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Conflict between Kuwait and Iraq

Causes of Conflict between Iraq and Kuwait1) Conflict over territoriesOne of the causes of the conflict between Iraq and Kuwait was the claim over theBubiyan and Warbah Islands. These islands belonged to Kuwait, but Iraq wantedthese islands as it would help Iraq gain access to the open waters of the Persian Gulf.The Iraqis had even attempted to gain these islands by force in the 1960s and 1970s.Since 1978, Iraq had tried to lease the islands instead. Kuwaits refusal to grant thisrequest worsened the relationship between both sides as Iraq saw Kuwaits refusal asan attack on its national interest. This led to the conflict between Iraq and Kuwait.The borders Iraq & Kuwait inherited from the British after independence were notwell-defined. One such contention was over the profitable Rumaila oilfields in 1990.Iraq accused Kuwait of stealing its oil at the Iraq side of the oil filed by using slant-

drilling technology & demanded Kuwait stopped drilling and pay Iraq US$2.4 billionin compensation. This led to the Iraq-Kuwait war as Kuwait refused to compensate,standing firm that their drilling activities were legitimate. This led to worsening oftension between both countries that increased the chances of war.2) Historical EnmityAnother factor that caused the conflict between Iraq and Kuwait was the historicalenmity that existed between them. Iraq had all along considered Kuwait to be part ofIraq. As such, Iraq expected Kuwait to give in to its demands. Kuwaitis refusal to givein to Iraq resulted in shock and anger. As a result, Iraq was even more aggressive intrying to force Kuwait to give in to their demands. The result was a worsening of the

relationship between the two as Kuwait might have seen the Iraqi actions asbullying.3) Overproduction of Oil by Kuwait / Economic problems / OilProductionOverproduction of Oil by Kuwait is another cause of conflict between Iraq andKuwait. Before the start of the Iran-Iraq war of 1980 to 1988, Iraq was a relativelyprosperous country with about US$35 billion in reserves. Iraq suffered tremendouslyduring the war with Iran. Besides the heavy loss of lives, Iraqs economy was in ruins.Iraq owed about US$80 billion in debts to its neighbours and other countries thathad supplied it with food and war equipment. The reconstruction of the war-torn

country also required a massive US$230 billion. Iraq, thus, had to find ways to payoff this massive debt as well as to rebuild the country. Iraq had hoped to pay off itsdebt by earning more revenue from the sale of oil. However, oil prices were fallingdue to over-production by some countries. OPEC had put quotas on the amount of oilthat its member countries could produce to prevent a further decline in oil prices.Kuwait and the UAE, however, ignored the quota set and produced oil well abouttheir assigned limits. This caused oil prices to fall from US$18 to US$7 per barrel atone point. Iraq lost a lot of revenue due to the fall in oil prices. Iraq lost US$1 billionfrom oil sales each time the price of oil fell by one US dollar. Iraq felt that the actionof Kuwait and the UAE was equivalent to waging an economic war on Iraq as 90% ofits income came from the sale of oil. This worsened the relationship as Iraq sawKuwaits refusal as an attack on its interest and hence Iraq decided to launch anattack on Kuwait.

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Which is most important reason for the conflict between Iraq andKuwait?Although there were many reasons for the worsening of relations between Iraq andKuwait, perhaps the most significant cause of the conflict could be the over-production of oilby Kuwait that resulted in the worsening of Iraqs economicproblems. Iraq was already facing immense debts and problems with rebuilding thecountry after the long war with Iran. The money to pay off this debt and rebuild thecountry would come from the sale of oil. The over-production of oil meant that Iraqreceived less revenue than it needed and this increased pressure on the Iraqigovernment. Historical enmity is not as important because it was an issue that hadexisted since the time of Kuwaits existence and did not threaten Iraqs survival then.It could have been a contributing factor but the immediate problem facing Iraq thenwas economic in nature.Role of United NationsOne of the aims of UN is to maintain world peace and security. Despite UNs lesssuccessful attempts in bringing peace and security to some troubled areas in theworld, the Gulf War serves as a good example of the capabilities of the UN to gatherits resources to deter aggression. The main reason for the success in the Gulf War isthe involvement of the five permanent members of the Security Council (China,France, Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States).UN peacekeeping missions could be effective in resisting aggression if the followingconditions were met:a) High threat to all UN members leading to general consensus among permanentmembers of the Security Councilb) US leadership and support for UN resolutionsc) The legitimacy of working through UN Resolution and the rule of law.

Iraq-Kuwait conflict was a crisis that destabilized the Middle East and affected theprice of oil. The Oil prices jumped 15% in the first few days of the Iraq Invasion. If theprice of the oil continue to rise, all countries in the world would be affectednegatively, which led to UN resolution 678 being passed, supporting the US-ledliberation of Kuwait. However, due to the limitations of UN resolutions, US and alliedtroops could not take direct military action to support the Kurdish and shiiterebellions against Iraq. The UN would later only provide safe and humanitarian aidfor fleeing Kurdish refugees through no-fly zones and continued to apply economicsanctions against Iraq.The Gulf War was resolved in a relatively short period oftime due to the fact that the aggressor was known. As such diplomatic attempts could

be made to negotiate for a settle, and when that failed, there was a target for coalitionforce to attack.Impacts of Iraq-Kuwait conflictThe Impact on Kuwait was a damaging result of the conflict.

1) Kuwait suffered heavy losses on both its society as well as on itseconomy.

Many Kuwaiti civilians were killed and thousands of others were tortured. Kuwaitiswere also treated harshly to force them to flee their own country. The economy also

suffered tremendous losses as the Iraqi army set fire to 600 out of the 950 oil wells in

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Kuwait. Damages to Kuwait amounted to over US $25 billion.The Impact on Iraqwas a damaging result of the conflict.

2) The Iraqi military capability was badly destroyed as coalition forceshad utilized state-of-the art weapons in their campaign against Iraqitroops.

The heavy losses suffered by the Iraqis resulted in a loss of morale among theremaining troops.3) Political instability.

Political instability in Iraq arose as Kurds tried to overthrow Saddam as they felt thathis power was on the decline. However, Saddam dealt harshly with the uprisingsagainst him. As a result, thousands of Kurds were massacred and almost one millionKurdish refugees fled Iraq.4) Suffering of Iraqis was also apparent.

Operation Dessert Storm resulted in the destruction of a large part of Iraqiinfrastructure. Also, the Iraqi people suffered, as they could not carry out their dailyactivities due to a disrupted supply of electricity. They also suffered from a spread ofdiseases as the water supply in the country was contaminated.5) The Regional and Environmental Impact was another damaging resultof the war.

The Gulf War created an environmental catastrophe and also resulted in a severedisplacement of foreign workers which created great suffering for their families back

home. The Iraqi forces set fire to Kuwaiti oil wells, dumped about 11 million barrelsof oil into the Persian Gulf, thus greatly threatening marine life and cost millions ofdollars to put out the fires and clear the oil slick. The displacement of foreign workerswas so severe that nearly 2 million foreign workers from Bangladesh, India, Egypt,the Philippine and Palestine fled Iraq when war broke out. Workers supporting largefamilies back home suffered sudden loss of income and created great suffering fortheir families.