SITUATION A: The Persian Gulf Crisis (1990-91) BACKGROUND: The Baath-party controlled country of Iraq, led by dictator Saddam Hussein accused its neighboring
country of Kuwait in 1990 of stealing Iraqi oil. American diplomats initially stated they had no opinion on the oil-conflict between the two countries. Historically, America benefitted from Kuwait’s overproduction of oil that kept prices down; Kuwait did this
despite objections from OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries), which included Iraq. Other reasons suspected included Iraq’s inability to pay back a debt to Kuwait that it had acquired during the Iraq-Iran conflict of the 1980s. Within two days of the initial invasion of Kuwait by the Iraqi Republican Guard in 1990, most of the Kuwaiti military had fled into neighboring Bahrain or Saudi Arabia leading Iraq to claim Kuwait as annexed territory. The Emir of Kuwait managed to escape, yet his half-brother in defense of the palace was killed. The UN Security Council passed twelve resolutions demanding Iraqi withdrawal, but it did not occur. If you were president, what would you do in response to Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait? FOREIGN POLICY QUESTION: Is it the responsibility of the United States to aid in upholding international norms that
prohibit one country from invading another in territorial aggression?