Gulf War Essay, Research Paper

The Gulf War

On the 2nd of August 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait. Millions of trees, wildlife, marine life, humans and the environment in general, were destroyed. This invasion, was called the GULF WAR. The social, environmental and economic impacts will be felt for years.

The Gulf War was a major environmental disaster. Wildlife and their habitat was destroyed both in Iraq and Kuwait. Grass, soil and trees were destroyed by bombing, oily particles (which was from the numerous fires, resulting in acres and acres of land being destroyed), acid rain, and the most major problem, which affected the environment enormously, was the oil slick in the Persian Gulf.

The oil slick was totally disastrous. Both America and Iraq were to blame. The US led forces, bombed 2 oil tankers in Kuwait harbour, releasing large quantities of oil. Then several days later it was announced that Iraqi forces had opened the valves on several pipelines, allowing oil to spill directly into the Gulf. This 6 million barrel slick killed approximately 15,000 to 30,000 birds alone. Comorants, grebes and herons were hit very hard. Comorants would dive for fish and then get totally coated in oil and then they die very slowly and painfully as they ingest the oil while desperately trying to preen itself. The slick effected the whole food chain from the microscopic organisms to the turtles and dugongs. As oil is extremely hard to remove and is very expensive, and also because the Persian Gulf has a small inlet in which water flows in and out, the matter became worse, causing the oil to do an enormous amount of damage. The food chain will never ever be the same because of some humans silly and thoughtless actions.

The impacts on the Iraqi and Kuwaiti population was devastating. The destruction of Iraq s electricity, health care, water and food supply systems has caused unemployment, hunger, disease and suffering for millions of ordinary people in Iraq and Kuwait.

The war had a great affect on different groups in the region. Approximately, 72,000 people were left homeless by bomb damage done to private homes. The Bedouins (a nomadic tribe of Arabs), were mined, bombed, poisoned and debased, as their tents had been mistaken for missile launchers sites. The military activity, pollution and oil spills has dislocated the Marsh Arabs, a little-known population that lived in the wetlands and marshes of the Gulf.

All people were impacted in this traumatising war, especially women in both Kuwait and Iraq, as they had become the collectors of food and the drawers of water. Women also had to cook, wash clothes and dishes and draw water from sewerage-poisoned rivers, resulting in the first people for getting water-borne diseases.

Many children all over Iraq and Kuwait are lucky to be alive. They have no toys, as they were all devoted to the Sanctions. Most of the children had never tasted chocolate and they never had birthday parties as no one could afford it. Babies were fed on sugared water as mothers couldn t afford powered milk, which they need because they unable to breast feed. This resulted in babies being very weak and bearly alive, as the sugared water didn t have any of the nutrients in which the babies need for strength.

Wars cost billions of dollars. It is estimated that between Iraq and Kuwait, 251 billion dollars was wasted on ammunition, bombs, tanks and ships. This is 5 times greater than the $50 billion needed -but not given- to implement the environment recommendations of the countries all over the world. Why should money be wasted on weapons which will only destroy the environment, when that money could be put towards the environment and hungry, starving people all over the world.

In conclusion, the Gulf War impacted everything. From a blade of grass to the human being. Billions of dollars were wasted on ammunition and weapons, which could have been spent to make the world better not worse. Millions of wildlife were killed, affecting the whole food chain, which will never be the same again. Because of some stupid and thoughtless actions of 3 countries (Iraq, Kuwait and United States), the whole world suffered. There is one thing in this world, that is the most crucial and non replaceable, and that is the Earth and its environment.