The US Involvement in Southwest Asia (Middle East)

Is war ever justified?

Countries in North Africa and the Persian Gulf export more oil than most other countries in the world.

The control of oil reserves has been an issue in many of the wars fought in the Middle East during the 20th century.

Many countries have been involved in wars in the Middle East.

Persian Gulf War The Persian Gulf War was a war between Iraq and a

group of about thirty other nations. Iraq accused Kuwait of stealing Iraqi oil by drilling

under the border between the two countries. Iraq invaded Kuwait in August of 1990, under the

direction of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. The Iraqi army took control of Kuwait in a very

short amount of time.

Persian Gulf War The United Nations responded to the Iraqi invasion

by demanding that Iraq withdraw its troops from Kuwait.

The United Nations used the Iraqi economy to try to convince the country to withdraw.

They did this by cutting off trade to the country. Iraq did not withdraw.

Many citizens of Kuwait fled the country during the Iraqi occupation.

Persian Gulf War The U.S. and other countries began sending

troops to Saudi Arabia over the next few months.

The United Nations set a date for Iraq to leave Kuwait.

Iraq rejected this date and refused to back down.

The Iraqis remained in Kuwait after the date.

Persian Gulf War The U.S. and other nations attacked the Iraqi forces

in January of 1991. The Iraqi army was defeated in less than two

months. Iraq was then directed to recognize Kuwait’s

sovereignty and destroy all weapons of mass destruction (WMDs).

U.S. Invasion of Afghanistan On September 11, 2001, al-Qaeda attacked two

targets in the U.S. AI-Qaeda is a group of radical Islamic terrorists

based largely in Afghanistan. They hijacked four airplanes and crashed two of

them into the World Trade Center in New York. The third airplane crashed into the Pentagon in

Virginia, and the fourth crashed in rural Pennsylvania, before reaching its intended target of the White House.

These terrorist attacks killed nearly 3,000 people.

U.S. Invasion of Afghanistan Investigations into the attack have named Osama bin

Laden as its organizer. U.S. President George W. Bush called on other

countries to help wage a war on terrorism. The first goal of those nations that joined the U.S.

was to find bin Laden, whom they believed to be in Afghanistan, even though most of the people carrying out the attacks were from Saudi Arabia.

U.S. Invasion of Afghanistan In October 2001, U.S. and British troops

invaded Afghanistan in search of bin Laden. They bombed places where bin Laden was

known to be. Millions of people from Afghanistan were

homeless because of the many wars that have taken place in their country.

U.S. Invasion of Afghanistan After the invasion, more than 3 million

refugees returned to their homes. The U.S.-led forces still struggle to control

portions of the country. Installs a democracy in the nation US locates and US Seal Team 6 kills Osama

Bin laden in May 2011 in Pakistan The war continues today

Iraq War Saddam Hussein was still the president of Iraq

at the time of the invasion of Afghanistan. Officials in the U.S. government feared

connections between the Hussein regime and al- Qaeda.

They were also afraid that Iraq was building weapons of mass destruction, such as chemical or biological weapons.

Iraq War The United Nations sent inspectors to Iraq to

check for WMDs. In 2002, the United States Congress passed an

Iraq War Resolution that authorized the president to go forward with a war in Iraq.

In March 2003, the U.S. bombed targets in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad.

Iraq War The next day, British, Australian, and Polish soldiers

joined the U.S. in invading Iraq and defeating the Iraqi military.

This effort was known as Operation Iraqi Freedom. Saddam Hussein was captured and his rule ended. He was sentenced to death in 2006, after being tried

for killing 148 people in the Iraqi village of Dujail.

Iraq War Iraq under Hussein was previously involved

in a long war against Iran in which chemical weapons were used against the Kurds and Iranians.

He was also responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis.

Hussein’s death sentence was carried out.

Iraq War Weapons of mass destruction have not been found in

Iraq. It is difficult to determine how many Iraqis have

died since the invasion, but as of 2007, more than a half million Iraqis may have died.

Many deaths are due to sectarian violence or the disruption of adequate medical care.

Over 4,000 Americans soldiers have been killed and over 25,000 have been wounded while fighting there.

Oil Industries Many wars have been fought over oil in Southwest

Asia. These wars have had a major impact on the

environment. For example, much of the oil refining machinery in

Iraq was badly damaged in the Persian Gulf War, in 1991.

The Iraqi government did not repair the equipment that makes refining oil safer for the environment.

Oil Industries For years, pollution from Iraqi oil refineries

leaked into the water supply and in the air. The Iraqi oil industry is not productive

because of the current war in Iraq. Many of Iraq’s oil refineries were destroyed

and burned during the war, so that the air was polluted.

Oil Industries During the first Gulf War, Iraq used pollution

as a strategy for fighting. Iraqi soldiers dumped over three hundred

gallons of oil into the Persian Gulf. They also burned hundreds of oil wells in

order to keep the U.S. from taking control of their oil industry.

Afghanistan IraqCountry Total Australia 29 Belgium 1 Canada 157 Czech 4 Denmark 42 Estonia 8 Finland 2 France 75 Georgia 10 Germany 53 Hungary 7 Italy 42 Jordan 2 Latvia 3 Lithuania 1 NATO 3 Netherlands 25 New Zealand 4 Norway 10 Poland 29 Portugal 2 Romania 19 South Korea 1 Spain 33 Sweden 5 Turkey 2 UK 382 US 1796 Total 2747

Year US UK Other Total 2003 486 53 41 580 2004 849 22 35 906 2005 846 23 28 897 2006 822 29 21 872 2007 904 47 10 961 2008 314 4 4 322 2009 149 1 0 150 2010 60 0 0 60 2011 47 0 0 47 Total 4477 179 139 4795

WWII WWICOUNTRY CASUALTIES Soviet Union 23,954,000 China 15,000,000 Germany 7,728,000 Poland 5,720,000 Japan 2,700,000 India 2,087,000 Yugoslavia 1,027,000 Rumania 833,000 Hungary 580,000 France 567,600 Greece 560,000 Italy 456,000 Great Britain 449,800 United States 418,500 Czechoslovakia 345,000 Netherlands 301,000 Austria 123,700 Finland 97,000 Belgium 86,100 Canada 45,300 Australia 40,500 Bulgaria 25,000 New Zealand 11,900 South Africa 11,900 Norway 9,500 Spain 4,500 Denmark 3,200

TOTAL: 63,185,500

COUNTRY CASUALTIES Country Casualties Africa unknown Australia 211,000 Austria-Hungary 4,820,000Belgium 57,000 Bulgaria 254,000 Canada 241,000 The Caribbean 4,000 French Empire 5,651,000 Germany 5,952,000Great Britain 2,367,000Greece 26,000 India 108,000 Italy 1,407,000Japan 1,25Montenegro 13,000New Zealand 73,000 Portugal 22,000 Romania 320,000Russia 6,650,000Serbia 261,000South Africa 19,000 Turkey 736,000 USA 321,000

TOTAL 16,543,868

Summary Describe the causes and effects of the Persian

Gulf War, Operation Iraqi Freedom and U.S. Invasion of Afghanistan.