When you wake up in the morning, your neighbour steals your country.

On August 2, 1990, Iraq’s dictator, Saddam Hussein, sent his tanks rolling into tiny, oil-rich Kuwait. What was his excuse? Kuwait was stealing Iraqi oil and lowering prices. But in reality, Saddam was broke, angry, and power-hungry.

The Persian Gulf War
The world did not just go mad. It felt fear.

What for? Crude Oil: The world would freeze if Kuwait and Saudi Arabia were to stop pumping oil. The United States thus created a coalition of 39 nations, which included Syria and Saudi Arabia, and sent half a million troops to the desert. The operation was called Desert Shield. For five months, everyone was holding their breath for diplomacy. Saddam shows no signs of fear. He started digging.

Next came the storm.

The commencement of Operation Desert Storm took place on January 17, 1991. Baghdad's sky turned green due to night-vision bombs. CNN live-streamed the war into living rooms like a terrifying science fiction movie. For 42 days, the coalition warplanes bombed Iraq’s army, electrical grids, and communications. Saddam attempted a dirty trick to launch a Scud missile attack on Israel to enter the war. It was ineffective. Israel did not partake.

The ground war began finally on February 24. This beautiful, brutal thing lasted only 100 hours. Coalition forces pretended to attack from the front as they swept around the west, a left hook that crushed the Iraqi army. Soldiers surrendered amongst thousands, a portion of them waving white flags made of pants.

Kuwait was liberated. But then a strange thing happened. The alliance ceased advancing towards Baghdad. They allowed Saddam to live.

How come? Terror. Nobody wished to occupy Iraq or initiate a second Vietnam.

Things got a little messy afterwards. Saddam executed his own citizens. The United Nations Imposed Many Strict Sanctions. Iraqi civilians endured suffering. The war also left physical scars – everything from burning oil fields to depleted uranium dust, sparking a cancer spike that’s still debated.

The Persian Gulf War was not a quick win. The button was for pausing. Twelve years later, it was the son of the president who stopped George W. Bush from returning to complete his father’s endeavor.

A 100-hour war shaped the next 30 years.

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