned his ire to his tiny oil-rich neighbor, Kuwait. Iraq had long considered Kuwait to be a part of Iraq that was wrongfully stripped away by Great Britain (Kuwait became fully independent in 1961). Rich deposits of oil straddled the Iraq- Kuwait border, and Iraq constantly claimed that Kuwaiti oil rigs were illegally tapping into Iraq’s Rumaila oil field. Iraq also claimed Kuwait was overproducing oil, thereby decreasing its price. In July, 1990 Iraq demanded that Kuwait pay $10 billion. When Kuwait offered Iraq accused Kuwait of stealing only a mere $500 million, Hussein ordered troops to Kuwait’s border. oil from Iraq’s Rumaila oil field Using tremendous oil revenues, Hussein had built Iraq’s armed forces into an impressive force. In 1990, Iraq boasted the fourth largest army in the world with 1.8 million troops, 5000 tanks, 700 aircraft and impressive anti-aircraft defenses. Hussein thus considered an invasion and erroneously concluded that the United States— and the rest of the outside world— would not interfere to defend Kuwait (the US did not send troops to defend Afghanistan when invaded by the Soviet Union in 1979). On August 2, 1990 Kuwait was invaded by 120,000 Iraqi troops. Kuwait’s royal Al-Sabah family fled, and within 12 hours Kuwait was conquered. Despite surrendering almost immediately, about 1,000 Kuwaitis were murdered and Kuwait’s wealth was looted and stripped away. Iraqi troops now seemed poised to invade next into Saudi Arabia. Most of Saudi Arabia’s oil fields were located near Kuwait. If Iraq seized United Nations Security Council those fields as well, Saddam Hussein would control 65% of the global oil supply. THE WORLD RESPONDS The response from the international community was swift. The United Nations Security Council passed a series of resolutions (#660, 661, 662, 664, 665) that condemned Iraq’s invasion, demanded an immediate withdrawal, imposed economic sanctions and a naval blockade against Iraq. © 2020 Premier History Materials The United States (under the direction of President George H. W. Bush), the United Kingdom (under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher) and other United Nations (UN) member nations began to organize an anti-Iraq coalition. Coalition-building involved global diplomacy from the United States Secretary of State, James Baker. Increasingly, many nations believed it was in their vital economic interest to protect its oil supplies, the lifeblood of industrial economies. An aggressive, unpredictable dictator like Saddam Hussein could not be entrusted with this sort of global Prime Minister Thatcher President Bush economic power. If unopposed, Iraq’s aggression would likely be turned on other nations in the region. Additionally, Hussein’s numerous violations of human rights could not be ignored. The Coalition eventually totaled 32 nations and included several Arab nations such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Syria. Most Coalition nations began to send combat troops and equipment to Saudi Arabia, although others like Germany and Japan assisted by donating money. Ultimately, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia each paid $15 billion for the war, the US and Germany each $10 billion, Japan paid $7 billion, other Coalition nations contributed about $5 billion. In November, the UN passed resolution #678 which gave an ultimatum for Iraqi forces to evacuate Kuwait by January 15th, 1991— or face a military attack. President Bush, himself a WWII Naval aviator, enjoyed Thanksgiving with the troops in 1990. He later prayed, “strengthen the hearts of those who protect and defend us.” © 2020 Premier History Materials OPERATION DESERT SHIELD A herculean effort was needed to transfer whole armies from America and Europe to the Middle East and prepare them for desert warfare. By January of 1991, over 700,000 allied Coalition soldiers and sailors (600,000 of which were from the American all-volunteer military) were deployed in Saudi Arabia, the Persian Gulf and throughout the Gulf region. This phase was mainly to protect Saudi Arabia from a potential Iraqi invasion and was therefore known as Operation Desert Shield. Meanwhile, Iraq deployed over 450,000 troops in Kuwait and southern Iraq. Last minute diplomacy in Switzerland between the American Secretary of State, James Baker, and Iraq’s Foreign Minister, Tariq Aziz, proved fruitless. Iraq would only agree to withdrawal with certain conditions (such as money payments and control of much of Kuwait’s oil) that would seem to reward their aggression— this was simply Secretary Baker Minister Aziz unacceptable. On January 12, the United States (US) Congress voted to authorize President Bush in the use of force against Iraq: 52-47 in the Senate and 250-183 in the House. OPERATION DESERT STORM On January 16, 1991, with the ultimatum expired, Operation Desert Storm began.