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Debate Info

17
7
Yes, Iraq should be blamed. No, Kuwait should be blamed.
Debate Score:24
Arguments:10
Total Votes:29
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 Yes, Iraq should be blamed. (7)
 
 No, Kuwait should be blamed. (3)

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Iraq should be blamed for starting the Gulf War.

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Yes, Iraq should be blamed.

Side Score: 17
VS.

No, Kuwait should be blamed.

Side Score: 7
3 points

Iraq should be blamed for starting the Gulf War as they were the ones who initiated the war. The main reason was due to Saddam Hussein wanting to gain resources desperately as Iraq was severely in debt. This was due to the aftermath of the war between Iran and Iraq which resulted in over S$80 billion debt for Iraq. Thus, they have to turn to Kuwait to obtain resources as Kuwait was rich in it. However, Saddam Hussein attacked Kuwait without warning which was the trigger to the start of Gulf War when Iraq troops invaded Kuwait. So, as Saddam Hussein should not resort to violence to obtain their resources, Iraq should be blamed for starting the Gulf War.

Owen here.

Side: Yes, Iraq should be blamed.
3 points

Iraq should be blamed as they were the initiators, and ignored attempts at a diplomatic and non-violent solution to the conflict.

Iraq was the first to deploy troops, amassing soldiers on the border with Kuwait around July 20, and Iraq was also the one that struck first, moving his troops into Kuwait, annexing Kuwait. Kuwait put up little resistance to this attack, showing that they did not prepare for violence, and thus wanted to resolve the issue in a non-violent way.

Furthermore, efforts to mediate the conflict by Egypt and Saudi Arabia were completely ignored by Iraq, while Kuwait showed willingness to participate in meetings and negotiation. Iraq has accused Kuwait for practicing "Slant Drilling", stealing precious old resources from Iraq. Kuwait has acknowledged this partially and has offered a reasonable compensation, that was accepted by the international community. However, Iraq was the one that continued to pursue the matter. Iraq has also accused Kuwait of lowering oil prices through the overproduction of oil, thus affecting Iraq's economy. However, Kuwaits decision to overproduce oil was also made to assist in the rebuilding of their own country's economy. Therefore, Iraq should understand the situation that Kuwait was in, and so demanding that Kuwait stop overproducing is an unreasonable demand.

This shows that Iraq had no reason to invade Kuwait, so Iraq should be blamed.

Side: Yes, Iraq should be blamed.
3 points

Iraq should be blamed as they were the main instigators of the war and the basis for its attacks are based on unsubstantiated claims.

Iraq first threatened Kuwait and later invaded Kuwait all on the basis that Kuwait was deliberately over-producing crude oil to deprive Iraq of critical oil revenue as a way of economic warfare. In addition, Iraq also alleged that Kuwait was stealing oil from the Rumayla oil field that straddled the Iraq-Kuwait border, citing decreases in oil production from the oil field as the reason.

However, all these reasons that Iraq provided are unsubstantial and can be easily due to other factors. Kuwait could have been over-producing oil to aid in their economic development without any intent to cut into Iraq's profit and Iraq did not have any concrete evidence that Kuwait was indeed stealing from their Rumayla oil field.

As such, Iraq are merely using these claims as a convenient excuse to invade Kuwait to acquire its ports and valuable oil fields. This shows that Iraq had no reason whatsoever to invade Kuwait and therefore should be blamed for starting the Gulf War.

-Ryan

Side: Yes, Iraq should be blamed.
3 points

Iraq should be blamed for starting the Gulf war as it was Saddam Hussein's decision of using aggressive military force instead of continuing with diplomatic talks in order to resolve their conflict with Kuwait.

After the invasion and occupation of Kuwait, Iraqi troops were stationed at the southern border which indicates that Iraq's next target/intention was to invade Saudi Arabia in order to control 50% of the World's oil reserve. Despite warnings from the UN to withdraw his troops from Kuwait, Saddam Hussein ignored their requests which shows that he preferred to settle this conflict through barbaric military means rather than through civilised diplomacy.

Side: Yes, Iraq should be blamed.
2 points

I strongly believe that Iraq's decision to invade Kuwait was rash and unjustified. When the tensions between the two countries were high, the Arab league and Kuwait gave in to some of Iraq's demands, showing that they are willing to compromise to prevent a war. For example, OPEC raised oil prices from US$18 to US$21 per barrel, in order to allow Iraq to receive more profit. Furthermore, Kuwait even agreed to write off Iraq's massive debt of US$14 billion, and grant Iraq a further US$500 million in loans, which is significantly more than the US$2.4 billion Iraq demanded. Yet, Iraq was still unsatisfied and decided to invade Kuwait. Also, talks were going on between these two countries, and the conflict would have definitely been prevented if Iraq just gave in a little and close one eye to the small amount of oil being extracted by Kuwait on a disputed border. Iraq could have continued with the talks, instead of being rash and using violence to solve issues.

Side: Yes, Iraq should be blamed.
1 point

I believe that Iraq should be blamed for the gulf war as it initiated the conflict by deploying armed forces to invade Kuwait, jeopardising the Kuwaiti economy and committing mass genocide of Kuwaiti civilians. Despite unfavourable diplomatic solutions with the Kuwaiti government and the arab league, Iraq could have seek help from the United Nations or the Western powers for the repair of its economy and the resolution of other disputes with the Kuwaiti government. Moreover, despite proposals by the UN and western powers to withdraw troops from Kuwait, Iraq still refused to do so, resulting in the intervention by the UN and the Gulf war.

Side: Yes, Iraq should be blamed.
1 point

Iraq should be blamed for the war as the war as they were the ones who started the war with the invasion of Kuwait. Iraq had ignored diplomatic solutions to the dispute with kuwait instead opting for a military solution to a diplomatic problem. Iraq quickly annexed Kuwait defeating the unprepared army easily as Kuwait felt that the problem would be solved democratically instead of through military action. Many of the reasons such as the slant drilling of the oil fields were unsubstantiated by experts. And most viewed the main reason for invasion was economic and religious, thus they were in no right to invade and had no grounds to justify the invasion. Thus Iraq should be blamed

Side: Yes, Iraq should be blamed.
3 points

Kuwait should be blamed for the Gulf War as they indirectly provoked and forced Iraq to take further action.

In the 1980s, Iraq fought Iran in a war, and Iraq sustained heavy economic losses and the destruction of their economy. Wanting to build up their economy and repay their US$130 billion international debt, they relied on their main export, oil. The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, was an organisation supposed to control and limit oil production in the world so as to secure a steady income to the member states. However, Kuwait and other Arab states were overproducing oil, causing the supply in the market to go up and the price for each barrel to go down. This affected Iraq's economy greatly as they were reliant on the export of oil.

The fact that Kuwait consistently produced above its quota goes to show that Kuwait did not consider the impacts of their actions and were sacrificing their relationship with Iraq just to increase their revenue. Even though Kuwait did try to mend relationships by writing off Iraq's debt of US$14billion, the fact remains that they still had a large international debt and that Kuwait's aggressive oil strategy still severely stunted the growth of the Iraqi economy. Thus, Kuwait should be blamed for starting the Gulf War as they threatened the Iraqi economy and did not do more to ensure good bilateral ties.

Side: No, Kuwait should be blamed.
2 points

Kuwait should be blamed for starting the gulf war as they diluted the oil market and caused Iraq's economy to decline . As Iraq is still recovering from its war , it needed to generate revenue to boost its economy . They decided to do so by selling oil . Kuwait was too concerned with making money and continued to overproduced despite the set quota by OPEC . The source states " a Kuwaiti official said , "We'll make the economy in Iraq so bad , one would be able to sleep with an Iraqi woman for ten dinars."" . I can infer from this that Kuwait kept overproducing to leave oil prices low , preventing Iraq from rising up again . Thus , Iraq had no choice but to invade Kuwait as Kuwait was challenging Iraq's way of life by harming the economy .

- Mason

Side: No, Kuwait should be blamed.
1 point

Kuwait caused oil prices in the middle eastern region to drop rapidly due to overproduction. They went against the quota set by the internationally recognised OPEC and kept producing oil to sell at a low price. Iraq, who was dependent on sale of oil to support themselves now faced the problem of low oil prices. They were not able to earn as much as before and thus in order to repair their country, had no choice to invade Kuwait.

Side: No, Kuwait should be blamed.