Why was this war important

There are a few reasons why Operation desert shield/storm is important. One of the reasons why it was important for the United States to help out Kuwait is because with out the US, Kuwait would be under the control of Iraq. If we did not help Kuwait the price of oil could possibly be unaffordable. One of the reasons why I think that the United States defended Kuwait is because of our oil relationship. If Iraq had ended up taking over Kuwait that would make it harder for the United States to get oil. In these days oil runs our country so without oil the United States would be weak. Another reason why this war was important was because if we wouldn’t have defended Kuwait Iraq might have gotten bigger and bigger and might have taken over more and more countries while they got stronger and stronger. The main reason why I think this war was important is all about the oil because Kuwait is one of our main sources of oil.

Operation desert shield/storm

All this information came from the following sites

http://www.desert-storm.com/War/chronology.html

http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h2020.html

http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=45404

http://www.historyguy.com/GulfWar.html

http://www.timelineindex.com/content/view/462

This is a picture of an actual tank that was used in Desert shield/storm that is waiting for action.

When and Where it happened

Operation desert shield/storm took place on August 2, 1990. The American troops were sent within Iraq, Kuwait, and outlying areas of Saudi Arabia. There were multiple battles in those countries. Operation Desert shield/storm happened between August 2, 1990 and March 8, 1991 when the first US forces combat unit returns home. Almost all of the battles were aerial. The ground combat took place within Iraq, Kuwait, and the outer areas of Saudi Arabia. Saddam Hussein had been making threats to Kuwait for a long time but on August 2, 1990 he actually invaded Kuwait and took control. The United States did not take long before they reacted and defended Kuwait. Most of the troops were sent near the Saudi Arabia border. There were about 200,000 American soldiers in Saudi Arabia by September of 1990.

This image is a picture of jets during the Desert Storm.

Why i chose this topic

The reason why I chose this topic is because my dad was in Operation Desert Storm. Another reason why I chose this topic is because it was a recent war that happened and it is interesting to know that we are still in Iraq fighting for other reasons. Operation desert storm was the beginning to the war that is going on still in Iraq. There where American soldiers that lost their lives fighting for our country not to long ago. Their where about 300 American deaths in this war which is not much compared to other wars throughout history, however those lives were still lost which is a big deal. Another reason why I chose this topic was because this was an event that just recently happened and it made me realize that not all important events that happened in the past had to happen a long time ago. History is made everyday and every year not just events that happened a long time ago. Those were the reasons why I chose my topic.