top of page

More Key Decision Makers

 

Just some more important people of the Persian Gulf War...

Iraqi Leader
Suddam Hussein

Iraq’s economy was in a very strange state at the time. Unemployment was up but oil prices and national revenue was down. Iraq was in major debt because of the other wars Iraq was involved in. When Hussein came to power, he thought that Kuwait should let Iraq out of the debt they owed Kuwait. Since Iraq was larger than Kuwait, Iraq protected Kuwait. Iraq thought that Kuwait would let Iraq of debt for protecting them, but Kuwait still wanted the money. Once Kuwait rejected the idea, Hussein accused them of stealing oil from Iraqi oil fields near the border. Hussein sent nearly 1000 troops to the Kuwait border and soon had taken over the country. After the US forced Iraq out of Kuwait, Hussein launched missiles toward Israel.

Prime Minister of England
Margaret Thatcher

Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister of Great Britain, knew that Iraq and Kuwait had broken negotiations but thought that they were to start back up again. When the negotiations failed to start, Thatcher didn’t think Iraq would actually attack Kuwait. She sent two ships toward Kuwait to see what was going on, and to make sure no violence occurred. Once Kuwait was under Iraqi control, Britain worried that Iraq was going to invade Saudi Arabia. Thatcher decided that if Iraq invaded Saudi Arabia, Britain would authorize an embargo. She had two ideas that she wanted to follow, aggressors should never be appeased. Second if Iraq invaded Kuwait the US and Britain would be there to stop them. Thatcher worked to get all of the UN members in favor of stopping Iraq.

Commander in Cheif
Norman Schwarzkopf

Schwarzkopf was in the head general in Operation Desert Storm. After Iraq invaded Kuwait, US reversed its policy of strong arms and defense aid for Hussein. He led his troops into Kuwait and liberated Kuwait in just 6 weeks. He started by carrying out an aerial bombardment of Iraq. Then Schwarzkopf had troops go into Kuwait which drew most of the Iraqi forces.  After Desert Storm, Schwarzkopf retired.   

Saudi Arabia Leader
King Fahd

Iraq owned Saudi Arabia money, but King Fahd didn’t want to forgive Iraq for that money. When Iraq found out that their debt wasn’t forgiven, Hussein wanted to invade Saudi Arabia. The US wanted King Fahd to side with them, but he wasn’t easily persuaded. When Iraq was on Saudi Arabia’s doorstep, King Fahd called upon the US to help. General Schwarzkopf briefed King Fahd about Desert Shield.  

Back to first page of people.

    

Website Designed By:

Hannah Dengler

Catherine Deterding

Molly Branz

Joey Green

Mark Ma

bottom of page