This week, I have seen several media outlets and analysts tracing the current conflict in the Gulf to the war to liberate Kuwait. Their logic is that the 21st century Middle East wars stem from the decision by the international community (President George Bush) not to overthrow Saddam Hussein after defeating his army in 1991.
I have a different perspective based on the premise that 1979 was the beginning of the modern era. That year began with the Iranian Revolution and continued with horrific massacres by the PLO in Israel and the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria (as well as terrorist attacks in Rhodesia, Britain, Norway, Columbia, USA, Spain, Ireland (Mountbatten) and Netherlands). At the end of the year the siege of the Grand Mosque of Mecca resulted in 244 deaths and spawned Al Qu’aida. To cap it all, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan on 24 December.
For me, the First Gulf War began the following year when Saddam Hussein invaded Iran. In the same way that the US Administration supported the Taliban when it attacked Soviet troops, Washington also backed Saddam with satellite and radar intelligence, economic loans, artillery and vehicles. However, this did not result in victory and over a million people died in this conventional war, which lasted nearly eight years. Strangely, both Israel and the USA supported Iran, with the secret Iran-Contra arms sales becoming a national scandal in 1987.
The British Army studied this First Gulf War as it happened and I remember every year, there was a question in the Staff College Exam about its implications. A friend who was translating for the United Nations stayed in Baghdad and his notes remind me of one of the most relevant lessons for 2026: Iraq attempted to expand the scope of the war to reduce its duration, but Iran was happy to plan for the long haul…
Rupert Wieloch 