CMpvem6er2,1990
page 5
The Gulf Dilemma: When Will it End?
j by Noomina Al Manum
I The Salemite
On the early morning of August 2,
1990, while the Kuwaitis slept, the
i advance forces of the Iraq Armed Forces
I rolled across the Sin Lane highway
serving the two neighboringcountries,
and in a few hours the tiny oil-rich
country was annexed by her much
larger, much stronger neighbor with
very little fighting. The Amir of Ku
wait and the Royal family fled to Saudi
Arabia, but few others could get away
from Kuwait. A few thousand Ameri
cans and Europeans as well as about
; 500 thousand Asians, including 150
thousand Bangladesh, instantly be-
j came stranded and were hostages of
Iraq.
Though disputes between the two
countries over repayment of loans and
oil wells has been heating up over the
past few weeks. The Iraqi attack on
Kuwait has stunned not only the Arab
world, but the whole world.
The U.S. was enraged and immedi
ately mobilized world opinion against
Iraq, masterminded a Security Council
resolution, imposed a total sanction on
j exports and imports of any commod-
[ ity to and from Iraq, andenforced it
[ with massive naval blockades. And
when Saudi Arabia, anticipating an
attack by Iraq requested U.S. assis
tance, President Bush lost no time to fly
in a massive U.S. Army-Navy-Air
Force-contingent and the situation
became explosive. Everybody hopes
that there will be a peaceful solution
to the problem, but on the other hand
both sides are still rattling sabers and
seem to be prepared to go to war.
Nobody knows when the problem
will be solved or how.
Before one discusses the Gulf crisis
one has to put it in perspective. The
historical background, the reasons
why President Saddam Hussein of
Iraq did what he did, why the U.S.
and her western allies reacted so
quickly and with such a massive re
taliation. Also, why the Arabs went
against Saddam Hussein, and what
are the political and financial impli
cations?
As a very brief historical back
ground:
Kuwait was a part of Iraq or Meso
potamia for hundreds of years. This
was also an unimportant piece of
desert hardly noticed by anyone - the
inhabitants mainly lived by fishing
or collecting pearls. Iraq lost its
empire to the Ottoman empire of
Turkey who ruled for more than 500
years and whose territory extended
from Mesopotamia(Iraq) to Morocco.
After the first World War, the British
became the lord and master of most
of the Middle East, and distributed it
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to their chosen supporters by making
new kingdoms and appointing Kings
of countries which were not theirs in
the first place.
Saudi Arabia went to King Saud,
Iraq to King Faisal, Trans- Jordan to the
grandfather of the present King
Hussein and created Kuwait and Is
rael.
Kuwait came onto the world map
with the discovery of oil. The little
fishing villages soon became one of the
richest countries in the world whose
per capita income surpasses that of the
U.S. and whose (Amir) ruler is the
fourth richest monarch in the world.
King Faisal of Iraq was gunned down
and so was a successive leader, through
repeated military coups until Saddam
Hussein's Bath Party took over the
country more than a decade and a half
ago. After about nine years as the Vice
President, Saddam Hussein eased out
President Bakr and became the Presi
dent without bloodshed.
Iraq followed a socialistic political
system and Saddam Hussein controlled
the country with his strong hand. Iraq
has the second largest oil reserve after
Saudi Arabia. Fueled by oil revenues
and relative stability for two decades,
Saddam Hussein's Iraqbecamea domi
nant force in the Arab world. How
ever, his power coupled with his
ambition got himself embroiled in a
bloody eight year war with Iran. The
fast development of Iraq had to be
stopped, and Iraq needed help from
other Arab countries in order to sus
tain herself against a ferocious attack
by the fanatical Iranian Army, which
poured in countless numbers of sol
diers in suicidal attacks. However, in
this war the superpower prudently kept
away from taking sides and most de
velopment nations were happy to find
a ready market for selling war ma
chines - planes, guns, and ammuni
tions. Finally both sides realized the
futility of the war, and despite of initial
Iranian success, there was a stalemate
in the war. The UN was able to arrange
a cease-fire.
The war had plunged Iraq into a
whopping eighty billion dollar debt.
Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE
alone funded most of the loan. Iraq
was in no position to pay this loan
back. She demanded the loan be writ
ten off. Iraq pleaded that she was fight
ing a proxy fight for all Arabs, for in
case of an Iranian victory or Iraq - all of
the smaller Gulf nations, Ku wai t, Saudi
Arabia, the UAE - and others would be
' easily fakeh over by Irarl and even
' Saudi Arabia would be in mortal dan-
gcr. Iraq also claimed that the oil pro
ducing countries like Saudi Arabia and
Kuwait, all were following US dictum
in keeping the price of oil artificially
low and Iraq was loosing out on her oil
revenues. The donor countries refused
to writeoff the loan. Iraq also renewed
her claim on oil wells in disputed bor
der areas of Kuwait. Kuwait refused
to hand over the territory with the
wells to Iraq and talks bogged down.
In desperation, Iraq struck and an
nexed Kuwait in one swift strike last
ing less than twelve hours and the
world plunged into speculation of yet
another bloody war in the Middle East.
U.S. involvement makes the stakes
very high.
Why did the U.S. get itself involved,
and what are the various implications
of the conflict? The ostensible reasons
given by the United States are that
after taking over Kuwait an attack in
Saudi Arabia was imminent and Saudi
Arabia requested for U.S. intervention
to thwart Iraq'saggressivcdesign. U.S.
imports 15-20% of her oils from Saudi
Arabia, and it was imperative for the
U.S. to safeguard the oil supply. U.S.
also wanted to keep the status quo in
the Middle East and did not want Iraq
to become the dominant force in the
Middle East. It was also not in the
interest of Israel to have a powerful
enemy gather more territory and
dominant position who could then
coerce other timid Middle East Poten
tates (rulers) into a conflict with Israel.
Whatever the reason, the cost direct
and indirect is going to effect not only
the countries involved in the conflict,
but the whole world one way or the
other. For U.S, the bill is one billion
dollars a month even before the shoot
ing starts. The Saudis have agreed to
pull up four billion, Kuwait three bil
lion, Japan one billion, Germany five
hundred million, UK and others also
are contributing towards the U.S.
armed forces bill. Iraq is in dire trouble
with a complete embargo on her ex
ports and imports. She can neither sell
her oil nor import food and medi
cines.
For the rest of the world the first
impact was felt with the rise of oil
prices from 16 dollars per barrel be
fore the conflict to 30 dollars per barrel
after the conflict. When the oil price
goes up, prices of everything else go
up. For rich countries the effect is
sustainable, for poor countries it is
disastrous. Already in Bangladesh
street lights and shops are closed at 8
pm and oil prices are going to be in
creased and almost all imports are
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