What was the aftermath and implications of the Gulf War?

Answer

Sanctions reduced Iraq- The nation in the forefront of Middle Eastern secularism, which sported the finest schools, universities, hospitals and infrastructure and reduced it to rubble. This led the once popularist dictator into a frenzy, and with no money flowing into the nation the schools, hospitals and infrastructure wasn't rebuilt, the nation starved, got dumber and cancer rates from 'depleted' uranium went through the roof- now with no jobs in the country, because theres no money to pay with you might as well join the army/republican guard/Baath party and tow the party line because that was really the only profitable thing to do in Iraq between then and now. A nation that hated America was now developed, the USAF mastered its bombing techniques it learned from Cologne, Hanoi, Nuremberg flattened the entire place and convinced the media that 'smart' bombs were the arsenal of the future, it was funny how surprised the American public was to see resistance in Iraq, considering they did destroy most of the dams, water supplies, destroyed sewage facilities in order to spread disease, destroyed hospitals, schools, oil wells in order to destabilize the country, and the least they could've done was overthrow Saddam while they were there, instead of not providing them with the money to rebuild in the hope that this would drive the Iraqi people into rebellion. Guess what, you need money to buy weapons in a dictatorship, no money = no weapons = no resistance. The list continues, that war has a lot of sh*t that went down in it, and let me tell you in 20 years time, when this will all be declassified you will find a lot of inconsistencies with the conflict, whatever you do don't sit there shaking your head saying 'conspiracy theorist' or 'liberal' or 'lefties', because the same people were shaking their heads in Vietnam calling those who questioned the actions of the US government the same thing, and look at what were continuing to find out to this day (eg gulf of tonkin). The greatest implication of the Gulf War in today's context was the Gulf War 2, and don't you dare hail it as a success, 11,000 civilians dead, 45,000 Iraqi soldiers died defending their country from an illegal invasion is not the price to pay to overthrow a regime, starving millions and killing hundreds of thousands over a ten year period was a worse one. The implications of the Gulf War were detrimental for world peace and like Vietnam we will suffer from it for the next 25-30 years, it really brought to light what the US government was prepared to do to lower the price of the black gold

Answer

Wow.

Crosley left this little bit out of his emotional tirade, so I thought I'd share it:

The people of Kuwait are enjoying freedom once again after being liberated by a UN sanctioned international coalition from an illegal invasion.

First answer by Crosley. Last edit by Sean. Question popularity: 123 [recommend question]