What were the causes of the Gulf War?

Answer 1

Note: to all of the 'oil people' - who say derogatorily that the U.S. involvement in the Gulf War was about oil, rather than about Iraq's invasion of Kuwait:

The concept that the U.S. should protect its oil interests in the region - even militarily, was articulated in the Carter Doctrine (a corrollary to the Monroe Doctrine) in 1980 by President Jimmy Carter. Here are his words:

"Let our position be absolutely clear: An attempt by any outside force to gain control of the Persian Gulf region will be regarded as an assault on the vital interests of the United States of America, and such an assault will be repelled by any means necessary, including military force."

I personally think it was a mixture of three things (in no order):

1) Oil interests as they affected the U.S.

2) Desire to protect Kuwait

3) Desire to constrain the aggression of Saddam Hussein regionally.

Just dont like oversimplification - or mudslinging.

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Answer 2

From : http://www.faqfarm.com/Q/What_were_the_causes_of_the_Gulf_War

Gulf War Cause: OIL

Iraq, without justification or excuse, invaded and conquered Kuwait in order to gain control of its oil wealth and, quite possibly, as a prelude to doing the same thing to Saudi Arabia. The United States, with modest help from allies and other Arab states assembled a large army and forced Iraq out.

Here is more input from others:


The gulf war was caused in the most part by Sadam Hussein's need for oil. He had ammassed a huge debt with western Europe during the Iran-Iraq war and needed some way of re-paying that money. Hussein had also caught Kuwait exceeding quota's set out by OPEC which drove the price of oil down and making Iraq lose money. Iraq did also not have direct access to the Persian Gulf which would help in the exporting and importing of goods.

Your question about the "Gulf War" seems to be about the war that the US started when Iraq invaded its neighbor, Kuwait, in 1991. The Iraqi elected leader, Saddam Hussein, informed the USA that he intended to make the move, and was not told to stop. After he did what he said he would do, the first Bush, George H.W., decided to do what the USA does best, and start a major war in other parts of the world. Of course Saddam and Iraq were no match, and the entire fracas is not yet over. But the first Bush decided that to invade Iraq would leave a terrible mess and unresolved religious war.

Saddam considered Kuwait as being a rogue providence. He also disliked Kuwait due to the fact it is mainly Shi'ite. From everything I have read, Saddam apparently brought it up to one of his closest allies, the French, and received little to no resistance on the thought of an invasion. During this period, the Iraq government was the top buyer of French military goods and the French had the majority of oil contracts in the country. Saddam was on the virge of cancelling the Russian contracts and awarding them to the French. Saddam also accused the Kuwait government of stealing oil from the oil rich Basra area. Apparently their rigs were very close to the borders and Saddam felt that the oil was coming from Iraqs reserves.

Think about it. The only reason america went into Kuwait in the first place was because Sadaam ended up getting too close to the oil fields in Saudi Arabia. Oil fields which are the largest in the world. if sadaam had taken those oil fields then he would have controlled at least 1/5 of the worlds oil. A country like america would not sit around and let that happen. So they went into kuwait using the excuse that they were merely "liberating" the country and then went straight into Iraq. America is not able to say that they were worried about what Sadaam was doing to his people or anything of the such. America knew full well what sadaam was doing when they were supplying him with weapons and billions of dollars per annum. One three letter word comes to mind. OIL. That is the one and only reason why America would have to invade.

Answer 3

Iraq, without justification or excuse, invaded and conquered Kuwait in order to gain control of its oil wealth and, quite possibly, as a prelude to doing the same thing to Saudi Arabia. The United States, with modest help from allies and other Arab states assembled a large army and forced Iraq out.

Answer 4

I think this is going to get a lot of different answers as everyone has different views, I think the main reason was the invasion of Kuwait. Yes, America want to keep getting oil from all of these countries, but we have to remember that these people deserve freedom as much as we and really don't seem to be able to unit enough to stand alone to bigger countries, even if they are rich in oil.

Answer 5

Iraq attacked Kuwait

Answer 6

if your talking about a physical war of the flesh with bulletts and gunshots then it is "Lack of Faith" -David Banner movie "The Seventh Sign" but spiritual warfare will go on to the last day

Answer 7

I believe it was for the control of oil deposits in the middle east.