There are still many questions looking for convincing answers about the reasons for the late Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's indifference to the international warning period that ended on January 15, 1991 to withdraw his forces from Kuwait, which he invaded on August 2, 1990, or else he will face a war launched by an international coalition led by United State.

After the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, an international coalition led by the United States was formed, and it included more than 30 countries, including 750,000 soldiers (75% of them Americans), 3,600 tanks, 1,800 aircraft, and 150 naval vessels.

The international coalition gained its legitimacy after the Security Council adopted its Resolution No. 678 on November 29, 1990, which decided to use all necessary means - including the use of military force - against Iraq if it did not withdraw its forces from Kuwait, and set January 15, 1991 as a deadline. So withdraw.

When the field arrangements for the coalition forces were completed, and the deadline granted to Iraq to exit from Kuwait expired, the crisis turned into its final stage, which was the use of military force to force Iraq to withdraw, and its most important chapter was the start of the ground war on February 24, 1991, which led to the removal of Iraqi forces from Kuwait, the destruction of its military and economic capabilities, and the imposition of a harsh siege on Iraq caused a great human tragedy that lasted for several years, ending with the American invasion of the country in 2003 and the overthrow of Saddam's regime.

Before the Iraqi forces left Kuwait, several Kuwaiti oil wells were blown up (communication sites)

Doubts before the war

Among the most prominent doubts that still hang around the efforts before the war began: Why did all international and Arab efforts fail to persuade Saddam Hussein not to fight another war in a time only two years after he left his war with Iran from 1980-1988?

And to what extent did the United States play a dual role in this war?

Did this war contribute to the disengagement between Iraq and the Soviet Union?

In the early hours of dawn on August 2, 1990, the Iraqi army - with more than 20 thousand soldiers - penetrated the borders with Kuwait from 4 axes, and within hours it took control of the capital Kuwait with the support and support of the Iraqi Air Force, and imposed its control over the country in two days, and announced Baghdad "liberating Kuwait from the rule of the Al-Sabah family", and on August 4 of the same year, Baghdad installed a new government loyal to it that lasted 4 days, and was headed by Kuwaiti Colonel Alaa Hussein Al-Khafaji (sentenced to death in absentia in 1993 after he was convicted of "treason and conspiracy." With the enemy in wartime, "he was then commuted - upon his return to the country in early 2000 - to life imprisonment).

Al-Zobaie described the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait as a historical mistake (Al-Jazeera Net)

Wrong calculations

Refusal to withdraw from Kuwait was a thorny matter for Saddam Hussein, based on the belief that his forces are able to resist the American forces and their allies, especially since the Iraqi army was outside the experience of a war with Iran that lasted 8 years, according to journalist Idris Al-Zobaie, who added that Iraq had emerged from its war. With Iran exhausted socially and economically and laden with war debts.

Al-Zobaie - who is one of the former cadres of the Baath Party - describes the entry of Iraq into Kuwait as a historical mistake, and that it is unique to the national decision, a violation of Arab brotherhood and a violation of international law, surprising that there is no resort to understanding and finding peaceful solutions or resorting to the United Nations and the Security Council, or resorting to mediation by friendly countries. Rather than a war option.

During that period, Iraq was known for its close relationship with the Soviet Union, but Al-Zobaie - in response to a question by Al-Jazeera Net about whether America had succeeded in dismantling the close relationship between Iraq and the Soviet Union through this war - believes that Washington dropped the link between them during this crisis forever. .

He added that the Soviet leadership played a pressing role on Iraq to withdraw its forces from Kuwait, and sent a delegate to warn him of the dangers of not withdrawing, noting that the Soviet Union at the time was going through political transformations, so the international coalition took advantage of this to isolate Iraq.

Al-Qaraghouli: Iraq’s entry into Kuwait is a grave mistake for which Saddam bears responsibility (Al-Jazeera Net)

America's gift to Saddam

The features of the second Gulf War reveal on the face of it that the United States took advantage of the tense relations between some Gulf countries, as the US ambassador to Iraq, April Glaspie, implicitly encouraged President Saddam Hussein to implement his threats to Kuwait, when she told him - during their meeting on June 25, 1990 - The government of her country “has no opinion on the Arab-Arab differences,” according to the political analyst Khaled Al-Qarah Ghuli who added, “But America later led the anti-Iraq coalition when it invaded Kuwait.”

Al-Qarah Ghuli agrees with Al-Zobaie that Iraq's entry into Kuwait is a grave mistake that Saddam bears, but he goes beyond that by indicating that the United States prepared a scenario for Iraq's entry to Kuwait and presented it to Saddam as the gift of the Iran-Iraq war, describing this entry as "the straw that broke the back." Camel "and made the Iraqi people pay their taxes until today.

In his speech to Al-Jazeera Net, Al-Qarah Ghuli added that Iraq’s entry into Kuwait is a scenario prepared by America, as evidenced by Saddam’s famous saying - before the start of the military campaign for the second Gulf War - “The treacherous treacherous” is a reference to America, according to Al-Qaraghouli.

The Flood: Some of the weapons and equipment of the Iraqi army were outside the specified age (Al Jazeera Net)

A new concept of war

From a military point of view, the technological superiority of the battle - in addition to the American army’s reliance on a large percentage of air and sea power - contributed to the urgent resolution of the war, and this made the movement of the Iraqi army’s sectors more difficult and hindered its movement, according to the military expert, the Flood Feasts, which adds another reason for resolving War, which is the development of wars in recent decades, which have become mainly technological and economic.

Among the data that increased the weakness of the Iraqi army in front of its American enemy in the Desert Storm war was that some of the weapons and equipment it had were outside the specified period of validity, as well as completely consumed, as they were not fit for use, at a time when the Iraqi army was in dire need of advanced types of weapons and missiles, He is emerging from a brutal war with Iran that lasted 8 years.

Al-Toufan - who was an officer in the former Iraqi army with the rank of brigadier general - agrees with Al-Zobaie and Al-Qarah Ghuli, describing entering Kuwait as a "wrong and urgent step," assuring Al-Jazeera Net that the Iraqi people are still paying the price for this mistake until now.