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Diplomacy and Operation Desert Shield
UN Resolution
Within hours of the invasion, Kuwaiti and US delegations requested a
meeting of the UN Security Council, which passed Resolution 660,
condemning the invasion and demanding a withdrawal of Iraqi troops. On
August 3, the Arab League passed its own resolution. The resolution also
called for a solution to the conflict from within the League, and warned
against foreign intervention. On August 6, UN Resolution 661 placed
economic sanctions on Iraq.
Possible attack on Saudi Arabia
The decision by the US and its friends to fight the Iraqi invasion had
more to do with preventing an attack on Saudi Arabia, a nation of far more
economic importance to the world than Kuwait, as it did with liberating
Kuwait itself. The rapid success of the Iraqi army had brought it within
easy striking distance of the Hama oil fields, Saudi Arabia’s most
valuable resource. Iraqi control of these fields as well as Kuwait and
Iraqi reserves would have given it control of the majority of the world's
reserves. The Iraqi armored divisions would have encountered the same
difficulties that Saudi forces faced defending the oil fields, namely
traversing large distances across inhospitable desert. This would have
been exacerbated by intense bombing by the Saudi Air Force, by far the
most well-equipped (if not so well-trained) arm of the Saudi military.
Iraq had a number of grievances with Saudi Arabia. The Saudis had lent
Saddam Hussein some 26 billion dollars to prosecute his invasion of Iran,
as they feared the influence of mainly Shia Iran's Islamic revolution on
its own Shia minority (most of the Saudi oil fields are in territory that
is populated by Shias). The long desert border was also ill-defined. Soon
after his conquest of Kuwait, Saddam Hussein began verbally attacking the
Saudi kingdom. He argued that the US-supported Saudi state was an
illegitimate guardian of the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. Saddam
Hussein combined the language of the Islamist groups that had recently
fought in Afghanistan with the rhetoric Iran had long used to attack the
Saudis.
Operation Desert Shield
Acting on the policy of the Carter Doctrine, and out of fear the Iraqi
army could launch an invasion of Saudi Arabia, Us President George H. W.
Bush quickly announced that the US would launch a "wholly defensive"
mission to prevent Iraq from invading Saudi Arabia—Operation Desert
Shield—and US troops moved into Saudi Arabia on August 7, 1990. On
August 8, Iraq declared parts of Kuwait to be extensions of the Iraqi
province of Basra and the rest to be the 19th province of Iraq.
Within forty-eight hours of the initial invasion of Kuwait, P-3 Orions
were the first US forces to arrive. One of these responding P-3’s was a
prototype known as “Outlaw Hunter”. “Outlaw Hunter” was undergoing trials,
in the Pacific Ocean, after being developed by the US Navy’s Space and
Naval Warfare Systems Command. It was testing a highly specialized OTH-T
(over the horizon targeting system package) when it immediately responded.
During Desert Shield a P-3 using its advanced infra-red imaging was able
to detect a ship with painted-out Iraqi markings under freshly painted,
bogus, Egyptian markings trying to avoid detection. Several days before
the January 7, 1991 Desert Storm the ISAR P-3 conducted coastal
surveillance along Iraq and Kuwait to provide pre-strike reconnaissance on
military installations. Fifty-five of the one hundred and eight Iraqi
vessels destroyed during the conflict were targeted by P-3.
The United States Navy mobilized two naval battle groups, the aircraft
carriers USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and USS Independence and their escorts,
to the area, where they were ready by August 8. A total of 48 US Air Force
F-15s from the 1st Fighter Wing at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia,
landed in Saudi Arabia and immediately commenced round the clock air
patrols of the Saudi-Kuwait-Iraq border areas to prevent further Iraqi
advances. The U.S. also sent the battleships USS Missouri and USS
Wisconsin to the region. Military buildup continued from there, eventually
reaching 500,000 troops, twice the number used in the 2003 invasion of
Iraq. Much of the material was airlifted or carried to the staging areas
via fast sealift ships, allowing a quick buildup. The consensus among
military analysts is nonetheless that until October, the US military
forces in the area would have been insufficient to stop an invasion of
Saudi Arabia had Iraq attempted one.
Building a coalition
A long series of UN Security Council resolutions and Arab League
resolutions were passed regarding the conflict. One of the most important
was Resolution 678, passed on November 29, giving Iraq a withdrawal
deadline of January 15, 1991, and authorizing “all necessary means to
uphold and implement Resolution 660,” a diplomatic formulation authorizing
the use of force.
The United States, especially Secretary of State James Baker, assembled a
coalition of forces to join it in opposing Iraq, consisting of forces from
34 countries: Afghanistan, Argentina, Australia, Bahrain, Bangladesh,
Belgium, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Egypt, France, Greece, Hungary,
Italy, Kuwait, Morocco, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Niger, Norway, Oman,
Pakistan, Philippines, Poland, Qatar, Romania, Republic of Korea, Saudi
Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Syria, the United
Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States itself. Although
they did not contribute any forces, Japan and Germany did make financial
contributions totaling $10 billion and $6.6 billion respectively. US
troops represented 74% of the coalition’s 1,660,000 troops in Iraq. Many
of the coalition forces were reluctant to join; some felt that the war was
an internal Arab affair, or feared increasing American influence in
Kuwait. In the end, many nations were persuaded by Iraq’s belligerence
towards other Arab states, and offers of economic aid or debt forgiveness.
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