Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
America and the Gulf - a timeline
1971 Over-stretched Britain withdraws all its military forces east of Suez,
including the Gulf, leaving a military vacuum that the US fills.
1973 The Arab-Israeli war breaks out, leading to the Arab oil embargo of
the US. Fearful of the Soviet Union coming in on the Arab side, the US puts
all its forces on alert and makes contingency plans to seize Saudi oil fields, if
necessary to keep them out of Soviet hands.
1980 Alarmed by the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan posing a threat to the
Gulf, President Jimmy Carter announces that “any attempt by an outside force
to gain control of the Persian Gulf region will be regarded as an assault on
the vital interests of the US, and such an assault will be resisted by any means
necessary, including military force”.
1980-88 The eight-year Iran-Iraq war breaks out in 1980. During the war's
later stages, when Iranian forces start attacking Kuwaiti tankers in the Gulf,
President Ronald Reagan authorises these tankers to be “reflagged” as US
vessels and gives them US navy protection.
1991 After Kuwait refuses Iraqi demands for territorial concessions,
including on cross-border oilfield, Iraq invades Kuwait in 1990. In response,
the US leads the United Nations coalition in 1991 to oust Iraqi forces from
Kuwait, and subsequently builds bases in Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait.
2001 Involvement of a number of individual Saudis in the 9/11 attacks
brings home to many Americans the exposure to terrorism and oil-related
conflict that their country's close relationship with the Saudi government
might be bringing.
2003 The US, leading its own coalition, invades and occupies Iraq. The US
cites Iraq's likely possession of mass destruction weapons as its reason for its
actions, but Iraq's oil is a background factor.
some US forces on in Saudi Arabia, despite the original promise to pull
them all out after the 1991 Gulf War, may have fanned anti-Americanism
there.
In general, during the 1990s, the oil issue that most concerned the US
military was not that Saddam Hussein might attempt another direct grab
at a neighbouring oil producer, but that, given his confirmed proclivity
for aggression, he might use Iraq's oil wealth to build or buy weapons of
mass destruction.
The Iraq invasion of 2003
Much ink has been spilt on the causes of the invasion. At the time of
the 1991 Gulf War, Iraq was known to have possessed some chemical
 
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