The Gulf War
What happened in the Gulf War?
On the 2nd of August in 1990, Iraq invaded its smaller, oil rich neighbor Kuwait. Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi leader of the time, ordered the invasion and occupation of Kuwait with a combination of motives. The motives of the occupation was to get its large oil reserves, cancelling the large debt between the two nations and to expand its territory in the region. Learning of this news, the United Nations Security Council asked Iraq to pull out its forces from Kuwait peacefully by the 15th of January, and authorized that countries can take whatever means necessary to get the Iraqis out of Kuwait. Iraq refused to do this. Troops started to gather together on the Saudi Arabian side of the border with Kuwait, and a number the coalition forces that were ready to face off with the Iraqis equaled about 750,000,which outnumbered the Iraqi forces. Early in the morning of the 17th of January, a massive US-led air coalition hit Iraqi air defenses, oil refineries, communications networks and weapons plants The countries that were involved in this conflict were Iraq (who were the ones who invaded in Kuwait) and a US-led coalition of about 30 countries which included a number of gulf states (like the UAE and Qatar) but also involved the United Kingdom and Australia. The outcome of the war was that the Coalition (including Australia) had taken back Kuwait after a month of airstrikes and 4-day ground war. So why was this so important for Australia? Australia went to war in support of its ally the US and in general support of the United Nations. Australians were in combat and support roles. In combat roles they were stationed with the US and the UK and in support roles. They helped the US for example during Operation Desert Storm, which was the ground offensive to liberate Kuwait. Forty medical support members from Australia served on an American hospital ship. The RAAF provided air transport support. Navy diving teams cleared mines from ports and the open sea. Australia was involved in the aftermath, mainly in sanction enforcement roles. One of the major outcomes for shaping Modern Australia that emerged from this conflict is Terrorism. The 1st Gulf War created more instability in the east, and some groups started to believe that Western nations were to blame for the instability. The groups started to believe that it was right to seek revenge on these western nations for “Creating instability”. Terrorism started to emerge out of this, because the West interfered in more Arabic affairs, angering more people, who joined together to wage Jihad against the West. This is where Al Qaeda and ISIL have their ideology in. Terrorism in the West ultimately comes out of western involvement in Arabic conflicts, which all leads from the first Gulf War. |
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