Gulf War oil spill

[1] In January 1991, Iraqi forces allegedly began dumping oil into the Persian Gulf to stop a U.S. coalition-led water landing on their shores.

[2][3][4][5] Considered an act of environmental terrorism, the spill was a heated political move that had implications for the larger Gulf War and temporarily damaged Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

[2] According to Energy Secretary James D. Watkins, US military had already prepared for such a move, as Saddam Hussein had previously threatened to dump oil into the Persian Gulf.

[6] At the end of January 1991, Iraq began to deliberately spill massive amounts of oil into the Persian Gulf, in an apparent attempt to foil a potential landing by US Marines on Kuwait's coast.

[4][13][17] In a Wall Street Journal article written 14 months after the spill, Ken Wells reported that an estimated 375 miles (604 km) of shoreline remained covered in oil.

Lippman and Booth, reporting for The Washington Post on January 26, 1991, cited multiple experts who had high concerns about the spill and its impacts on the environment, calling it an “ecological disaster.”[6] Despite the industry that skirts the Persian Gulf, the area still supports a diverse ecosystem, including endangered and endemic species.

[19] Researchers have focused on the health of the unique habitats of the Persian Gulf, including coral reefs, salt marshes, mud flats, and mangrove forests (Booth).

[9][20] Some researchers found that marshlands and mud tidal flats continued to contain large quantities of oil, over nine years later, and full recovery is likely to take decades.

In 2001, German geographer Dr. Hans-Jörg Barth found that salt marshes still suffered significantly from the spill while rocky shores and mangroves showed a full recovery.

He attributes the delayed recovery of the salt marshes to the lack of wave action/physical energy and oxygen in the environment, important factors to the natural degradation of oil.

[9][20] Both groups of researchers also found that the spill caused the death of many seabirds, including almost 30,000 grebes and cormorants, by coating the birds’ feathers.

[7] A representative of the Pentagon Pete Williams described the spill as “environmental terrorism,” and Roger E. McManus of the Center for Marine Conservation stated Hussein “should be held accountable for his despicable crimes against the environment.