US CONFLICTS IN THE MIDDLE EAST (1991- Present). IRAQ 1 Operation Desert Storm Persian Gulf War/Gulf War (1991)
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US CONFLICTS IN THE MIDDLE EAST(1991- Present)
IRAQ 1Operation Desert Storm
Persian Gulf War/Gulf War(1991)
Key Terms
• Kuwait
• Saddam Hussein
• George H. Bush (the first George Bush)
• Operation Desert Storm
• Oil
• Allies
The Cause
It begins after Saddam Hussein’s Iraq invades its neighbor, Kuwait, in 1990.
Flag of Kuwait
Iraqi tanks invading Kuwait
US and other countries demand that Saddam Hussein withdraw his Iraqi forces from Kuwait.
Saddam refuses to withdraw his forces and prepares to fight the US and its allies.
Saddam as a kid!
In response, the US and its allies launch Operation Desert Storm, to fight against Saddam Hussein and force his Iraqi troops out of Kuwait.
General Norman Schwarzkopf
Burning Kuwaiti oil field destroyed by Saddam.
Highway of Death
French troops
Egyptian soldier with Iraqi prisoners of war (POW)
Happy Kuwaiti
Iraq surrenders and withdraws its troops out of Kuwait.
The Persian Gulf War ends with a US and Allied victory!
Saddam Hussein remained in power in Iraq as its dictatorial president.
AFGHANISTANOperation Enduring Freedom
(2001 - Present)
Key Terms• September 11, 2001• Afghanistan• Osama bin Laden• World Trade Center (Twin Towers)• Terrorism• Al-Qaeda• The Taliban• George W. Bush (the second Bush)• Operation Enduring Freedom
The Cause
On September 11, 2001, Al-Qaeda terrorists attack the USA using hijacked planes, killing about 3000 people.
The terrorists hijack four planes!
Two are crashed in the World Trade Center (Twin Towers).
One is crashed into the Pentagon.
One is crashed into a Pennsylvania field.
World Trade Center under attack!
World Trade Center before the 9/11 attack.
World Trade Center before the 9/11 attack.
World Trade Center during the 9/11 attack.
World Trade Center during the 9/11 attack.
World Trade Center after the 9/11 attack.
World Trade Center today.
One plane attacks the Pentagon!
The Pentagon is the headquarters of the US Military.
The Pentagon before the attack.
The Pentagon during the attack.
A fourth plane, United Flight 93 is also hijacked!
Flight 93 crashes in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania
It is believed it was heading for the White House.
A Flight 93 Monument.
Mohammed Atta, leader of the terrorist group that led 9/11
The US suspects that the terrorists were part of the terrorist group, Al-Qaeda, whose leader is Osama bin Laden.
Osama bin Laden and his group are based in Afghanistan, which is ruled by a Muslim fundamentalist group called the Taliban.
Taliban executing prisoners
Woman being buried alive by Taliban
Women under the Taliban
American who joined the Taliban
The US asks the Taliban government of Afghanistan to hand over Osama bin Laden for trial.
The Taliban government rejects the US demand and prepares for war.
In October 2001, US forces begin Operation Enduring Freedom by attacking and invading Afghanistan to overthrow the Taliban government and capture Osama bin Laden. It is called the War on Terror.
Taliban soldier
French troops in Kabul
US and British troops
US and French soldiers
Within a few months, the US overthrows the Taliban, but Osama bin Laden is never found nor captured.
There is a $50 million bounty on his head, dead or alive!
There is a new US supported government in Afghanistan led
by Hamid Karzai.
The War on Terror continues in Afghanistan!
IRAQ 2Operation Iraqi Freedom
(2003 - Present)
Iraq
Key Terms
• Saddam Hussein
• George W. Bush (the second Bush)
• United Nations (UN)
• Operation Iraqi Freedom
• Weapons of mass destruction (WMD)
• Insurgency
• The Surge
The Cause
US government states that dictatorial president, Saddam Hussein of Iraq is seeking to produce illegal weapons of mass destruction (WMD), which it fears may be used by terrorists to attack the US.
Weapons of mass destruction include nuclear (atomic) weapons, chemical weapons, and biological weapons, all of which have been banned by most countries and are considered illegal.
Victims of poison gas
Victims of poison gas in Iraq
Saddam Hussein and his Iraq government say they have no such weapons.
President Bush asks the United Nations (UN) and many countries to support an invasion of Iraq to find and destroy his WMDs, but most countries decline to support him.
President Bush asserts that Saddam Hussein wants to build WMDs, and he is a brutal dictator who should be removed from office, in what is known as regime change.
Nuclear test explosion
The United Nations (UN) refuses to support an invasion of Iraq and says the war is not necessary.
Many in the US and around the world protest against the upcoming war.
War protesters
President Bush then takes unilateral action (doing it alone) and launches Operation Iraqi Freedom in March 2003 to invade Iraq and topple Saddam Hussein from power.
A few countries such as Britain and Australia support the US.
On 9 April 2003 US forces gain control of Baghdad, the capital of Iraq, and topple Saddam Hussein’s government.
Saddam Hussein statue
Captured Iraqi general
Soon after, an insurgency (fighting) against the US forces begins.
Saddam Hussein is later captured, tried and hanged on 30 December 2006 for his crimes against the Iraqi people
Saddam as a kid!
Capture of Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein during his trial
Saddam Hussein during his execution
Saddam’s funeral
No weapons of mass destruction are ever
found!
The US wants Iraq to become a democracy. Us therefore installs a new government which is later elected by the Iraq people.
Many Iraqis still view the US troops as foreign occupiers and continue to fight against the US and the new Iraqi governments which they view as collaborators with the US.
Memorial of US war dead
British troops
Destroyed oil pipelines
Roadside bomb!
Iraqi insurgents
In January 2007, President Bush announced a surge, or an increase in the number of US troops to Iraq, to help in the fighting. This has helped to greatly reduce violence in Iraq.
Though the US is now winning the war, small pockets of resistance and violence remains.
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