Continuing Problems in the Middle East and

Asia

Iran Iraq War 1980-88 Cause: Border dispute

(disagreement) Iraqi Dictator, Saddam

Hussein took advantage of turmoil in Iran after the Iranian Revolution of 1979

Long and bloody war that lasted till 1988

Significance: Hurt both of their economies and caused heavy casualties

Kurdish Genocide Hussein put down a revolt by the Kurds

who wanted their independence Used chemical weapons on the Kurds

Significance: World was outraged and brought on charges of genocide on Hussein

Gulf War of 1991 Hussein invaded

Kuwait for their oil fields

U.S. saw this as illegal and a threat to their ally, Saudi Arabia as well as oil in the Persian Gulf

Gulf War of 1991•UN and U.S. invaded Kuwait and quickly forced out the Iraqis

•However, Hussein did stay in power and continued to torture people in his own country for another decade

War in Iraq (2003-Present) U.S. and British charged Hussein had weapons of

mass destruction (Nukes) and were supporting terrorists

UN had been trying to stop Iraq from using oil profits to build Nukes for years but Hussein continued to defy their orders

Significance: Invasion by these 3 groups led to the overthrow of Hussein leading to free elections

Hussein would face trial for human rights violations and war crimes and was executed

Present Day Iraq Violence still exists today making it difficult

for the new government to create stability Why?

Iraq is very diverse: Sunnis, Shiites, and Kurds These groups fear each other being in power

and there is fear of civil war if foreign influence is removed

Yugoslavia Breaks Apart

Yugoslavia Former satellite nation of the Soviet Union Tore apart due to ethnic, nationalist, and

religious tensions Country was led by Milosevic who favored

the serbs Due to their differences they broke apart

into 6 different countries in the 1990s Conflicts arose between the majorities and

minorities in these new countries

Example of Conflict: Bosnia Civil War began when they declared their

independence Groups: Bosniaks, Serbs, and Croats During the war, all sides committed atrocities Ethnic Cleansing (Regents): Serbs attempted to kill

off all Bosniaks and Croats to make ethnically “pure” areas (Human Rights Violation) Tens of thousands of people were brutally killed Croats took revenge by doing the same to Serbs in their areas

Peace in Bosnia NATO stepped in and began bombing the

Serb military forces leading to attempts at peace

Dayton Accords: fragile peace agreement was established with international help