Sample Essay On Persian Gulf War Vs. Iraq War

The Persian Gulf War in 1991 involved 39 countries, the US included, on one side and Iraq; this conflict was caused by the latter's attack on Kuwait. In contrast, the Iraq War, which begun in 2003, was an invasion of Iraq by US and British forces. Both wars were because of the Iraqi government’s failure to comply with UN regulations: during the Gulf War, the government declined to withdraw its troops from Kuwait, and in the Iraq War, it failed to allow UN weapon inspectors to audit its facilities.
Operation Desert Storm, the military name for the Gulf War, resulted in the Iraq army being pushed out of Kuwait, whereas Operation Iraq Liberation, the Iraq War, caused the removal from power of the country's government. In 2006, US soldiers captured the deposed Iraq president, Saddam Hussein; he was later sentenced to death and executed for his human rights violations. In the first war, the US military only suffered 294 casualties, but this figure increased by more than fifteen times in the second military action with an estimated death toll of 4,498.
Arguably, the Gulf War was a success as it achieved its main objective of ending Iraq invasion of Kuwait; however, the Iraq War failed to prove existence of WMDs in the country, which was the main reason behind the attack. Furtherance, the Gulf War had lesser military casualties and thus was more of a success than the second offensive. Additionally, the first war had clear goals that could transition to an exit strategy; on the other hand, after Operation Iraq Liberation failed to find the WMDs, it transformed into a civil conflict as tribal heads attempted to replace the deposed government.