Gulf War Essay - 1,987 words

Gulf War (1) When it comes to analyzing reasons for any war, we need to be able to distinguish between propaganda, on the part of
warring parties, and the actual circumstances, which brought about the beginning of hostilities. This thesis appears to be especially
applicable, within a context of discussing the reasons for Gulf War of 1991. At the time, George Bush administrations spokespersons
used to justify going to war against Iraq by humanitarian and geopolitical reasoning. Citizens were being told that it was crucial for
U.S. to get involved into the conflict between Iraq and Kuwait, in order to protect the principle of territorial integrity, upon which
international politics in post-WW2 were based. Numerous experts were telling us about the evils of Husseins regime in Iraq, despite
the fact that few years earlier, U.S. considered Iraq as its geopolitical ally, while supplying it with weapons that were meant to be
used against Iran.

Prior to the outbreak of war, American mainstream Medias strived to convince citizens that Saddam Hussein was just about to
create nuclear weapons and that it was crucial for U.S. to deprive him of such opportunity. In his article Why the Gulf War was not in
the National Interest, Christopher Layne provides us with the insight on the fact that in 1991, many experts were seriously
discussing the possibility of America being attacked by Iraq, within a matter of few years, if U.S. military was not going to intervene:
Before the war the expert consensus was that Iraq was five to ten years away from acquiring an operational nuclear force. Even then
Iraq would have posed little direct threat to the United States, because it would have taken far longer for Baghdad to have developed
the capability to deliver nuclear weapons intercontinentally (Layne, 1991). In 2004, the notion of Saddams nuclear weapons was
being transformed into the notion of weapons of mass destruction, which, as reality has proven, only existed in imagination of those
who pushed for war.

At the time, George Bush used to insist that war against Iraq was necessary to establish a new world order, without specifying what
he meant by that term, and to insure peace and stability in Middle East. Nowadays, we are perfectly aware that neither of wars
proclaimed goals was reached, except for the fact that Kuwait was able to retain its independence, because of American direct
military involvement. Moreover, Husseins reign continued to last for another 13 years, even though Iraq had sustained a military
defeat. In its turn, this caused many people to doubt the validity of official reasoning for Americas involvement in war. The
overwhelming majority of citizens, who were able to retain their sense of logic, despite being continuously brainwashed by politically-
correct rhetoric, came to conclusion that the real reason why Bushs administration opted in favour of war, was to protect the stability
on international market of oil. However, if George Bush was really concerned about keeping oil price under control, as his foremost
priority, it would be in his interests to allow Iraqis occupation of Kuwait to proceed unopposed.

In his article The Persian Gulf War: Oil, the Environment and Diplomacy, Leigh Kimmel points out at the fact that Gulf War did not
make much of economical sense: Sending American troops into Kuwait to force Iraq out would cause even more disruption of oil
production and would run the risk of destroying or at least badly damaging the oil-producing infrastructure of the area Not only did
the oil fires have to be put out and damaged refineries and pipelines have to be repaired, but the areas in which the wells and related
infrastructure were located had to be cleared of unexploded munitions which were there as a direct result of the conflict (Kimmel,
1998). Many Americans expected U.S. to actually take control of Kuwaiti oil, especially given the fact that this country can hardly be
referred to as sovereign state. Upon hearing about Iraqis invasion, the Kuwaiti army had simply fled to Saudi Arabia, in order to
avoid fighting. Yet, this did not happen. Kuwaiti king was allowed to come back to the country to continue to enjoy luxurious lifestyle,
simply because his country happened to be located over easily accessible oil deposits.

Thus, it appears that America did not benefit from the war - neither economically, nor geopolitically, just as it was the case with
Second Gulf War in 2004. Apparently, there were other reasons for U.S. government to pursue with the policy of military escalation
in the region, at the time. Thus, in order for us to get a better understanding of Gulf Wars true causes, we need to ask ourselves a
simple question what country did benefit from this war more then any other? The answer to this question is very simple Israel. Prior
to invading Kuwait, Saddam Hussein came out with few public speeches, in which he threatened to put an end to the existence of
Israel. He had done it earlier; however, a so-called Soviet factor at the time, did not allow U.S. to take any drastic measures against
Iraq, as such that posed threat to Americas closest ally in Middle East.

In 1991, Soviet empire stood on the brink of collapse, which is why it was in no position to provide any assistance to Iraq. In order to
conceal the essence of Gulf War as military operation, which could only benefit Israel, U.S. involved another 31 countries into the
conflict and insured UNs approval of this war. In his article The war on Iraq: Conceived in Israel, Stephen Sniegoski quotes
diplomatic historian Paul W. Schroeder, who provides us with the insight on the essence of war against Iraq: It would represent
something to my knowledge unique in history. It is common for great powers to try to fight wars by proxy, getting smaller powers to
fight for their interests. This would be the first instance I know where a great power (in fact, a superpower) would do the fighting as
the proxy of a small client state (Sniegoski, 2003).

It is not a secret that Jewish lobby exercises a disproportionate influence on American politics. One does not have to be overly smart
to realize that American Medias are very biased, when it
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