Nine years after the invasion of Kuwait: the impacts of the Iraqi left-over ordnance

Abstract

The Iraqi regime occupied the State of Kuwait for seven months. During this period the Iraqi Armed Forces brought into Kuwait massive quantities of army materials. These included heavy military equipment, armoured vehicles, tanks, missiles, munitions and mines. The worst of these were the mines and munitions. During the first five years of liberation, casualties in Kuwait were high and they reached hundreds of cases of both civilians and military personnel. Since 1995, the number of casualties has dropped sharply, largely as a result of the clearing efforts, but casualties are still occurring. This paper describes the type, quantities and distribution of the ordnance within the Kuwaiti desert, together with the clearance efforts. Because of the particularly adverse impacts of land mine use, strict international measures are required to prevent them being made.