Iraq

May 24, 2012

• Objectives: To develop an understanding of the first Gulf War and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

• Question: What sparked the U.S. entering into the first Gulf War?

• Agenda: Finish Timelines adding your information about the first Gulf War and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

• From the time of the Ottoman Empire, Sunnis had always dominated the government (Turks are Sunni)

• When Britain leaves the Middle East, she created an artificial state called Iraq– Iraq is made up of many different ethnicities as well

as Shiites, Sunnis, and Christians

• Oil was disc. in Iraq in 1927• 1958 the monarchy is overthrown. Period of

coups then Hussein comes to power.– (Hussein was a Sunni by birth but was not religious.)– Shia is technically the majority but are treated as less

than 2nd class citizens

• Iran was US’s biggest oil supplier until 1979 (Khomeini's coup)– US changes sides & befriends Iraq– 1982 takes Iraq off of US list of nations that

harbor/support terrorists– 1983 Donald Rumsfeld is envoy to Middle East & meets

with Saddam Hussein. Agrees to help Hussein against Iran.

– During Reagan & Bush (Sr) administrations (up til Aug ’90) we give Iraq military intelligence about Iran, US loans, weapons, helicopters/tanks, high-tech computers/ software, and equipment/training for weapon production.

• After war with Iran, Iraq is $100 billion in debt

Iran-Iraq War• 1980 clashes over common border turn into war• Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein, invades Iran on Sept 22,

1980– takes control of main waterway (Shatt al Arab) connecting to

Persian Gulf

• also relig differences btw Sunni Iraqis & Shi’ite Iranians are disputed

• over 1 million die for Khomeini (est 1.5 million)• USA & USSR aided Saddam Hussein• Iran supported by Syria, Libya, North Korea & China (and

covert arms deals from USA)• July 1988 accepted a UN cease-fire. No true winner

• Beginning in the mid-late 1980s, government officials like Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, George Bush (Sr), and Richard Perle develop a plan to remove Saddam from power and set up a Shia government that would be our ally in the region.– Shia were treated horribly. We can be their liberators.

If we help them takeover, they will be in our debt.– We can spread a democratic system to Iraq and then

the rest of the ME will look to Iraq as a role model– ALL of the info we were given by our Shia “ally” (al-

Sadr) was wrong! • Willing to tell us anything that would get us involved in getting

rid of Sunni leadership.

The Persian Gulf War• Saddam Hussein claims Kuwait belongs to Iraq since the time

of the Ottoman Empire• Aug 1990 Iraq invades Kuwait• UN condemns Hussein & imposes a trade embargo• Aug. 2, 1990 Iraq sent troops into Kuwait to “overthrow

monarchy”, move disputed border, & seize oil fields.– Soldiers needed work after Iran-Iraq War (no jobs for them) & Saddam

needs more oil to help counter debt• Aug 7 US troops station in Saudi Arabia• UN sets Jan 15, 1991 as date Iraq must vacate.

– Saddam does not so “Operation Desert Storm” is launched under US leadership of Gen Norman Schwarzkopf.

• Jan-Feb 1991- US fights on Kuwait’s side. This is a UN war- 32 nations send troops– THIS was a UN war- unanimous support from everyone on the security

council--- even Cuba!– bomb Iraqi targets- air-war

• Feb 24, 1991 ground forces sent in

• 2/27/91 Most Iraqi troops surrender• Iraq suffers tremendously. Defeated but Pres

George Bush does not remove Saddam Hussein from office nor does he try him in internat’l crts– US afraid of break-up of Iraq into separate nations

• Iraq had set fire to 700+ oil fields in Kuwait. 34 nations fought to extinguish. Took 8 months

• 1993 US, Fr & Brit launch missile strikes against Iraq in response to provocations including alleged Iraqi plan to assassinate Pres George H.W. Bush

• 1994 continued resistance to weapons inspections in Iraq leads US to station more troops along Kuwaiti border

• Dec 1998- 4 days of air-strikes by US & Brit against Iraq called “Operation Desert Fox”– Iraq had kicked out US weapons inspectors that

were part of UN team Nov 1997– UN weapons inspector, Richard Butler, issue

statement Dec 15, 1998 that Iraq is operating in “bad faith”

– Dec 16- air strikes begin– Considered an international PR disaster for US

& Brit- condemned as being belligerent by much of global community

• “The US & Britain continued to bomb Iraq for four years on a regular basis, from Jan 1999 to the beginning of the war with Iraq on March 19, 2003”

• Under implied US support, Shia sects in South attack gov’t hoping for US military support.– Crushed by Saddam’s forces & punished

• Ditto for Kurds in the North

• Bush (Sr) decides to leave Saddam in power– There are 70+ Iraqi (Hussein) opposition grps

• Bush doesn’t want “another Vietnam”- pulls out before criticism starts

• UN Inspections are part of Desert Storm– Check for WMD

• Hussein appears to conceal info, accuses team of illegal activities & spying

• 1998 inspectors file strong report against Iraq.– US (under Clinton) & GB launch another strike against Hussein

• UN Embargo against certain materials continues

• 1997 “Project for New American Century” (PNAC):– Repubs plan to ensure “US would be a dominant force

everywhere in the world. If a rival is to emerge, we should be prepared to stop it.”

• 1998 “US strategies should aim above all at removal of Saddam’s regime from power”

– Elliott Abrams, Richard L. Armitage, William J. Bennett, Jeffrey Bergner, John Bolton, Paula Dobriansky, Francis Fukuyama, Robert Kagan, Zalmay Khalilzad, William Kristol, Richard Perle, Peter W. Rodman, Donald Rumsfeld, William Schneider, Jr., Vin Weber, Paul Wolfowitz, R. James Woolsey, Robert B. Zoellick

• Feb 1998 Kofi Annan brokers peaceful solution in Iraq

• 9/11/2001 gives Americans a cause to rally around.– Not a problem for us if we don’t have world

support b/c 9/11 is fire for our unilateral action

• Hans Blix- UN weapons inspector in Iraq for 6 months and finds nothing.

• 2002 GW Bush calls Iraq (w/ Iran & N Korea) the Axis of Evil in his State of the Union Address. (bad, bad evil-doers)

• Oct 2002 Congress gives Bush authority to wage war.– Operation Iraqi Freedom

• “In Iraq a dictator is building and hiding weapons that could enable him to dominate the Middle East and intimidate the civilized world - and we will not allow it.”– US President George W Bush, February 2003

• 2/2003- want UN coalition invasion of Iraq. Security Council has 15 members.– Fr, Brit, China propose sending back

inspections team. We disagree.

• 3/2003- we attack. 130,000 troops plus another 29,000 for all other UN countries.

• Reports were given to Dept of Defense (DoD) and Pres Bush by Iraqis, CIA and FBI saying that what Shia was telling them was a lie.– Rumsfeld & Bush insisted on listening to their

“insiders”• “Yellow Cake Uranium” Incident- alleged that Iraqis

got this from Niger.– Totally forged documents- signature even misspelled– Brits & CIA denounce it as total lies– Bush fits it into his agenda & discusses in State of Union

Address anyway– CIA spy had infiltrated Iraqi government- was the Minister of

Foreign Affairs in Hussein’s cabinet» He insists that there are NO WMDs

• In 2 official speeches, Bush brings up Egyptian Muhammad Atta’s involvement w/ WTC & his membership in al Qaeda & a link to Iraq– It is now PROVEN that there was NO

connection btw Atta & Iraq– CIA fought w/ pres GW Bush before both

speeches, showing evidence that Atta was not connected to Iraq.

– Bush uses it anyway

• March 2003 Saddam Hussein is “ousted”• March 17, 2003- UK's ambassador to the UN says

the diplomatic process on Iraq has ended; arms inspectors evacuate; US President George W Bush gives Saddam Hussein and his sons 48 hours to leave Iraq or face war.

• March 20,2003- American missiles hit targets in Baghdad, marking the start of a US-led campaign to topple Saddam Hussein. In the following days US and British ground troops enter Iraq from south.

• May 1st- Bush declares victory in war in Iraq. – War switches to ground/ tank warfare v. explosives &

suicide bombers

• July 2003- US acting as Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) that administers Iraq established a Governing Council in Iraq. – Composed of 25 Iraqi

• Saddam's sons Uday and Qusay killed in gun battle in Mosul.

• December 14, 2003- Saddam Hussein captured in Tikrit

• June 2004- Saddam Hussein transferred to Iraqi legal custody

• June 2004- US hands sovereignty to interim government headed by Prime Minister Iyad Allawi.

• October 2005 Saddam Hussein goes on trial• October 2005 voters approve a new constitution,

which aims to create an Islamic federal democracy

• Jan 30, 2005- first election!– Elect a 275 member Transitional National Assembly

• Serves as Iraq’s legislature• Names a Presidency Council (1 pres & 2 vp’s & names P.M.)• Draft’s new constitution to be ready by Oct 2005

– Full election for permanent gov’t held in Dec 2005

• November 2006- Saddam Hussein is found guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced to death.

• December 30, 2006 - Saddam Hussein is executed by hanging.

• January 2007 - US President Bush announces a new Iraq strategy; thousands more US troops will be dispatched to shore up security in Baghdad.

• Barzan Ibrahim - Saddam Hussein's half-brother - and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, former head of the Revolutionary Court, are executed by hanging.

• July 2007 - President Bush says there's been only limited military and political progress in Iraq following his decision to reinforce US troops levels there– President Bush warned Wednesday (7/4/07)

that the war ‘will require more patience, more courage and more sacrifice.’"

• Savage fighting btw Shia & Sunni– Sumara- attack on Golden Mosque of Shia

while ppl were worshipping– The Shia we thought we were saving…

• Ayatollah Sayed Mohamad Baqir Al-Hakim, has very close ties to Iran. (His father, Ayatollah Muhsin Al-Hakim, was murdered by Hussein- we thought this would ally him to us.)

• Moqtada Al-Sadr: really one of our biggest enemies right now. VERY anti-American. 6,000 armed men in his personal army. (His father was also an ayatollah killed by Hussein.)

– Gov’t is weak! • We are barely holding lid on intersectarian fighting.• If we pull out right now, Al-Sadr will definitely

become the leader.

This is the Sunni Triangle where much of the war was fought.

Final 5

• What was the outcome of the first Gulf War? Did they find WOMD?

• How would you have handled the crisis?

NY Times photo collection…

LINE OF FIRE Exhausted marines in Falluja take cover within sight of

an insurgent bunker, which has just been blown up.

LINE OF FIRE A civilian tries to extinguish a flaming van with a bucket of sand.

Artwork by the children is displayed on the wall. Mrs. Aasan and her co-workers have tried to steer the children toward more positive

depictions of their lives.

Students in the chemistry lab at Mustansiriya University.

Portraits of students killed in the sectarian violence are displayed on the walls at Mustansiriya University.

• Kofi Annan says Iraq is far worse now than before the invasion.– Hezbollah training fighters in Iraq now to infiltrate w/

Sunnis

• Wealthy Iraqis becoming refugees & fleeing nation– Not positive for future status of country– estimated 1.7 million Iraqis are internally displaced

from their homes

– and up to 2 million fleeing the country to neighboring nations amid intensifying sectarian violence

• the United States has allowed only 466 Iraqis to immigrate under refugee status since 2003 -- including 202 out of 70,000 slots for refugees last year

• Only safe area was in Kurdish controlled regions

– Sulaimaniya and other parts of the Kurdish area of northern Iraq have remained largely peaceful as well as affluent. – Fears of Kurds getting an independent nation– Turks marched in beginning in Oct 2007 b/c of their desire to

keep Kurds from forming their own nation.– December - Turkey launches an air raid on fighters from the

Kurdish PKK movement inside Iraq.

– Could turn into issue w/ Iran as well- Ahmadinejad has made recent trips to Iraq to form “alliance”

• 2008 March - Unprecedented two-day visit by Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to Iraq.

Soldiers patrolled a road in southeastern Turkey near the

border with Iraq, alert for signs of separatist Kurdish rebels.

Iraqi Kurdish protesters in Erbil Thursday criticized the Turkish

Parliament’s decision to authorize sending troops into Iraq. Oct 2007

Iraqis carry the coffin of the victim of an attack in Baquba

that also killed a local leader.

• President Bush does not want to leave office with a loss in Iraq.

• Upped troops to over 160,000 troops.• Wants at least a stalemate• State of Union Address 2008:

– “The mission in Iraq has been difficult and trying for our nation. But it is in the vital interest of the United States that we succeed. A free Iraq will deny al Qaeda a safe haven. A free Iraq will show millions across the Middle East that a future of liberty is possible. A free Iraq will be a friend of America, a partner in fighting terror, and a source of stability in a dangerous part of the world.By contrast, a failed Iraq would embolden the extremists, strengthen Iran, and give terrorists a base from which to launch new attacks on our friends, our allies, and our homeland. The enemy has made its intentions clear. At a time when the momentum seemed to favor them, al Qaida's top commander in Iraq declared that they will not rest until they have attacked us here in Washington. My fellow Americans: We will not rest either. We will not rest until this enemy has been defeated. (Applause.) We must do the difficult work today, so that years from now people will look back and say that this generation rose to the moment, prevailed in a tough fight, and left behind a more hopeful region and a safer America. (Applause.)”

• At the Pentagon on March 19, 2008, the fifth anniversary of the U.S-led invasion, the president stated, "Five years into this battle, there is an understandable debate over whether the war was worth fighting, whether the fight is worth winning, and whether we can win it." He added, "The answers are clear to me: Removing Saddam Hussein from power was the right decision -- and this is a fight America can and must win."

• there are 4,000 dead American service members in Iraq

• The war costs almost $5,000 every second

• We’re now paying $12.5 billion a month for Iraq– the total costs, including the long-term bills

we’re incurring, amount to about $25 billion a month

• The eventual total cost of the war will be about $3 trillion