Operation Daguet (Gulf War / Iraq-Kuwait, 1990-1991)

On an international level, the Gulf War, in which Operation Daguet constituted the French participation, was a moment of geopolitical recomposition at the end of the Cold War. The process of dissolution of the USSR - which was abolished in December of the same year - rendered obsolete the international system that had prevailed since the end of the 1940s, based on the confrontation of two superpowers each supported by a political-military bloc. From this geopolitical turning point came the "American moment" of the 1990s. The intervention of a coalition of states led by George Bush Sr.'s United States participated in the redefinition of a new world order; the bipolar order faded in the face of the Americans' ability to ensure the reign of law and international order, even if it meant mobilising their own capabilities that were out of all proportion to those of their allies, while favouring a multilateral approach to crisis management.

Saddam Hussein, in power since 1979, seeks to take advantage of geopolitical uncertainty to secure Iraqi influence in the region. Whereas the Middle East had been one of the theatres of the multiple peripheral conflicts(proxies) of the Cold War, the Ba'athist leader imagines that with the end of the bloc system, eyes will turn away from the Middle East and the field will be free for Iraq to become the main power there. Moreover, the end of the Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988) left thousands of Iraqi fighters unemployed, military equipment waiting to be used and infrastructure to be rebuilt. This led to an aggressive and predatory policy by which Saddam Hussein sought to monopolise all or part of his Kuwaiti neighbour's oil resources, thereby ensuring better access to the Persian Gulf and, incidentally, punishing the Kuwaiti government for refusing to write off the large Iraqi debt (US$10 billion, which is putting a strain on Iraqi reconstruction capacities).

On 2 August 1990, Iraqi troops entered Kuwaiti territory. On the same day, the UN adopted resolution 660 condemning the invasion and demanding the withdrawal of these troops. On the 6th, by resolution 661, it decides on an embargo on Iraq. On the 8th, the annexation of Kuwait is proclaimed by the Iraqi government. Thousands of Western nationals are taken hostage.

For France, the choice to participate in the intervention in Iraq corresponds to a commitment to respect for international law, in particular borders, which Iraq has clearly violated. It is also a matter of providing assistance to a State that has been the victim of aggression and that has solemnly requested a meeting of the Security Council. Here, too, the place that France will hold in the new international system is at stake in a strategic region where it has long-standing allies. Finally, the sacking of the French Embassy in Kuwait by Iraqi forces on 14 September 1990 provides an unambiguous reason for an armed response.