Editing Gulf War (section)

===Creating a coalition===
[[File:Coalition of the Gulf War vs Iraq.svg|thumb|upright=1.3|Countries that deployed coalition forces or provided support<ref name="apps.dtic.mil"/> (On behalf of Afghanistan, 300 Mujaheddin joined the coalition on 11 February 1991. Niger contributed 480 troops to guard shrines in Mecca and Medina on 15 January 1991.)<ref name="apps.dtic.mil"/>]]

A [[List of United Nations Security Council resolutions concerning Iraq|series of UN Security Council resolutions]] and Arab League resolutions were passed regarding Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. Resolution 678, passed on 29 November 1990, gave Iraq a withdrawal deadline until 15 January 1991 and authorized "all necessary means to uphold and implement Resolution 660", and a diplomatic formulation authorizing the use of force if Iraq failed to comply.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cfr.org/publication/11205/un_security_council_resolution_678_iraq_kuwait.html?breadcrumb=%2Fregion%2F408%2Fkuwait |website=Council on Foreign Relations |title=UN Security Council Resolution 678, Iraq / Kuwait |date=29 November 1990 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090614131250/http://www.cfr.org/publication/11205/un_security_council_resolution_678_iraq_kuwait.html?breadcrumb=%2Fregion%2F408%2Fkuwait |archive-date=14 June 2009}}</ref>

To ensure that the US received economic backing, James Baker went on an 11-day journey to nine countries in September 1990, which the press dubbed "The Tin Cup Trip". The first stop was Saudi Arabia, which a month before had already granted permission to the United States to use its facilities. However, Baker believed that Saudi Arabia should assume some of the cost of the military efforts to defend it. When Baker asked King Fahd for $15 billion, the King readily agreed, with the promise that Baker ask Kuwait for the same amount.{{citation needed|date=May 2020}}

The next day, 7 September, he did just that, and the [[Emir of Kuwait]], displaced in a Sheraton hotel outside his invaded country, easily agreed. Baker then moved to enter talks with Egypt, whose leadership he considered "the moderate voice of the Middle East". President Mubarak of Egypt was furious with Saddam for his invasion of Kuwait, and for the fact that Saddam had assured Mubarak that an invasion was not his intention. Egypt received approximately $7&nbsp;billion in debt forgiveness for its providing of support and troops for the US-led intervention.<ref>New York Times, 10 Apr. 1991, "[https://www.nytimes.com/1991/04/10/business/egypt-s-reward-forgiven-debt.html Egypt's 'Reward': Forgiven Debt] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181118035402/https://www.nytimes.com/1991/04/10/business/egypt-s-reward-forgiven-debt.html |date=18 November 2018 }}</ref>

After stops in Helsinki and Moscow to smooth out Iraqi demands for a Middle-Eastern peace conference with the Soviet Union, Baker traveled to Syria to discuss its role in the crisis with its President [[Hafez al-Assad|Hafez Assad]]. Assad had a deep personal enmity towards Saddam, which was defined by the fact that "Saddam had been trying to kill him [Assad] for years." Harboring this animosity and impressed with Baker's diplomatic initiative to visit Damascus (relations had been severed since the [[1983 Beirut barracks bombings|1983 bombing of US Marine barracks]] in [[Beirut]]), Assad agreed to pledge up to 100,000 Syrian troops to the coalition effort. This was a vital step in ensuring Arab states were represented in the coalition. In exchange, Washington gave al-Assad the green light to wipe out forces opposing Syria's rule in [[Lebanon]] and arranged for weapons valued at a billion dollars to be provided to Syria, mostly through Gulf states.<ref name="newstatesman.com">''[[New Statesman]]'', 23 September 2002, "[https://www.newstatesman.com/node/192550 John Pilger Reveals How the Bushes Bribe the World, from Russia to Iran] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181118081556/https://www.newstatesman.com/node/192550 |date=18 November 2018 }}"</ref> In exchange for Iran's support for the US-led intervention, the US government promised the Iranian government to end US opposition to [[World Bank]] loans to Iran. On the day before the ground invasion began, the World Bank gave Iran the first loan of $250m.<ref name="newstatesman.com"/>

Baker flew to Rome for a brief visit with the Italians in which he was promised the use of some military equipment, before journeying to Germany to meet with American ally [[Helmut Kohl|Chancellor Kohl]]. Although [[Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany|Germany's constitution]] (which was brokered essentially by the United States) prohibited military involvement outside Germany's borders, Kohl committed a two billion dollar contribution to the coalition's war effort, as well as further economic and military support of coalition ally Turkey, and the transportation of Egyptian soldiers and ships to the Persian Gulf.<ref>Baker, James Addison, and Thomas M. DeFrank. ''The Politics of Diplomacy: Revolution, War, and Peace, 1989–1992''. New York: Putnam, 1995.</ref>

[[File:President Bush rides in a HUMVEE with General H. Norman Schwarzkopf during his visit with troops in Saudi Arabia on... - NARA - 186424.jpg|thumb|General [[Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr.]] and President [[George H. W. Bush]] visit US troops in Saudi Arabia on [[Thanksgiving (United States)|Thanksgiving Day]], 1990.]]
A coalition of forces opposing Iraq's aggression was formed, consisting of forces from 42 countries: Argentina, Australia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belgium, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Honduras, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Kuwait, Luxembourg, Morocco, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Niger, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Syria, Turkey,<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Haberman |first1=Clyde |date=20 January 1991 |title=WAR IN THE GULF: Turkey; Turkey's Role in Air Assault Sets Off Fear of Retaliation (Published 1991) |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/01/20/world/war-in-the-gulf-turkey-turkey-s-role-in-air-assault-sets-off-fear-of-retaliation.html}}</ref> the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://edition.cnn.com/2013/09/15/middleeast/gulf-war-fast-facts|title=Gulf war fast facts|publisher=CNN Editorial Research|year=2020|access-date=15 December 2020 |url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112020744/https://edition.cnn.com/2013/09/15/world/meast/gulf-war-fast-facts/index.html |archive-date=12 November 2020}}</ref> It was the largest coalition since [[World War II]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/gulf.war/facts/gulfwar/|title=The Unfinished War: A Decade Since Desert Storm|publisher=CNN In-Depth Specials|year=2001|access-date=5 April 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080317110507/http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/gulf.war/facts/gulfwar/ |archive-date=17 March 2008}}</ref> A group of [[Afghan mujahidin|Afghan mujahideen]] soldiers also reportedly joined towards the end of the war.<ref>{{cite web |title=DESERT SHIELD AND DESERT STORM A CHRONOLOGY AND TROOP LIST FOR THE 1990–1991 PERSIAN GULF CRISIS |url=https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a234743.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190412060905/https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a234743.pdf |archive-date=12 April 2019 |access-date=2018-12-18 |website=apps.dtic.mil}}</ref>

US Army General [[Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr.]] was designated to be the commander of the coalition forces in the Persian Gulf area. The Soviet Union condemned Baghdad's aggression against Kuwait, but did not support the United States and allied intervention in Iraq and tried to avert it.<ref>{{cite news |title=The Gulf War: Moscow's role|publisher=CNN|year=2001|url=https://edition.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/europe/01/16/russia.iraq/index.html|access-date=18 October 2020}}</ref>

Although they did not contribute any forces, Japan and Germany made financial contributions totaling $10&nbsp;billion and $6.6&nbsp;billion respectively. [[Luxembourg]] also provided financial support to the coalition.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Luxembourg (09/06) |url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/outofdate/bgn/luxembourg/74191.htm |access-date=2023-08-04 |website=U.S. Department of State}}</ref> US troops represented 73% of the coalition's 956,600 troops in Iraq.<ref>Freedman, Lawrence, and Efraim Karsh. ''The Gulf Conflict 1990–1991: Diplomacy and War in the New World Order''. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1993. Print.</ref>

Many of the coalition countries were reluctant to commit military forces. Some felt that the war was an internal Arab affair or did not want to increase US influence in the Middle East. In the end, however, many governments were persuaded by Iraq's belligerence towards other Arab states, offers of economic aid or debt forgiveness, and threats to withhold aid.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/31/AR2006103101217.html |title=Security Council Seat Tied to Aid |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=18 March 2010 |first=Colum |last=Lynch |date=1 November 2006}}</ref>

====Justification for intervention====
The US and the UN gave several public justifications for involvement in the conflict, the most prominent being the Iraqi violation of Kuwaiti territorial integrity. In addition, the US moved to support its ally Saudi Arabia, whose importance in the region, and as a key supplier of oil, made it of considerable [[geopolitics|geopolitical]] importance. Shortly after the Iraqi invasion, US Defense Secretary [[Dick Cheney]] made the first of several visits to Saudi Arabia where King Fahd requested US military assistance. During a speech in a special joint session of the US Congress given on 11 September 1990, Bush summed up the reasons with the following remarks: "Within three days, 120,000 Iraqi troops with 850 tanks had poured into Kuwait and moved south to threaten Saudi Arabia. It was then that I decided to act to check that aggression."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://millercenter.org/scripps/archive/speeches/detail/3425|first=George H. W.|last=Bush|title=Address Before a Joint Session of Congress|publisher=Miller Center of Public Affairs|date=11 September 1990|access-date=1 February 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110116162710/http://millercenter.org/scripps/archive/speeches/detail/3425|archive-date=16 January 2011}}</ref>

The Pentagon stated that satellite photos showing a buildup of Iraqi forces along the border were the source of this information, but this was later alleged to be false. A reporter for the ''[[St. Petersburg Times]]'' acquired two commercial Soviet satellite images made at the time, which showed nothing but empty desert.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/tampabay/access/50586247.html?dids=50586247:50586247&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Jan+6%252C+1991&author=JEAN+HELLER&pub=St.+Petersburg+Times&edition=&startpage=1.A&desc=Photos+don%2527t+show+buildup |title=Photos don't show buildup |work=St. Petersburg Times |date=6 January 1991 |access-date=13 January 2012 |first=Jean |last=Heller |archive-date=4 February 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130204014848/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/tampabay/access/50586247.html?dids=50586247:50586247&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Jan+6%252C+1991&author=JEAN+HELLER&pub=St.+Petersburg+Times&edition=&startpage=1.A&desc=Photos+don%2527t+show+buildup }}</ref>

Other justifications for foreign involvement included Iraq's history of human rights [[Human rights in Saddam Hussein's Iraq|abuses under Saddam]]. Iraq was also known to possess [[biological warfare|biological weapons]] and [[chemical warfare|chemical weapons]], which Saddam had used against Iranian troops during the Iran–Iraq War and against his own country's [[Kurdish people|Kurdish]] population in the [[Al-Anfal campaign]]. Iraq was also known to have a [[nuclear weapon]]s program; the report about it from January 1991 was partially declassified by the CIA on 26 May 2001.<ref>[[Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists]], Volume 59, page 33, Educational Foundation for Nuclear Science (Chicago, Ill.), Atomic Scientists of Chicago, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (Organization), 2003.</ref>

====Public relations campaign targeting the public====
{{see also|Nayirah testimony}}
[[File:Powell, Schwarzkopf, and Wolfowitz at Cheney press conference, February 1991.jpg|thumb|Gen. [[Colin Powell]] (left), Gen. [[Norman Schwarzkopf Jr.]], and [[Paul Wolfowitz]] (right) listen as Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney addresses reporters regarding the 1991 Gulf War.]]

Although the Iraqi military committed human rights abuses during the invasion, the alleged incidents that received the most publicity in the US were fabrications of the [[public relations]] firm hired by the government of Kuwait to persuade Americans to support military intervention.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Chardell |first=Daniel |date=29 June 2023 |title=The Origins of the Iraqi Invasion of Kuwait Reconsidered |url=https://tnsr.org/2023/06/the-origins-of-the-iraqi-invasion-of-kuwait-reconsidered/ |website=Texas National Security Review}}</ref> Shortly after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, the organization ''[[Citizens for a Free Kuwait]]'' was formed in the US. It hired the public relations firm [[Hill & Knowlton]] for about $11&nbsp;million, paid by [[Government of Kuwait|Kuwait's government]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.prwatch.org/books/tsigfy10.html |title=How PR Sold the War in the Persian Gulf &#124; Center for Media and Democracy |publisher=Prwatch.org |access-date=1 February 2011|date=2004-10-28 }}</ref>

Among many other means of influencing US opinion, such as distributing books on Iraqi atrocities to US soldiers deployed in the region, "Free Kuwait" T-shirts and speakers to college campuses, and dozens of video news releases to television stations, the firm arranged for an appearance before a group of members of the [[United States Congress|US Congress]] in which a young woman identifying herself as a [[Nayirah testimony|nurse working in the Kuwait City hospital]] described Iraqi soldiers pulling babies out of incubators and letting them die on the floor.<ref name=kuwaitgate />

The story helped tip both the public and Congress towards a war with Iraq: six Congressmen said the testimony was enough for them to support military action against Iraq and seven Senators referenced the testimony in debate. The Senate supported the military actions in a 52–47 vote. However, a year after the war, this allegation was revealed to be a fabrication. The young woman who had testified was found to be a member of Kuwait's royal family and the daughter of Kuwait's ambassador to the US.<ref name=kuwaitgate><!-- Rowse (1992) "Kuwaitgate – killing of Kuwaiti babies by Iraqi soldiers exaggerated", Washington Monthly-->{{cite Q|Q123698876}}</ref> She had not lived in Kuwait during the Iraqi invasion.{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}}

The details of the Hill & Knowlton public relations campaign, including the incubator testimony, were published in [[John R. MacArthur]]'s ''Second Front: Censorship and Propaganda in the Gulf War'',<ref>[[John R. MacArthur]], ''Second Front: Censorship and Propaganda in the Gulf War'' (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1992)</ref> and came to wide public attention when an [[Op-ed]] by MacArthur was published in ''[[The New York Times]]''. This prompted a reexamination by [[Amnesty International]], which had originally promoted an account alleging even greater numbers of babies torn from incubators than the original fake testimony. After finding no evidence to support it, the organization issued a retraction. President Bush then repeated the incubator allegations on television.{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}}

In reality, the Iraqi Army did commit various well-documented crimes during its occupation of Kuwait, such as the [[summary execution|summary execution without trial]] of three brothers, after which their bodies were stacked and left to decay in a public street.{{sfnp|Makiya|1993|p=40}} Iraqi troops also ransacked and looted private Kuwaiti homes; one residence was repeatedly defecated in.{{sfnp|Makiya|1993|pp=31–33}} A resident later commented: "The whole thing was violence for the sake of violence, destruction for the sake of destruction&nbsp;... Imagine a [[Surrealism|surrealistic]] painting by [[Salvador Dalí]]".{{sfnp|Makiya|1993|p=32}}

US President Bush repeatedly compared Saddam Hussein to [[Hitler]].<ref>New York Times, 24 Oct. 1990, "[https://www.nytimes.com/1990/10/24/world/mideast-tensions-no-compromise-on-kuwait-bush-says.html Mideast Tensions; No Compromise on Kuwait, Bush Says] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181112101338/https://www.nytimes.com/1990/10/24/world/mideast-tensions-no-compromise-on-kuwait-bush-says.html |date=12 November 2018 }}"</ref>