and British aircrafts bombed five radar and other anti-aircraft.
sites around Baghdad with guided missiles yesterday in the first major military action of.
the Bush administration. It was the largest airstrike against Iraq in two years and hit.
sites near the Iraqi capital, a significant departure from the low-key enforcement of no-fly.
zones in the country's south and north. The U.S.-led alliance declared the zones.
off-limits to Iraqi aircrafts after the Persian Gulf War. President Bush, speaking at a new.
conference in Mexico alongside the Mexican President, Vicente Fox, called the raid.
"routine." But it was widely interperted in Washington and other world capitals as.
presaging a get-tough attitude by the new administration toward a country that has.
vexed U.S. policymakers for more than a decade. "Saddam Hussein has got to.
understand we expect him to comform to the agreement that he signed after The Desert.
Storm," Bush said." (Ricks A1).
Saddam Hussein's continuing failure to cooperate is one of many results of the.
Persian Gulf War. Between January 17 and February 28, 1991, an international military.
coalition sanctioned by the United Nations and led by the United States defeated the.
large, well-equipped Iraqi army and forced it to withdraw from occupied Kuwait. The.
allied offense, whose military code name was Operation Desert Storm, involved ground.
troops from 19 countries joining together from virtually every region on the globe: North.
America, South America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa,.
Asia, and Australia (Yant 18). In essence, from the Iraqi position, there were three,.
main, inter-state causes of the Persian Gulf War: 1) To aquire a major port on the.
Persian Gulf, 2) To eliminate the $13 billion debt that Iraq owed Kuwait, 3) To gain vast.
oil reserves.
In order to better understand the Iraqi position, it is necessary to look at some of.
the historical factors. The discovery of oil by the the Anglo-Persian Oil Company.