Chronology Of Gulf Crisis

(original story by The Associated Press, modifications by MILNET)

Operation Desert Shield, August 1990 to January 1991

Operation Desert Storm, January 1991 to June 1991

On August 1, 1990, Iraq's leader Saddam Hussein et Tal pulled his negotiators from talks on oil pricing and repayment of loans made by Kuwait to Iraq. Just before dawn on August 2, 1990, Iraq crossed over into Kuwait , quickly overruning the tiny country and forcing the government of Kuwait to flee to Saudi Arabia.

Within hours, Kuwait asked for assistance from the U.S. per a self defense treaty. The U.S. mounted Operation Desert Shield, a mission to airlift and sealift some 400,000 U.S. troops into the region to defend against further Iraqi aggression (Saudi Arabia, worried about their oil fields close to Iraq and Kuwait requested the U.S. to help ensure no further movement of Iraqi troops out of Kuwait).

In the last week of November, the U.N. Security Council declared that if Iraq did not move out of Kuwait by January 15th, the U.N. multi-nation force could use any means necessary to evict Iraq, up to and including force. U.S. President Bush requested that the Secretary of State of the U.S. visit Saddam Hussein while the Iraqi Minister of Defense come to Washington to talk with U.S. leaders, to ensure Iraq understood the U.S.'s position on the declaration from the United Nations and America's resolve to use whatever means necessary to evict Iraq from Kuwait.

On December 1, 1990, no end is seen to the tensions in the area, and Iraq still holds Kuwait while a multi-national force waits for the next step in the crisis. Meanwhile, world crude oil prices have risen, and Iraq holds hundreds of westerner men (all western women and children released by September 22, 1990, by December 1990 a number of Western men have been released but their are still human shields held at key strategic sites) trapped in Kuwait and Iraq hostage.

When Suddam Hessein refused to withdraw Iraq's troops, U.S. President Bush set a deadline of January 16th, a deadline for Iraq to submit to the U.N. Resolutions and withdraw.

Here is a chronology of the Iraq-Kuwait crisis:

Aug. 1 - Iraq pulls out of talks with Kuwait on Iraqi grievances over oil pricing, Kuwaiti war loans to Iraq, and Iraqi claims on Kuwaiti territory.

Aug. 2 - Iraq's powerful army overruns Kuwait before dawn, seizing the emir's palace and other government buildings. President Bush orders U.S. economic embargo against Iraq.

Aug. 3 - Shelling and gunfire echo through Kuwait City as Kuwaiti forces mount last-ditch resistance. Iraqi troops push to within few miles of Saudi Arabian border. State Department says American civilians are trapped in Kuwait.

Aug. 4 - Iraq announces new military government for Iraqi-occupied Kuwait. European Community imposes trade embargo on Iraq.

Aug. 5 - Kuwait's new Iraqi-installed government claims Iraqi troops begin pulling out of Kuwait, but United States skeptical. Japan suspends Iraqi oil imports.

Aug. 6 - U.N. Security Council orders worldwide embargo on trade with Iraq. In Saudi Arabia, U.S. Defense Secretary Dick Cheney confers with Saudi leaders about defending the oil kingdom against any Iraqi attack.

Aug. 7 - Bush orders deployment of U.S. combat troops and warplanes to Saudi Arabia in a full scale deployment of U.S. troops and equipment called Operation Desert Shield. A fresh U.S. Navy task force sets sail for region. Turkey cuts off exports from Iraqi oil pipeline through Turkish territory.

Aug. 8 - Iraq declares Kuwait has been annexed. Britain agrees to join multinational force in the gulf. Other oil-producing nations indicate they will step up production to make up for embargoed Iraqi and Kuwaiti oil.

Aug. 9 - American troops take up position in Saudi Arabia's oil- producing province. Iraq says it has canceled its estimated $15 billion debt, incurred during the Iran-Iraq war, to Kuwait. Iraq closes its borders for foreigners, trapping thousands of Americans and other Westerners in Iraq and Kuwait.

Aug. 10 - Twelve of 20 Arab League states vote to send all-Arab military force to join Americans in defense of Saudi Arabia. First Egyptian contingent arrives in Saudi Arabia. Iraqi President Saddam Hussein urges Arabs to sweep ``emirs of oil'' from power in gulf states.

Aug. 11 - Saudi Arabian anti-aircraft batteries reportedly fire on Iraqi reconnaissance planes near Kuwaiti border. Thousands of Arabs demonstrate in Yemen and Jordan against United States. Bush suggests Saddam risks overthrow from within unless he ``changes his spots.''

Aug. 12 - Saddam says he is ready to resolve the gulf crisis if Israel withdraws from territories it occupies. Secretary of State James A. Baker III says the U.S. Navy will interdict Iraqi oil shipments. Aug. 13 - Iraqi troops in Kuwait round up American and British visitors from two hotels in Kuwait for transport to Iraq. King Hussein of Jordan secretly meets with Saddam in Baghdad.

Aug. 14 - King Hussein flies to Washington in effort to mediate U.S.- Iraq confrontation.

Aug. 15 - Saddam offers to withdraw from Iran territories and release prisoners of war in bid to with favor with Tehran against the United States.

Aug. 16 - Bush pressed King Hussein to close Iraq's access to the sea through Aqaba, Jordan, but Hussein indicated Bush made little headway.

Also during this period, the U.S. requests the French SPOT satellite corporation to close refrain from selling overhead imagery of the region. It is not clear when SPOT finally complied with the request, but it eventually ceased offerings of the Gulf Region to non-allied customers until the end of the conflict.

Aug. 17 - Bush has decided to call up military reserves to meet shortages of doctors, cargo handlers and other specialists in the gulf crisis.

Aug. 18 - A U.S. frigate fired warning shots across the bow of an Iraqi oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman and U.S. forces briefly went to battle stations over the incident.

Aug. 19 - Saddam offers to free all foreigners in Iraq and Kuwait if the United States promises to withdraw its forces from Saudi Arabia and guarantee that an international embargo will be lifted.

Aug. 20 - Iraq announces it has carried out a plan to move Western hostages to vital military installations to use as human shields to deter any U.S. attack and warned its people not to try to hide any of the thousands of foreigners trapped in the country.

Aug. 21 - Arab and Western nations condemn Saddam's threats against hostages and continue

adding armed forces to the region. Saddam defends the holding of foreigners and promises ``a major catastrophe'' if war breaks out. Aug 24: Here, at a glance, are the latest developments in the Persian Gulf crisis as of Aug 24:

Iraq ringed at least nine embassies in Kuwait with troops, including the U.S., British and Canadian missions, and detained about 100 U.S. Embassy staff and dependents after promising them safe passage from Baghdad. Britain said tanks surrounded its embassy, and water and power were cut.

The Soviet Union said in a dramatic reversal that it would back a U.S. resolution in the Security Council calling for ``minimum force'' to halt all trade with Iraq, and would also consider joining an international task force. The council was expected to convene quickly and overwhelmingly approve the resolution, representing a major diplomatic victory for the United States.

In the first such call up since Vietnam, 49,703 military reservists were being ordered into action. At Fort Benning, Ga., Spec. 4 Hollie Vallance cradled her 7-week-old daughter, Cheyenne, in her arms and then handed her to her civilian husband, saying, ``I love you. . . . Take care of her.''

Thousands of refugees from Iraq and occupied Kuwait - overwhelmingly Arabs -continued to stream into Jordan, which announced it would reverse an earlier decision and would officially reopen its border, letting 20,000 people a day cross at Ruweishid.

Aug 25: Saddam Hussein goes onto T.V. and shows off some British hostages, claiming he is saving thousands of lives by keeping the hostages in Kuwait and Iraq.

Aug 27: Iraq continues the cut-off of electricity and water to the embassies, while a skeleton crew mans the embassy including the ambassador. All others from the embassies are allowed to leave via caravans.

Chronology Ends

By the end of October, there were approximately 240,000 U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia, including forces which were replaced at their normal peacetime positions by U.S. reservists. No fighting between the multinational U.N. force and Iraq has yet occurred, as diplomatic efforts continue to yield no promising results.

In the first weeks of November, President George Bush announces that he is fed up with the lack of results, and that if no diplomatic gains are seen, that the U.S. is prepared to take unilateral action.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen Colin L. Powell visits his troops in the Saudi, and after meeting with General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, Commander of Operation Desert Shield, announces that the U.S. will begin moving more troops and heavy fighting equipment to achieve strength parity with Iraq (who fields some 430,000 troops and 3500 or more tanks). Troops are to come from Europe as well as heavy armored divisions station in the U.S. The media states this is a move to prepare for offensive actions in Iraq or Kuwait.

By November 5, 1990, U.S. media is tracing the growth of Suddam Husseins probable efforts to produce a nuclear weapon. Using pictures obtained from Moscow, the U.S. media shows satellite photos of unranium 235 mining and processing facility. The speculation implies that Hussien has at least one nuclear weapon ready for test. It is clear from the time needed to process and refine the uranium to weapons grade, that Iraq's nuclear capability is very small making them a nuclear target rather than a nuclear threat. Using Iraq's callous use of chemical weapons against the Kurds, it is the medias attitude that Hussein would certainly use his nuclear weapons if he felt he was losing.

By November 9, 1990, U.S. populace was braced for a certain war.

On November 30, 1990, the U.N. voted a resolution which warned Iraq that if Iraq did not withdraw from Kuwait by January 15, 1991, that the multi-lateral force in the region was authorized to use whatever means necessary to evict Iraq from Kuwait.

The following morning, President Bush announced that he was sending Secretary of State Baker to meet with Saddam Hussein and ensure the Iraqi leader understood that the U.S. would indeed lead the multi- national force to evict Iraq. Many consider this the President's last effort to allow diplomatic channels to work, with a certain call to war in January 1991 hanging over the world.

The air war began as planned in January of 1994 with the ground war beginning approximately 1 week later.

Time magazine estimates the cost for both Desert Shield and Desert Storm to be in the range of $7.4 billion, some of which was paid for the allied nations which included a large amount from Japan who sent no troops due to their constitution. Time also estimates there were 293 U.S. fatalities, with 35 being caused by friendly fire. We shoulld also note that the majority of the fatalities occurred in a U.S. barracks that was struck by a SCUD missile in the combat zone.

For more information :

AP-NY-08-21-90 2246EDT

AP-NY-08-24-90 2324EDT

Material verified in part via:

Time Magazine, The Crisis in The Gulf , August, 1990, pgs 12-18, Copyright, 1995, Time, Inc., New York, N.Y..
and
War in the Gulf , CNN and , Turner Publishing, Inc., Copyright 1991, distributed by Andrews & McMeel, 4900 Main Street, Kansas City, Missourie 64112. ISBN 1-878685-01-5 (paperback edition) or 1-878685-00-7 (hardcover).

See also the MILNET Bibliography for addtional sources.

milnet@milnet.com