The 1991 Gulf War - Did war prove to be a successful means of achieving political objectives? Examine this from both US-led coalition and Iraqi Perspectives?.
This essay will examine the political objectives of the Iraqi government in the lead up to the invasion of Kuwait and afterwards and the political objectives of the US- led coalition assembled to remove Iraqi forces from Kuwait. In addition it will examine the United States policy aims with regard to Iraq before the war and the extent to which these were achieved. The essay will demonstrate that Iraqi policy decisions did massive harm to Iraq and were instrumental in bringing about significant internal strife for Iraq after the war. Furthermore, the essay will demonstrate that a broad coalition with limited political consensus must limit its military objectives. This limitation means that coalition is unlikely to be as effective as a policy tool for any individual state as unilateral action might be. It will also demonstrate that while American led action in the Gulf was motivated by a desire to free Kuwait in great part, it was also a demonstration of the power of international consensus in the changed security environment of 1990.
The 1991 Gulf War can be said to have begun on 2 August 1990 when Iraqi forces attacked Kuwait. The roots of this invasion and the political aims behind it were in part found in the setting up of "modern Iraq" by the League of Nations in 1932. The Iraqi government had long maintained that Kuwait should be part of Iraq. Iraq's weak legal case was based on the argument that as Kuwait was part of the Ottoman province of Basra, it should also be part of modern Iraq. In spite of the claims on Kuwait, Iraqi dealings with Kuwait, while sometimes strained and threatening appeared to give Kuwait legitimacy in international law. Iraq recognized Kuwait as a nation and as a member of the United Nations, thus weakening Iraqi claims to Kuwait.