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In 1990 the tiny but wealthy Middle Eastern country of Kuwait

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raised its level of oil production which turned out to be an epically bad idea [Oil barrels cover a map of the Middle East]

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for them like jumping into shark-infested waters with an open wound

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kinda bad the trouble was that Kuwait raised production in spite of agreements

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with OPEC the Organization of major oil-producing countries well Kuwait

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going rogue didn't go over too well with its next door neighbor Saddam Hussein [Saddam Hussein stood outside a house labelled Kuwait]

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the leader of Iraq. The fact is Saddam went a little you know Hussein in the

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membrane so what was the big deal well iraq was deeply in debt and relied on [Man shuffles cards and machine pumps oil from the ground]

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oil production as its main source of revenue Kuwait doing stuff to mess with

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oil prices could really foul up Baghdad's game so Saddam being Saddam decided the

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only thing to do is launch a full-scale invasion of Kuwait smooth move exlax to [Iraq soldiers holding Iraq flags invading Kuwait]

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really understand the factors at play here we have to rewind to the 80s which

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is funny because rewinding was something we actually had to do back then well [80's punk rock man holding a VHS tape]

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America had sided with Iraq in the Iran-Iraq war that raged from 1980 to 1988

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while America didn't supply the majority of Iraq's weapons it did offer Iraq [Man dressed as Uncle Sam in a room filled with guns]

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intelligence information on the enemy creating an alliance with Saddam Hussein

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Iraq also formed an alliance with Soviet Union which supplied Iraq with

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enough weaponry to give the fourth largest army in the world so when it [Selection of bullet ammunition]

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comes to military fourth place aint too shabby. Well here's where things get

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tricky if Hussein captured Kuwait's major supplier of oil to the US it would

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cramp our style big time if Iraq were to take over Kuwait which was a distinct [Iraq soldiers taking over Kuwait]

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possibility what was to stop it from taking over neighboring Saudi Arabia and

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if that happened, Iraq would control one-fifth of the world's oil supply

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making America economically dependent on it well Saddam's invasion made it clear [Uncle Sam begging Saddam Hussein for oil]

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to Bush that our former enemy of our enemy was now an enemy we couldn't

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afford to have our oil supply threatened and we couldn't allow random dudes to [Subway train sets off]

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take over whatever countries they wanted in such a

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crucial part of the world. So it was time to mount an invasion of our own the [US soldiers on a field]

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first Gulf War aka Operation Desert Storm yes sounded like an action movie and it

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kind of played out like one with the unanimous blessings of the UN Security

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Council US-led coalition forces invaded Kuwait and made short work of Saddam's [American choppers fly over Kuwait]

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forces the war was quick and to the point shock and awe the U.S made its

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entrance on January 17 1991 and declared all objectives complete about a month

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later there have been games of monopoly that have lasted longer well Bush Senior [Family playing monopoly]

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caught a lot of flak for leaving Saddam in charge of Iraq after the war and

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critics said that he left the job undone by not pushing onward to Baghdad and [Critic discussing Bush Senior's decision]

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taking down Saddam himself well some say that the decision actually hurt him in [Couple relaxing on a beach]

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the election that followed however HW felt like they'd achieved what they needed

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to achieve and thought that removing Saddam would only further destabilize a

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region that was already about as stable as a camel on skill for the record [Camel eating in the desert]

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camels don't do well on still not well at all

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