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On August 2nd, 1990 the Iraqi military
forces of Saddam Hussein, rolled across the Kuwait
boarder and quickly occupied the entire country. This
action shocked the world and quickly upset the entire
balance of Middle Eastern geo-politic politics. Iraq had
just finished fighting a 10 year was against Iran which
resulted in tremendous bloodshed, destruction and a
stalemate. The U.S. had intervened in that war by
supplying Iraq with military support when needed but had
otherwise avoided entanglement in the area.
Saddam claimed that Kuwait had
traditionally belonged to Iraq and that much of the oil
which was being produced by the Kuwait companies was
actually being stolen from Iraq territory. Saddam had
the 4th largest military force in the world and expected
that after an initial outcry, he other countries of the
world would be forced to accept his action and Iraq
would be immeasurably increased in power and prestige.
Margaret Thatcher was the first to
publically denounce Saddam and state that the invasion
would not stand. After consideration of the situation,
President Bush, also stated that the action would not
stand and within the context of United Nations
mechanisms, a coalition of 35 countries was enlisted to
carry out UN decisions that effectively demanded Saddam
withdraw from Kuwait.
During the later parts
of 1990 and early 1991, a huge US lead UN force
assembled in he Middle East. The first step had been to
secure Saudi Arabia against Iraqi attack and then to
prepare to enforce UN mandates ordering Saddam out of
Kuwait.
Canada supported the
action and as a part of the UN force dispatched a naval
task force composed of the HMCS Terra Nova, HMCS
Athabascan and the HMCS Protecteur. Canadian CF-18 jets,
with over 500 personnel, were based in Qatar and
conducted air combat and reconnaissance missions. An air
transport group supplied cargo plans for personnel and
cargo and over 500 more Canadians served with the
British Division as field hospital support.
Once the attack by the UN forces began
the Iraq forces collapse quickly and within 100 hours
the war was over. Kuwait was freed, Iraq defeated and
the UN mandate fulfilled. Canadian forces stayed on in
the area as peacekeepers and conducted operations until
the 2nd Gulf War.
Canada had once again participated with
the UN in protecting smaller vulnerable states and
maintained its reputation as an international
peacekeeper.
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