The Gulf War began when Iraq invaded Kuwait on 2 August 1990 and ended on 28 February 1991 after a US-led coalition forced Iraqi troops out of Kuwait.

There is much debate surrounding what happened and who was responsible, so here are some talking points.

Arguments for the Gulf War

• Iraq attacked Kuwait first. Kuwait had never attacked Iraq. It was an unprovoked invasion.
• It is illegal under international law to annex another country’s land. Kuwait was a sovereign independent state recognised by the whole world as a legitimate country. Saddam Hussein forcefully wiped Kuwait off the map in order to steal more land for Iraq. Under international law it is also illegal to try to eradicate other countries from existence.
• Iraq killed 1,000 Kuwaiti civilians during the occupation, which was evidence of the cruelty of Saddam Hussein’s regime. Saddam Hussein had also killed tens of thousands of Kurdish and Iranian civilians in the 80s and also killed tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians in the 90s. It is safe to assume that Saddam may have killed far more Kuwaiti civilians if their country had not been liberated.
• It’s true that 3,664 Iraqi civilians were killed by bombing while 1,000 Kuwaiti civilians were killed by the Iraqi government. However, the 1,000 Kuwaitis were killed through deliberate cruelty such as execution, shooting, torture and brutal imprisonment. The US bombing of Iraq targeted the Iraqi military and killed 20,000-50,000 Iraqi soldiers, far more than the 3,664 Iraqi civilians killed. This indicates that the US was targeting military targets, although civilians were also killed as is common in a bombing campaign. During bombing campaigns it is not easy to always hit targets perfectly, which can often result in civilian casualties.
• The killing of Iraqi civilians through bombing stopped as soon as the Gulf War ended and Kuwait was liberated. Had Kuwait not been liberated, Iraq would have continued killing Kuwaiti civilians for years or decades to come, and the death toll of Kuwaitis would have eventually exceeded the 3,664 Iraqis who lost their lives during the Gulf War.
• The Kuwaitis were not asked or given a choice as to whether or not they wanted to be part of Iraq, as by Saddam forced them to be part of Iraq. It is universally considered immoral to impose a government onto a people against their will and allowing the annexation would embolden other dictators to annex neighbouring countries.
• It would be one thing if Iraq was a democracy trying to bring democracy and human rights to Kuwait – that might then be justified – but it was the opposite, with Iraq being a dictatorship intent on oppressing the Kuwaitis and reducing their human rights and freedoms. Consequently, there was absolutely no justification for Iraq to invade and annex Kuwait.
• The United Nations Security Council voted to condemn Iraq’s annexation of Kuwait. It was so bad that America, the Soviet Union and China all agreed and all voted to condemn and oppose the annexation. 
• 98% of the world’s countries are members of the United Nations, and that includes Iraq. The UN Charter forbids the use of military force to change borders and annex other countries’ land. As a UN member state, Iraq was obligated to respect this rule.
• The UN Charter states that the use of military force by its members is only allowed, A) in self-defence, or B) if the UN Security Council authorises it.
• The United Nations Security Council (which always has 15 countries on it) is the only UN branch with the authority to authorise the use of military force in certain cases.
• The UN Security Council (made up of 15 member countries) voted to authorise all UN countries to go to war with Iraq in 1991 in a combined effort to liberate Kuwait from Iraq control. The American-led intervention against Iraq in 1991 was thus completely legal under international law. Even the Soviet Union, America’s sworn enemy, voted in favour of the military intervention against Iraq.
• The United Nations is not just an American/Western controlled organisation. The Soviet Union (now Russia) and China were just as powerful as the US in the UN at the time of the Gulf War, as China and the USSR individually both had the right to veto any vote by the UN Security Council. The Soviet Union and China could have easily voted to prevent the “US intervention against Iraq” if they wanted to – but neither did.
• The American-led forces didn’t unilaterally attack Iraq for their own reasons of ambitions. The UN Security Council explicitly gave Iraq a deadline to withdraw from Kuwait of 15 January 1991, stating that if Iraq did not comply by that date that the UN countries would go to war with Iraq to liberate Kuwait. Iraq refused to withdraw and, in response, the US launched its military intervention and attacked Iraq. Saddam could have prevented the Gulf War if he had followed the UN’s deadline which, as leader of a member country, was an instruction with which he was obligated to comply.
• The American military withdrew from Iraq in February 1991 shortly after Kuwait was liberated. This is proof that America’s goal was not to take over Iraq but, rather, to liberate Kuwait as part of a UN-sanction military operation.
• If America had been attempting to steal Kuwait then it would have made Kuwait a US-governed colony run by Americans. Instead, America returned Kuwait to the Kuwaiti government and, in so doing, handed Kuwait its independence back.
• Iraq had invaded Iran in the 1980s in an attempt to annex Iran’s territory. Iraq then invaded and annexed Kuwait in 1990, which clearly indicated that if Iraq wasn’t stopped then it would be likely to continue trying to invade and annex other countries.
• While it’s true that America was neither attacked nor threatened, American soldiers did die in the UN-authorised military operation aimed at saving the Kuwaiti people and liberating an entire country from a brutal occupation.

Those are the facts that surround the lead up to the Gulf War through to the end of the conflicts. The following are the arguments against American that are repeatedly expressed by right-wingers, socialists and communists.

Right-wing arguments against the Gulf War

• American soldiers died fighting in Kuwait and liberating Kuwait. Why should Americans have to die to save a small Arab country in the desert like Kuwait? Kuwaitis aren’t Americans, so why should Americans die for them?
• America spent a lot of money on the Gulf War. Americans pay taxes to the US government to look after Americans, not to fight wars in the Middle East. Why should my tax dollars fund Kuwait’s liberation when we have problems at home in America?
• Iraq didn’t attack or threaten America, only its neighbours. It’s not our problem and not a threat to us.
• Bombing and attacking Middle Eastern countries only destabilises the Middle East.

Socialist and Communist arguments against the Gulf War

• American bombing killed 3,664 Iraqi civilians during the Gulf War. This was a war crime that shows America hates brown people and wants them to suffer. The fact that thousands of Iraqi civilians were killed showed that America deliberately targeted civilians. You don’t just accidentally kill 3,664 civilians.
• Iraq didn’t kill 1,000 Kuwaiti civilians – that is American propaganda.
• Even if Iraq had killed 1,000 Kuwaiti civilians, it’s still less than the 3,664 Iraqi civilians killed by American bombing in that war, so America was the bad guy as it killed more civilians.
• It was not justified for America to kill 20,000-50,000 Iraqi soldiers. They were patriots simply trying to defend their country and people from the aggressive American empire.
• Kuwait was a capitalist monarchy and Iraq was a socialist country, so Iraq was simply trying to free Kuwait from monarchy and capitalism, but capitalist America insisted on fighting and killing people to prevent the spread of socialism.
• America didn’t “liberate” Kuwait, it just returned Kuwait to the Kuwaiti royal family. Kuwaitis aren’t free under the monarchy but Iraq was free under socialism.
• Saddam Hussein was not a dictator – that is American propaganda. 
• Saddam Hussein was socialist so he was good and America was capitalist so America was (and is still) bad.
• Saddam was one of the few world leaders brave enough and heroic enough to stand up to American imperialism, and in response America punished Iraq for that by killing thousands of Iraqi civilians.
• Iraq did not attack America nor did they threaten to attack America. Iraq only took Kuwait, which was not a justification for America to get involved. It’s none of America’s business as it was an Arab affair, and as such the Westerners should have allowed Arab nations to sort it out. The Kuwaitis did not need white people to “save” them.
• America invaded Iraq during the Gulf War, which was a criminal act.
• America didn’t care about freeing Kuwait – it only cared about taking Kuwait’s oil and turning Kuwait into a US colony.
• The American invasion of Iraq during the Gulf War was illegal under international law as it violated Iraq’s sovereignty. 
• It doesn’t matter if the United Nations voted in favour of the intervention against Iraq. The UN is an American-controlled, white supremacist organisation that only serves Western colonial interests.
• Iraq bombed Israel during the Gulf War which shows that Iraq was the good guy, because Israel is a genocidal terrorist apartheid state.

• Ronan Lewis is a writer and YouTuber who specialises in politics and history.