The Iraqi Invasion Of Kuwait

To what extent has religion, identity and ‘otherness’ facilitated and accelerated armed conflict in the Middle East?

"Freedman has collected an array of first-rate political analysts with differing perspectives and areas of expertise. . . . The result is a work of uniformly high quality . . . readable and up to date."--Jerrold D. Green, University of Arizona Center for Middle East Studies We may not live to see the end of the ripple effect of Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in August 1990 and the ensuing Gulf War. Meanwhile, this collection is one of the first systematic attempts to investigate the implications of that invasion for the significant political actors, in the Middle East and beyond. From varied perspectives and fields of interest, well-respected political scientists focus on the military dynamics of the war and its political effects on the Persian Gulf, on the Arab-Israeli zone of conflict, and on the superpowers. Of particular interest to many readers will be the analysis of both U.S. military and diplomatic strategy during the war and U.S. efforts to convene the Arab-Israeli peace talks after the war; Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev's attempts to follow a "minimax" strategy under which he sought a minimum level of cooperation with the United States while retaining maximum influence in Iraq; the debate in Japan about whether to get involved in the Allied war effort; and the reasons for Palestinian support of Iraq during the war. Other subjects analyzed in the book include Saddam Hussein's postwar strategy for staying in power; Jordan's effort to walk a narrow tightrope between the Allies and Iraq; Syrian, Iranian, and Egyptian exploitation of the war to improve their regional positions; and the changes in Israel and Saudi Arabia precipitated by the war. Robert O. Freedman is Peggy Meyerhoff Pearlstone Professor of Political Science and dean of the School of Graduate Studies at Baltimore Hebrew University. He is the editor of Intifada: Its Impact on Israel, the Arab World, and the Superpowers (UPF, 1991) and a prolific author and frequent lecturer on the Middle East. Contents Preface Introduction Part I: The Military and Political Dynamics of the Gulf War The Persian Gulf War: A Political-Military Assessment, by Bard E. O'Neill and Ilana Kass Part II: The Policy of External Powers U.S. Policy toward the Middle East after Iraq's Invasion of Kuwait, by Robert E. Hunter Moscow and the Iraqi Invasion of Kuwait, by Robert O. Freedman Fire on the Other Side of the River: Japan and the Persian Gulf War, by Eugene Brown Part III: The Gulf Region Iraq after the Invasion of Kuwait, by Laurie Mylroie Iran from the August 1988 Cease-fire to the April 1992 Majlis Elections, by Shireen T. Hunter Saudi Arabia: Desert Storm and After, by F. Gregory Gause, III Part IV: The Eastern Mediterranean Israel, the Gulf War, and Its Aftermath, by Marvin Feuerwerger The Palestinians and the Iraqi Invasion of Kuwait, by Helena Cobban Syria since 1988: From Crisis to Opportunity, by Alasdair Drysdale Jordanian Policy from the Intifada to the Madrid Peace Conference, by Adam Garfinkle Unipolarity and Egyptian Hegemony in the Middle East, by Louis Cantori

'Desert Storm' reveals the whole war fought between Iraq and an international coalition, from the start of this campaign to its very end. This book offers a refreshing insight into this unique conflict.

From a Western perspective, the Persian Gulf War of 1990-1991 largely fulfilled the first President Bush's objective: "In, out, do it, do it right, get gone. That's the message." But in the Arab world, the causes and consequences of Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait and his subsequent defeat by a U.S.-led coalition were never so clear-cut. The potent blend of Islam and Arab nationalism that Saddam forged to justify the unjustifiable—his invasion of a Muslim state—gained remarkable support among both Muslims and Arabs and continued to resonate in the Middle East long after the fighting ended. Indeed, as this study argues in passing, it became a significant strand in the tangled web of ideologies and actions that led to the attacks of 9/11. This landmark book offers the first in-depth investigation of how Saddam Hussein used Islam and Arab nationalism to legitimate his invasion of Kuwait in the eyes of fellow Muslims and Arabs, while delegitimating the actions of the U.S.-led coalition and its Arab members. Jerry M. Long addresses three fundamental issues: how extensively and in what specific ways Iraq appealed to Islam during the Kuwait crisis; how elites, Islamists, and the elusive Arab "street," both in and out of the coalition, responded to that appeal and why they responded as they did; and the longer-term effects that resulted from Saddam's strategy.

Evaluates three factors which may explain the causes of the Gulf War. First, the author compares Saddam Hussein's personality to other war-like dictators, analyzes the internal weaknesses of the Iraqi state, and then assesses the formal anarchy of the post

The war for the liberation of Kuwait following the Iraqi invasion in 1990 rekindled the international community's geopolitical interest in the Gulf and helped define a new regional order. This book analyzes the political, strategic, and economic dimensions of the second Gulf War, with particular focus on military aspects. An international roster of experts treats issues of strategy, weapons technology, arms transfers, and the impact on the Arab state system. Of special interest is the exploration of the implications of the war for Japan, Germany, Russia, and Europe.

"Freedman has collected an array of first-rate political analysts with differing perspectives and areas of expertise. . . . The result is a work of uniformly high quality . . . readable and up to date."--Jerrold D. Green, University of Arizona Center for Middle East Studies We may not live to see the end of the ripple effect of Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in August 1990 and the ensuing Gulf War. Meanwhile, this collection is one of the first systematic attempts to investigate the implications of that invasion for the significant political actors, in the Middle East and beyond. From varied perspectives and fields of interest, well-respected political scientists focus on the military dynamics of the war and its political effects on the Persian Gulf, on the Arab-Israeli zone of conflict, and on the superpowers. Of particular interest to many readers will be the analysis of both U.S. military and diplomatic strategy during the war and U.S. efforts to convene the Arab-Israeli peace talks after the war; Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev's attempts to follow a "minimax" strategy under which he sought a minimum level of cooperation with the United States while retaining maximum influence in Iraq; the debate in Japan about whether to get involved in the Allied war effort; and the reasons for Palestinian support of Iraq during the war. Other subjects analyzed in the book include Saddam Hussein's postwar strategy for staying in power; Jordan's effort to walk a narrow tightrope between the Allies and Iraq; Syrian, Iranian, and Egyptian exploitation of the war to improve their regional positions; and the changes in Israel and Saudi Arabia precipitated by the war. Robert O. Freedman is Peggy Meyerhoff Pearlstone Professor of Political Science and dean of the School of Graduate Studies at Baltimore Hebrew University. He is the editor of Intifada: Its Impact on Israel, the Arab World, and the Superpowers (UPF, 1991) and a prolific author and frequent lecturer on the Middle East. Contents Preface Introduction Part I: The Military and Political Dynamics of the Gulf War The Persian Gulf War: A Political-Military Assessment, by Bard E. O'Neill and Ilana Kass Part II: The Policy of External Powers U.S. Policy toward the Middle East after Iraq's Invasion of Kuwait, by Robert E. Hunter Moscow and the Iraqi Invasion of Kuwait, by Robert O. Freedman Fire on the Other Side of the River: Japan and the Persian Gulf War, by Eugene Brown Part III: The Gulf Region Iraq after the Invasion of Kuwait, by Laurie Mylroie Iran from the August 1988 Cease-fire to the April 1992 Majlis Elections, by Shireen T. Hunter Saudi Arabia: Desert Storm and After, by F. Gregory Gause, III Part IV: The Eastern Mediterranean Israel, the Gulf War, and Its Aftermath, by Marvin Feuerwerger The Palestinians and the Iraqi Invasion of Kuwait, by Helena Cobban Syria since 1988: From Crisis to Opportunity, by Alasdair Drysdale Jordanian Policy from the Intifada to the Madrid Peace Conference, by Adam Garfinkle Unipolarity and Egyptian Hegemony in the Middle East, by Louis Cantori