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Persian Gulf Crisis

Persian Gulf Crisis

Persian Gulf Crisis, 1990-1991: How Saddam Hussein's Greed and Totalitarian
Quest for Power Led to the Invasion of Kuwait, World Conflicts and the
Degredation of Iraq

Joseph Stalin. Fidel Castro. Adolf Hitler. Saddam Hussein. These names
are all those of leaders who have used a totalitarian approach to leading a
nation. Stalin and Hitler ruled in the early to mid-nineteen hundreds. Like
Fidel Castro, Saddam Hussein is now. Saddam Hussein belongs to the Baath Party
of Iraq. This party adopts many techniques similar to those used by Stalin and
Hitler. Saddam Hussein conceived a plan to invade Kuwait. It was, perhaps, one
of the worst mistakes he could have made for his own reputation and for his
country. The invasion of Kuwait as well as the world's response to it, the
environmental disaster it caused, and the degradation of Iraq were completely
the fault one man and his government: Saddam Hussein and his Baath Government.

One of Hussein's weaknesses is negotiating. Negotiating in his terms is
to fight it out with as much carnage as possible until his side comes out
"victoriously". Repeatedly, Saddam and his government break international
convention laws. During his war fought with Iran, the Iraqi army used chemical
weapons on the Iranian troops and even on their own Iraqi population. This was
seemingly overlooked by the rest of the world because most nations didn't want
to see the Ayatollah's Islamic revolution rise. Iraq often obtained foreign arms
support from other nations because of this. It wasn't until the invasion of
Kuwait that the rest of the world seemed to realize the danger that Iraq posed
to its own people and to the Arab states surrounding it. Through poor planning,
Saddam Hussein made three major mistakes that enabled an easy defeat of the
Iraqis.

The first mistake was that he captured all of Kuwait at the same time,
instead of leaving it as a border dispute. This might have kept it from becoming
an international affair....