Iraq Conflicts

We will study two conflicts in which the USA has been involved in Iraq:

Gulf War/Desert Storm: 1990-1991

Operation Iraqi Freedom: 2003-2011

Saddam Hussein

• Military dictator of Iraq

• Instigator of instability

• Over-all bad guy

Gulf War/Desert Storm

• Jan-Feb 1991

Gulf War/Desert Storm • Iraq needed $$$ to pay for recent war vs. Iran

• Iraq invaded neighboring Kuwait to obtain more oil fields and Persian Gulf ports

Gulf War/ Desert Storm • World wide coalition

formed against Iraq,

including many Arab

countries

AFGHANISTAN AUSTRALIA BAHRAIN BANGLADESH BELGIUM BRITAIN CANADA CZECHOSLVAKIA EGYPT FRANCE GERMANY HONDURAS HUNGARY ITALY KUWAIT NEW ZEALAND NIGER OMAN POLAND QATAR ROMANIA SAUDI ARABIASOUTH KOREA SYRIA UNITED ARAB EMRIATES UNITED STATES

Gulf War/Desert Storm

• Iraq booted from Kuwait, Hussein left in power

War in Iraq / Operation Iraqi Freedom

• Mar 2003 – 2011

War in Iraq / Operation Iraqi Freedom

• Goal was to oust Hussein and establish democracy in Iraq

War in Iraq / Operation Iraqi Freedom

• US claimed Hussein had WMD’s but none were found

War in Iraq / Operation Iraqi Freedom

• Operation lead by US, received little support from rest of world

War in Iraq / Operation Iraqi Freedom

• Controversial: no clear reason to start, no clear victory in the end

Kurds (stateless nation) • Ethnic group living in Iraq, Iran, and Turkey

• Want their own country but will unlikely get one