"Why War? Background to Crisis,"
by Joe
Stork and Ann M. Lesch
Middle
East Report, November-December 1990, pp. 11-18.
On August 5, 1990 President Bush mobilized almost 200,000 troops to Saudi Arabia. Many are wondering why the United States is on the verge of war, though. President Bush and his staff claim two main reasons: self-determination and aggression. The people of the Middle East claim there are four things at stake for them: 1. the legitimacy of the political and economic order; 2. control of the region’s resources, especially oil; 3. the resolution of longstanding grievances; and 4. rivalry among Arab states for dominance in the region.
At the moment Baghdad claims Kuwait is part of Iraq. Is it though? After World War 1 European powers drew borders in the Middle East to suit their own political and commercial interests. Before this time Kuwait and Iraq were under the Ottoman Empire, yet the Ottoman Empire took very little interest in Kuwait. The British saw this weakness and took it over. Prior to this, Kuwait was eventually settled by a group of tribes. The Sabah family took control of the region and ruled for more than two centuries. This alone distinguished Kuwait from the other regions around the Persian Gulf. In 1889 the Sabah made a deal with the British Empire (who at the time colonized India) not to cede the land without British consent for an exchange of 15,000 rupees. This in turn assured Kuwait protection against the Ottomans and the al Sauds under the British Empire. In 1922 Sir Percy Cox, Britain’s proconsul in the Gulf, drew borders between Kuwait, Iraq and Saudi Arabia. This intently limited Iraq’s access to the Gulf. Iraq became independent from Britain in 1932 and Kuwait followed with their independence in July 1958. Iraq did not revive its claim over Kuwait until the invasion in August of 1990. There were two islands off of Kuwait that Iraq did not have access to and its access to the Gulf was limited. Thus, Iraq wanted the borders to include these two islands. In 1970, Baghdad embarked in a major expansion of oil production and export capabilities. Baghdad had access, along with Iran, to these two islands. As a result, there was a skirmish in 1973 between Iraq and Iran. Iraq demanded to lease these islands but Kuwait refused. Kuwait did allow, though, Iraq to set up an artillery observation post there. Iraq kept insisting on a more secure position in the Gulf up until the invasion in August 1990.
The Middle East emerged as a major oil producer in the mid 1950’s. The seven major oil powers in America and Europe (called the seven sisters) gained exclusive control of Middle East oil. The appeal lies in the fact that the cost of production of oil in the Middle Eat is substantially lower than anywhere else. This would generate a larger profit for the seven sisters. Iraq challenged the Western control of its oil and thus the seven sisters refused to buy oil from Iraq as a punishment. They bought only from Kuwait and Iran. Kuwait became the largest single country to produce oil between 1953-1960. Iraq’s complaints in 1990 about Kuwait’s overproduction are plausible for the people in this region.
Before the oil discovery, Kuwait’s economy was based on trade and pearl diving. There was a major divide between the elite that controlled the labor force and the less privileged. These elite were linked to but independent of the ruling family. Oil broke this link and returned the power back to the ruling family. Kuwait drew in foreigners due to the need of labor. Non-citizens were about half the population at the time of independence. Citizenship was restricted to families who had been in Kuwait since 1920 and only a handful of non-citizens were allowed naturalization a year. Others were frequently deported. By the 1980’s non-citizens were once again the majority of the population. Still, only citizens were allowed the privilege of voting and owning land.
Iraq was transformed by the emergence of oil. Before oil, Iraq was largely a rural society. Land and wealth were extremely concentrated. The innovations in the country financed through oil benefited only the wealthy. The Iraqi society was disrupted by peasants moving to urban areas to become shock troops that fought to overthrow the British Monarchy. Instability characterized the decade after the revolution. Fight for political control and redistribution of wealth portrayed the instability the best. The oil financed the growth of Iraq and because of it’s large population its distributive organs of the state developed immensely. Sudam Hussain is the only survivor of the group that seized power in 1968. He became president in 1979.
Sudam’s previous invasion was in 1980 when he tried to gain paramount power in the Gulf. The invasion had the tacit support of the United States. Iraq was on the defensive end by 1982 and the threat of an Iranian victory caused many countries to come to Iraq’s aid, including Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Kuwait asked for U.S. protection from Iran and a U.S. naval base was placed there in 1987-1988. The fighting ended with a cease-fire agreement and left Iraq with a military establishment but at the same time with an enormous debt. Iraqi made an alliance with the Palestine Liberation Organization and Jordan. The PLO was feeling weak in Tunis. Iraq claimed the Arab’s were weak and without their help they would not be able to dislodge Israel form the occupied territory. Sudam Hussain made a speech in April 1990 and threatened a chemical attack if Israel were to launch a nuclear attack. He also said that if aggression is committed by Israel on any Arab nation, Iraq would come to the Arab nation’s defense.
Conspiracies began when Iraq executed an Iranian born British journalist on charges of spying. The British then intercepted alleged ports for nuclear devices on the way to Baghdad. Sudam claimed the Arab nation was encircled with Western armies that were trying to permit him from achieving strategic parity with Israel. This aroused the support of Arabs. In May 1990 Sudam called for a united front against aggression. Rather than receiving support, signs soon emerged that many Arab nations would challenge Sudam’s leadership. Kuwait began allowing direct flights to Iran again and signed agreements on shipping and joint investment. This distanced Iraq from the rest of the Arab nations even further.
After the Gulf war ended, Saudi Arabia and Egypt began to draw Syria back into the Arab nation. This concerned Sudam because a new axis seemed to be emerging and this axis provided a counterweight to Iraq. Egypt was Sudam’s key concern. At the Baghdad summit Mubarak joined Sudam in his effort to try and achieve a peace agreement between Palestine and Israel but he also condemned Sudam for not knowing how to address the outside world. He said Arab nations must show they are human, logical and reasonable. When the Iraqi-Kuwaiti crisis emerged in late July the lines seemed to already be drawn. The new axis of Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Syria were an apparent counterweight to Iraq. Sudam began to see himself surrounded. Water supply had been reduced into Iraq and was affecting much of the population. In late 1989 Iraq was making efforts by arranging debt repayment efforts. They were planning to do so by raising oil prices to eighteen dollars per barrel. Oil prices dropped suddenly though and when OPEC enforced the lower prices Sudam declared this meant war by economic means. Kuwait agreed to lower prices after a harshly worded letter was sent to them. Kuwait lowering their prices hurt Iraq even further. Sudam made a speech on July 17 saying Kuwait and the UAE were in an international conspiracy against Iraq that was encouraged by Washington.
With Iraq in economic disarray, Sudam set his sights on Kuwait. He believed he could absorb Kuwait, a wealthy nation, and increase his resources. By taking Kuwait he would also expand his access to the Gulf. He miscalculated drastically. He invaded Iraq but he did not realize the alliance that is now against him. He has done nothing now but harm the Palestinian cause. He has caused many of his own people to live in poverty while he squanders the wealth of the nation. To many nations, his need to maintain a certain military and economic status quo has become intolerable.