The US Involvement in Southwest Asia (Middle East)

1. The US Involvement in Southwest Asia (Middle East) Is war ever justified?

2. Countries in North Africa and the Persian Gulf export more oil than most other countries in the world. • The control of oil reserves has been an issue in many of the wars fought in the Middle East during the 20th century. • Many countries have been involved in wars in the Middle East.

3. Persian Gulf War • The Persian Gulf War was a war between Iraq and a group of about thirty other nations. • Iraq accused Kuwait of stealing Iraqi oil by drilling under the border between the two countries. • Iraq invaded Kuwait in August of 1990, under the direction of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. • The Iraqi army took control of Kuwait in a very short amount of time.

4. Persian Gulf War • The United Nations responded to the Iraqi invasion by demanding that Iraq withdraw its troops from Kuwait. • The United Nations used the Iraqi economy to try to convince the country to withdraw. • They did this by cutting off trade to the country. Iraq did not withdraw. • Many citizens of Kuwait fled the country during the Iraqi occupation.

5. Persian Gulf War • The U.S. and other countries began sending troops to Saudi Arabia over the next few months. • The United Nations set a date for Iraq to leave Kuwait. • Iraq rejected this date and refused to back down. • The Iraqis remained in Kuwait after the date.

6. Persian Gulf War • The U.S. and other nations attacked the Iraqi forces in January of 1991. • The Iraqi army was defeated in less than two months. • Iraq was then directed to recognize Kuwait’s sovereignty and destroy all weapons of mass destruction (WMDs).

7. U.S. Invasion of Afghanistan • On September 11, 2001, al-Qaeda attacked two targets in the U.S. • AI-Qaeda is a group of radical Islamic terrorists based largely in Afghanistan. • They hijacked four airplanes and crashed two of them into the World Trade Center in New York. • The third airplane crashed into the Pentagon in Virginia, and the fourth crashed in rural Pennsylvania, before reaching its intended target of the White House. • These terrorist attacks killed nearly 3,000 people.

8. U.S. Invasion of Afghanistan • Investigations into the attack have named Osama bin Laden as its organizer. • U.S. President George W. Bush called on other countries to help wage a war on terrorism. • The first goal of those nations that joined the U.S. was to find bin Laden, whom they believed to be in Afghanistan, even though most of the people carrying out the attacks were from Saudi Arabia.

9. U.S. Invasion of Afghanistan • In October 2001, U.S. and British troops invaded Afghanistan in search of bin Laden. • They bombed places where bin Laden was known to be. • Millions of people from Afghanistan were homeless because of the many wars that have taken place in their country.

10. U.S. Invasion of Afghanistan • After the invasion, more than 3 million refugees returned to their homes. • The U.S.-led forces still struggle to control portions of the country. • Installs a democracy in the nation • US locates and US Seal Team 6 kills Osama Bin laden in May 2011 in Pakistan • The war continues today

11. Iraq War • Saddam Hussein was still the president of Iraq at the time of the invasion of Afghanistan. • Officials in the U.S. government feared connections between the Hussein regime and al- Qaeda. • They were also afraid that Iraq was building weapons of mass destruction, such as chemical or biological weapons.

12. Iraq War • The United Nations sent inspectors to Iraq to check for WMDs. • In 2002, the United States Congress passed an Iraq War Resolution that authorized the president to go forward with a war in Iraq. • In March 2003, the U.S. bombed targets in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad.

13. Iraq War • The next day, British, Australian, and Polish soldiers joined the U.S. in invading Iraq and defeating the Iraqi military. • This effort was known as Operation Iraqi Freedom. • Saddam Hussein was captured and his rule ended. • He was sentenced to death in 2006, after being tried for killing 148 people in the Iraqi village of Dujail.

14. Iraq War • Iraq under Hussein was previously involved in a long war against Iran in which chemical weapons were used against the Kurds and Iranians. • He was also responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. • Hussein’s death sentence was carried out.

15. Iraq War • Weapons of mass destruction have not been found in Iraq. • It is difficult to determine how many Iraqis have died since the invasion, but as of 2007, more than a half million Iraqis may have died. • Many deaths are due to sectarian violence or the disruption of adequate medical care. • Over 4,000 Americans soldiers have been killed and over 25,000 have been wounded while fighting there.

16. Oil Industries • Many wars have been fought over oil in Southwest Asia. • These wars have had a major impact on the environment. • For example, much of the oil refining machinery in Iraq was badly damaged in the Persian Gulf War, in 1991. • The Iraqi government did not repair the equipment that makes refining oil safer for the environment.

17. Oil Industries • For years, pollution from Iraqi oil refineries leaked into the water supply and in the air. • The Iraqi oil industry is not productive because of the current war in Iraq. • Many of Iraq’s oil refineries were destroyed and burned during the war, so that the air was polluted.

18. Oil Industries • During the first Gulf War, Iraq used pollution as a strategy for fighting. • Iraqi soldiers dumped over three hundred gallons of oil into the Persian Gulf. • They also burned hundreds of oil wells in order to keep the U.S. from taking control of their oil industry.

19. Afghanistan Iraq Country Total • Australia 29 • Belgium 1 • Canada 157 • Czech 4 • Denmark 42 • Estonia 8 • Finland 2 • France 75 • Georgia 10 • Germany 53 • Hungary 7 • Italy 42 • Jordan 2 • Latvia 3 • Lithuania 1 • NATO 3 • Netherlands 25 • New Zealand 4 • Norway 10 • Poland 29 • Portugal 2 • Romania 19 • South Korea 1 • Spain 33 • Sweden 5 • Turkey 2 • UK 382 • US 1796 • Total 2747 Year US UK Other Total 2003 486 53 41 580 2004 849 22 35 906 2005 846 23 28 897 2006 822 29 21 872 2007 904 47 10 961 2008 314 4 4 322 2009 149 1 0 150 2010 60 0 0 60 2011 47 0 0 47 Total 4477 179 139 4795

20. WWII WWI COUNTRY CASUALTIES • Soviet Union 23,954,000 • China 15,000,000 • Germany 7,728,000 • Poland 5,720,000 • Japan 2,700,000 • India 2,087,000 • Yugoslavia 1,027,000 • Rumania 833,000 • Hungary 580,000 • France 567,600 • Greece 560,000 • Italy 456,000 • Great Britain 449,800 • United States 418,500 • Czechoslovakia 345,000 • Netherlands 301,000 • Austria 123,700 • Finland 97,000 • Belgium 86,100 • Canada 45,300 • Australia 40,500 • Bulgaria 25,000 • New Zealand 11,900 • South Africa 11,900 • Norway 9,500 • Spain 4,500 • Denmark 3,200 • TOTAL: 63,185,500 COUNTRY CASUALTIES • Country Casualties • Africa unknown • Australia 211,000 • Austria-Hungary 4,820,000 • Belgium 57,000 • Bulgaria 254,000 • Canada 241,000 • The Caribbean 4,000 • French Empire 5,651,000 • Germany 5,952,000 • Great Britain 2,367,000 • Greece 26,000 • India 108,000 • Italy 1,407,000 • Japan 1,25 • Montenegro 13,000 • New Zealand 73,000 • Portugal 22,000 • Romania 320,000 • Russia 6,650,000 • Serbia 261,000 • South Africa 19,000 • Turkey 736,000 • USA 321,000 • TOTAL 16,543,868

21. Summary • Describe the causes and effects of the Persian Gulf War, Operation Iraqi Freedom and U.S. Invasion of Afghanistan.