The United States Invasion of Iraq Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The United States Invasion of Iraq - Essay Example By mid-April, 2003, Hussein's army and the government had collapsed, and the allies were largely in control of the major Iraqi cities. The allies gradually turned their attention to the rebuilding of Iraq and the establishment of a new Iraqi government, but progress toward that end was hampered by lawlessness, especially in Baghdad, where U.S. forces had tolerated widespread looting initially. On May 1, President Bush declared victory in the war against Iraq. No weapons of mass destruction, however, were found, leading to charges that U.S. and British leaders had exaggerated the Iraqi biological and chemical threat in order to justify the war. From this fact it's possible to make a conclusion that weapons of mass destruction weren't the main reason for the war, but only a cause, "casus belli". I think that the root of the US invasion of Iraq in March 2003 is control over oil fields. The background of 2nd Gulf War (2003) comes from an armed conflict between Iraq and a coalition of 32 nations including the United States, Britain, Egypt, France, and Saudi Arabia called the 1st Persian Gulf War in 1991. It was a result of Iraq's invasion of Kuwait on August 2, 1990; Iraq then annexed Kuwait, which it had long claimed. Iraqi president Saddam Hussein declared that the invasion was a response to overproduction of oil in Kuwait, which had cost Iraq an estimated $14 billion a year when oil prices fell. Hussein also accused Kuwait of illegally pumping oil from Iraq's Rumaila oil field. During August 1990 Iraq was sending more and more troops streaming into Kuwait, by August 6 there were nearly eleven combat divisions. Intelligence analysts at the time understood that Iraq had enough troops in the area to roll over Saudi Arabia nearly as easily as they had done to Kuwait. King Fahd of Saudi Arabia recognized his situation as dire and immediately requested aid from his most powerful friend and ally, the United States. President Bush promptly ordered the deployment of U.S. ground and air forces to Saudi territory. U.S. Navy ships were also deployed to the region. So began the operation to defend Saudi Arabia that would be called "Desert Storm".   The UN Security Council called for Iraq to withdraw and subsequently embargoed most trade with Iraq. On August 7, U.S. troops moved into Saudi Arabia to protect Saudi oil fields. On November 29, the United Nations set January 15, 1991, as the deadline for a peaceful withdrawal of Iraqi troops from Kuwait. When Saddam Hussein refused to comply, Operation "Desert Storm" was launched on January 18, 1991, under the leadership of U.S. Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf. The U.S.-led coalition began a massive air war to destroy Iraq's forces and military and civil infrastructure. Iraq called for terrorist attacks against the coalition and launched Scud missiles at Israel (in an unsuccessful attempt to widen the war and break up the coalition) and at Saudi Arabia. The main coalition forces invaded Kuwait and S Iraq on February 24 and, over the next four days, encircled and defeated the Iraqis and liberated Kuwait. When U.S. President George H. W. Bush declared a cease-fire on February 28, most of the Iraqi forces in Kuwait had either surrendered or fled.