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Justifying the war
The United States and the United Nations gave several public
justifications for involvement in the conflict. The loudest reason was the
Iraqi violation of Kuwaiti territorial integrity, although this did not
seem to necessitate intervention in oil-free regions of the world. In
addition, the United States moved quickly to support its long-time ally,
the dictatorship of Saudi Arabia, whose importance in the region and as a
key supplier of oil made it of considerable geopolitical importance.
During a speech given on September 11, 1990, George H.W. Bush made the
following remarks: "Within 3 days, 120,000 Iraqi troops with 850 tanks had
poured into Kuwait and moved south to threaten Saudi Arabia. It was then
that I decided to act to check that aggression." Satellite photos showing
a build up of Iraqi forces along the border were the source of this
information.
Polls showed that upwards of 80% of the American public supported the
troop deployment. The anti-war movement and its “No Blood For Oil”
slogan did not achieve the levels of support it would get 12 years later.
Later (retrospective) justifications for the war included Iraq’s history
of human rights abuses under Saddam Hussein, which did not seem to overly
bother Western governments when they were occurring. Saddam Hussein was
also known to possess chemical weapons supplied to him by Germany, which
he had previously used first against Iranian troops and then the Kurds, as
well as biological weapons, and like Israel was known to be attempting to
build atomic bombs.
Although the human rights abuses of the Iraq regime during the Kuwait
invasion were well-documented, the government of Kuwait set out to
influence Us opinion with some false accounts. Shortly after Iraq’s
invasion of Kuwait, the organization Citizens for a Free Kuwait was formed
in the US It hired the public relations firm Hill & Knowlton for about $11
million, paid by the Kuwaiti government. This firm went on to
manufacture a campaign in which a nurse working in the Kuwait City
hospital described Iraqi soldiers pulling babies out of incubators and
letting them die on the floor. The story was an influence in tipping both
the public and Congress towards a war with Iraq: six Congressmen said the
testimony was enough for them to support military action against Iraq and
seven Senators referenced the testimony in debate. The Senate supported
the military actions in a 52-47 vote. One year later, however, this
allegation was labeled a fabricated hoax. The woman who had testified was
found to be a member of the Kuwaiti Royal Family living in Paris during
the war, and therefore could not have been present during the alleged
crime.
Final peace proposals
Various peace proposals were floated, but none were agreed to. The United
States insisted that the only acceptable terms for peace were Iraq's full,
unconditional withdrawal from Kuwait. Iraq insisted that withdrawal from
Kuwait would have to be “linked” to a simultaneous adherence by
neighbouring countries to similar UN resolutions, which would necessitate
the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon and Israeli troops from the
West Bank, Gaza Strip, the Golan Heights, and southern Lebanon. Morocco
and Jordan were persuaded by this proposal, but Syria, Israel, and the
anti-Iraq coalition denied that there was any connection to the Kuwait
issue, despite the UN resolutions. Syria joined the coalition to expel
Saddam Hussein but Israel remained officially neutral despite rocket
attacks on Israeli civilians. The Bush administration persuaded Israel to
remain outside the conflict by informing them that the Special Air Service
were working behind enemy-lines in Iraq in search of SCUD missile
launchers that were being targeted towards Israeli cities.
On January 12, 1991 the United States Congress authorized the use of
military force to drive Iraq out of Kuwait. The votes were 52-47 in the US
Senate and 250-183 in the US House of Representatives. These were the
closest margins in authorizing force by the Congress since the War of
1812. Soon after, the other states in the coalition also followed suit.
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