The 1990-1 Gulf War

See the News Reports from Canadian Broadcasting Company, at http://archives.cbc.ca/IDD-1-71-593/conflict_war/gulf_war/

See also the timeline published by the Defense Dept.’s Special Assistant for Gulf War Illness, at http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/timeline/index.html

First Gulf War Timeline, from the BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/861164.stm)

During the 1980s Iraq fought a bitter war with Iran. Iraq was financed, in part, by its Gulf neighbors to the South, including Kuwait. The loans for the war were interpreted by Iraq as gifts.

1990

. 17 July .Hussein accuses Kuwait of oil overproduction and theft of oil from the Ramalla Oil Field.

25 July US Ambassador to Iraq, April Glaspie, tells Hussein that the Iraq/Kuwait dispute is an Arab matter, not one that affects the United States

. 2 August: Iraqi troops invade Kuwait, taking the emirate in one day. The BBC's John Simpson says the Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein is "by far the strongest leader in the region". In his report he explains how the West inadvertently helped bring about the invasion.

6 August: The United Nations Security Council demands an "immediate and unconditional" withdrawal of Iraqi troops and orders a trade boycott.

8 August: The US launches Operation Desert Shield. Baghdad announces Kuwait is now part of Iraq.

9 August: Iraq closes its borders.

10 August: The Arab League meets in Cairo and votes by a narrow margin to send Egyptian, Syrian and Moroccan troops to join the Western troops.

15 August: Iran and Iraq reopen diplomatic relations after Iraq proposes peace talks.

18 August: Iraq says the nationals of "hostile countries" still in Kuwait will be held as "guests" at strategic sites in Kuwait.

25 August: The UN Security Council authorises the use of force to make the trade boycott work.

17 October: Western troops in the Gulf number 200,000 US troops, 15,000 UK troops and 11,000 French troops.

29 November: The UN Security Council says Iraq must voluntarily withdraw from Kuwait by 15 January 1991. It authorises "all necessary means" to force Iraq out if it does not comply. Baghdad rejects the "ultimatum". In his report the BBC's Brian Hanrahan says: "President Bush is under pressure not to be hasty."

30 November: US President Bush invites Iraq to join direct talks.

6 December: Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein announces the release of 3,000 foreign nationals being held in Iraq and Kuwait.

1991

15 January: Iraq ignores the UN ultimatum. There are 580,000 allied troops in the Gulf, against 540,000 Iraqi troops.

17 January: Operation Desert Storm is launched, with air attacks on Iraq and Kuwait. The BBC's John Simpson is in Baghdad and witnesses the missile attacks.

"The bombs and the missiles seem mainly to have landed with pin-point accuracy," he reports the next day.

18 January: The first of several Iraqi scud missiles attacks on Tel Aviv. The US warns Israel against retaliation saying it is an attempt to widen the war and break up the opposition.

20 January: Iraqi television broadcasts pictures of seven captured allied airmen.

24 January: Allied forces capture the small island of Qarawa.

29 January: The US and the Soviet Union offer to declare a ceasefire if Iraq pledges to withdraw from Kuwait.

13 February: An allied missile lands on an air-raid shelter in Baghdad, killing at least 314 people. Iraqi officials take the BBC's Jeremy Bowen to see the aftermath. He is accompanied at all times but he says the grief and anger is not a propaganda stunt.

24 February: President Bush announces the start of a ground operation. Allied forces commander General Norman Schwarzkopf says it is a "spectacular success".

25 February: Iraqi scud missile hits building in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, killing 28 US troops and injuring 98.

26 February: Saddam Hussein confirms a Radio Baghdad report that Iraqi troops have been ordered to retreat from Kuwait. But he does not renounce claims to Kuwait.

27 February: The first Kuwaiti troops enter Kuwait City and President Bush announces the liberation of Kuwait. He announces the cessation of hostilities will be effective from 0400 GMT the following day. The allies say they have destroyed more than half the Iraqi divisions and captured 500,000 prisoners.

28 February: Iraq accepts all UN resolutions.

For the next dozen years, the US and its allies in the war (chiefly the UK) maintained a presence in Iraq.