New World Order Flashcards
Outline Iran-Iraq War
1980-88
450k-1 million killed. SCUD missiles (chemical weapons) used by Saddam Hussein
Persian Gulf War
Iraq attacked Kuwait 2 August 1990. Kuwait invests in the west, had 20% of world oil reserves at the time.
Iraq had a big war debt
US starts air strikes Jan 16, 1991. 100,000 air sorties in 6 weeks. Kuwaiti oil fields burned
US exorcises Vietnam demons by wiping the floor with Saddam. Sends message that middling states can’t run over weak ones even though the Cold War is over.
US controls media, lets them see what they want. Smart bombs
Saddam empties millions of oil barrels into the Gulf causing ecological disaster, fires 1,600 SCUDs towards Israel (asked not to retaliate)
Unraveling Yugoslavia
Marshal Tito dies 1980. Strongman who kept the many ethnic groups from each others throats.
Slobodan Milosevic and Serbian Nationalism
Slovenia and Croatia declare independence June 1991, foreign states recognize them.
Serbs attack croatia and Bosnia to take over pockets of serb minorities in the countries and ethnically cleanse other areas in 1995.
NATO bombs Kosovo 1999
Enter the Taliban
Afghan civil war among warlords who fuck up the country some more - rape little boys.
Taliban (students) come from Pakistan refugee camps where they are taught radical Islam by Mullah Omar. They take control of parts of the country and institute strict Islamic laws - no TV, no Western clothing, no paper bags, destroy religious symbols not Islamic (Ancient Buddhist statues)
Osama Bin Laden
Non-Afghan Mujahideen gets a billion in Saudi Aid in 1980s Afghan War with Soviets
Lots of these non-Afghan fighters aren’t allowed back to their countries, so form Al Qaeda (The Base).
Taliban budget comes from Al Qaeda, who gets lots of donations.
