Intro Iraq & the Persian Gulf War

Victory Parade for Operation Desert Storm

Military personnel carry a huge American flag through New York City during a ticker tape victory parade for Operation Desert Storm. Image: © Joseph Sohm;

ChromoSohm Inc./CORBIS June 1991

Middle East Quick Quiz

How much do you know about the

middle east? 5 quiz questions

1) Who created most of the borders and countries of the Middle East?a. France and Englandb. Jordan and Syria

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b. Jordan and Syriac. Saudi Arabiad. The United Nationse. The United States

Middle East Quick Quiz

How much do you know about the

middle east? 5 quiz questions

2) What language is spoken in Iran?

3) When did it become illegal for women in Iran to go without wearing a

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women in Iran to go without wearing a veil? (with 5 years)

Middle East Quick Quiz

How much do you know about the

middle east? 5 quiz questions

4) What is the most populous Islamic country in the world?a. Egyptb. Indonesia

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b. Indonesiac. Irand. Saudi Arabia

Middle East Quick Quiz

How much do you know about the

middle east? 5 quiz questions

5) Which of following is Iraq?

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A B

C D

Middle East Quick Quiz

How much do you know about the

middle east? 5 quiz questions

Answers!!1. A2. Farsi3. 1983

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3. 19834. B (196 million people)5. C

Iraq Basics

Where?

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Iraq Basics

Who? Ethnic Groups

A. Arab

B. Kurd

•2/3 of Iraq Kurds

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•1/4 of Iraq

•Own language &

customs

•Brutally suppressed

in Iraq

Iraq Basics

Who? Religion

A. Shiite

B. Sunni

•3/5 of the

population

Kurds

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•2/5th of population

•90% of world’s Muslims

C. Main differences: Who should

lead the Muslim community?

Iraqi History

A. British Mandate

B. British Backed Monarchy

•Post WWII British colony

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B. British Backed Monarchy

•King chosen by England

C. Dictatorships

King Faisal I of Iraq

Original caption: Death of King Faisal. Faisal, King of Iraq, whose sudden death is just

announced.

Image: © Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS

Date Photographed: ca. 1930

•1958 Baath Revolution

Thinking Slide:

How might Iraqi history affect

how they view the Americans &

their British allies in the current

war in Iraq?

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war in Iraq?

Baath Party

B. What does it do?What does it do?What does it do?What does it do?

•Secular (non-religious) government

•Uses oil $ for government projects

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projects

•Hussein begins to eliminate opponents

HUSSEIN CARD AS PART OF DECK OF 55 CARDS OF US CHARACTERS WANTED

Reuters/CORBIS

That all changes with the Iran-Iraq War

Iranian Revolution

A. Why?•Pro-western Shah unpopular because of his alliance w/US & secret

police

B. HowHowHowHow?

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•Religious (Shiite) revolution

C. ResultsResultsResultsResults

•Fear in most neighboring Middle Eastern countries, especially majority Shiite Iraq

Iran-Iraq WarA. Iraq’s Goals:

•Remove Iran’s leaders, gain oil-land, & make Hussein a hero to

neighbors

B. HowHowHowHow?

•Long brutal war, including use of chemical weapons on both sides

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weapons on both sides

•UN creates a peace deal

C. ResultsResultsResultsResults

•Iraq left with big war debt

Persian Gulf War (the 1st one!)

Why?

1.Iraq’s claimed to the land

2. Claimed Kuwait was stealing oil

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was stealing oil (“slant drilling”)

3. $ owed to countries Kuwait

4.Hussein thought no one would stop him

Persian Gulf War (the 1st one!)

What happened??

US invades w/full UN backing

•US bombs Iraqi military &

civilian infrastructure

•We make no attempt to

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•We make no attempt to hold Iraqi towns or capture

Saddam Hussein

Destroyed Vehicles Along Kuwaiti Highway

Destroyed cars and trucks line Kuwait's "Highway of Death" during

the Persian Gulf War. The name was given to the stretch of road

leading north out of Kuwait City which, while clogged with retreating

Iraqi forces, was furiously bombed by coalition forces, killing most on

it.

Image: © Peter Turnley/CORBIS

Persian Gulf War PicturesKuwait Oil Well Fires from

Space

View from the space shuttle

Atlantis of black smoke

billowing from burning oil wells

in Kuwait, which were set ablaze

by retreating Iraqi troops at the

end of the

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Persian Gulf War.

Image: Digital image © 1996

CORBIS; Original image

courtesy of NASA/CORBIS

Persian Gulf War Pictures

George Bush and Saddam Hussein on

CNN Television Broadcast

The faces of the US President George

Bush and the leader of Iraq Saddam

Hussein on a CNN television broadcast

during the Gulf War, 1990.

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Image: © Zen Icknow/CORBIS

Photographer: Zen Icknow

Date Photographed:

January 1990

Persian Gulf War (the 1st one!)

Results?

UN Embargo & Oil for Food Program

Peace Terms:

•Iraq accepts border with

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•Iraq accepts border with Kuwait, surrenders all WMDs, destroys all WMD production capability

•Iraq can sell oil in exchange for food & medicine

Thinking Slide:

Do you think a program like the “oil for food” program was a

good one given the situation at the time?

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the time?

Second Iraq War

Bush Doctrine: US can attack them before they attack us

Why?:Bush argues Iraq is a threat because of WMDs

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How? First US pushes for tighter inspections, theninvades claiming Hussein was not cooperating

Thinking Slide:

Do you think that the Bush Doctrine will have be used as much by later presidents as others like the:

Monroe Doctrine: Told Europe to keep its hands off the Americas

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Truman Doctrine: US pledges to support free peoples across the world against communism