Environmental impact of Gulf wars

Persian Gulf countries especially Kuwait and Iraq faced the serious environmental disasters because of the actions of the Iraqi government during the 1991 Gulf war and 2003 Iraq war.

Disabled tank and burning oil field

Wars
  • The Iran–Iraq War from September 1980 to August 1988 killed hundreds of thousands.
  • In 1990 Iraq invaded Kuwait claiming that Kuwait was a part of Iraq and that Kuwait stole oil from it. This Gulf war resulted in Operation Desert Storm in which Saddam Hussein was defeated. This was a much smaller war and had an environmental impact.
  • In March 2003, the US, UK and Australia invaded Iraq. This again was a much smaller war than the first one, but security situation deteriorated later in the .[1] This Gulf war also had an environmental impact.
Further information: Iran–Iraq War § Attacks on shipping, Gulf War, and Iraq War

The effects

Environment

Environmental consequences of the Gulf War of 1991 were unprecedented, and included approximately 3.5 million tons of crude oil released into the desert, and 800,000 tons of oil spilled in the Persian Gulf. [2] In the desert, 250 oil lakes covered about 50 square kilometres, as a result of the sixty million barrels of oil that came from the burning oil wells. [3] It is estimated to be between six to eight million barrels of oil that polluted the marine environment. [4]

By the February 27th ceasefire, the Saudi coast had suffered over 100 miles of damage. Oil, 15 inches deep in certain areas, destroyed the nesting grounds for endangered sea turtles and birds, fisheries, and shrimp-spawning areas. [5] Beaches, tide pools, and seagrass beds had been damaged, and thousands of rare herons, flamingos, and other bird species were killed. [6] The Sea Island Terminal oil spill on January 25th, 1991, off of the Saudi coast, was determined during the Gulf War ceasefire to be a band of approximately 10-15 miles. [7] The second major slick off of the Kuwaiti-Saudi coast was from the Mina al Bakr offshore terminal of Iraq, which was also a spill of around 10 miles long.[8] Over 600 oil wells were burning by February 26th 1991, and temperatures in Kuwait dropped significantly as thick smoke engulfed the area. [9] Eventually, it was around 800 oil wells in Kuwait that continued to burn for months. Nitrogen oxide, radium, hydrogen carbons, and hydrogen sulfide are among the other pollutants released by burning oil wells. [10]

Over 1000 kilometres away, in southern Turkey, black acidic rain fell in Turkey in March of 1991 as a result of carbon particles from the Kuwaiti oil fires, which were carried by winds that also spread this to Iraq, Iran, and Syria.  Water supplies and crop irrigation in Iran were affected by the black rain as well. [11]

The atmospheric pollution as an outcome of the oil fires has also been linked to human health implications, indicating a notable increase in oil-related heavy metals such as nickel, vanadium, selenium, and cobalt in brain tumours. Airborne dust that was collected following the war also displayed contamination by elements capable of causing DNA damage and increasing lipid peroxidation. [12]

Health

The Gulf wars caused very serious health problems in countries surrounding the Persian Gulf. A main cause of this was from the depleted uranium from bombs dropped by both the Allies and Iraq. When most American troops came home, there was a reported increase of health systems and medical conditions. According to the National Library of Medicine, "Analyses of the body-system symptom scores (BSS), weighted to account for sampling design, and adjusted by age, sex, and education, indicated that Persian Gulf-deployed veterans were more likely to report neurological, pulmonary, gastrointestinal, cardiac, dermatological, musculoskeletal, psychological and neuropsychological system symptoms than Germany veterans." This is a major problem, because individuals with these symptoms and disease will most likely pass these to their offspring when they reproduce (See "Reproductive Effects").

Cancer cases in Iraq.

Cancer

According to Jamail article the main reason of the rising number of cancer and birth defects is depleted uranium and military weapons in Iraq. Official statistics show a sharp increase in the present age of cancer cases in Iraq. After Gulf War I, many doctors think that the war pollution is probably the reason for the sharp increase of the rate of cancer in Kuwait.

Posttraumatic Stress disorder

In 1995, incidences of posttraumatic stress disorder were high in Kuwait. Approximately 27 percent of Kuwaiti has this psychiatric disorder. 66 percent of those with diagnosable post-traumatic disorder were still dreaming nightmares about some war events. In addition, many boys were dreaming different dreams about Saddam trying to kill them or hurt their families. A documentary movie about affected families was made. A boy saw his father tortured then killed by the Iraqi soldiers; after this the boy lost the ability to speak. Another affected victim has speech problems because Iraqi soldiers forced her to watch her two sons killed.

Reproductive Effects

Dr. Haddad and his colleagues noticed a sharp increase in congenital defects and infertility in Fallujah after it had been bombed by the Americans. Fallujah now has the highest rate of genetic damage in a population at all. Many children now born with two heads, one eye or problems in the nervous system. Scientists said that the rate is fourteen times worse than Hiroshima.

Many scientists believe that Depleted Uranium is the main reason of appearing new disease like new illnesses in the kidney, lungs, liver, and total immune system collapse. In addition, it has been noticed that the number of abortions higher in the busy area of military operations. Families are afraid to have babies. Moreover, because of the second Gulf War many new diseases spread in the region. Also, respiratory diseases increased horribly.

Goldenhar syndrome has also been attributed to the Gulf Wars.

Cleanup

The Persian Gulf countries cooperated to clean up the ruin and prevent future havoc.

Over the years volunteer Kuwaiti divers have been cleaning the benthos. They have extracted two cannons and seven shells. It was common to find a turtle caught in fishing nets. Saudi Aramco was one of the largest contributors to the cleaning process. It provided support to other Oil-response teams, distributing protection equipment and materials. Moreover, many Saudi Aramco employees were involved in volunteer teams to clean up marine life.

The Royal commission in Jubail has established a new program to monitor oil spill or any other chemical materials. In addition, it studies the possibility of oil leakage and how it can be stopped in an emergency situations. Also, Aramco stores additional anti-pollution equipment and ships.

References
  1. "Persian Gulf Wars". The Columbia Encyclopedia.
  2. Sand, Peter H. (2011). "Catastrophic Environmental Damage and the Gulf War Reparation Awards: The Experience of the UN Compensation Commission". Proceedings of the ASIL Annual Meeting. 105: 430–433. doi:10.5305/procannmeetasil.105.0430. ISSN 0272-5037.
  3. HEGAZY, AHMAD K. (1997). "International Conference on the Long-Term Environmental Effects of the Gulf War: Held in Kuwait, during 18–20 November 1996". Environmental Conservation. 24 (1): 83–84. ISSN 0376-8929.
  4. HEGAZY, AHMAD K. (1997). "International Conference on the Long-Term Environmental Effects of the Gulf War: Held in Kuwait, during 18–20 November 1996". Environmental Conservation. 24 (1): 83–84. ISSN 0376-8929.
  5. Sand, Peter H. (2011). "Catastrophic Environmental Damage and the Gulf War Reparation Awards: The Experience of the UN Compensation Commission". Proceedings of the ASIL Annual Meeting. 105: 430–433. doi:10.5305/procannmeetasil.105.0430. ISSN 0272-5037.
  6. Sand, Peter H. (2011). "Catastrophic Environmental Damage and the Gulf War Reparation Awards: The Experience of the UN Compensation Commission". Proceedings of the ASIL Annual Meeting. 105: 430–433. doi:10.5305/procannmeetasil.105.0430. ISSN 0272-5037.
  7. Glassman, Laura; Walsh, Jacquelyn (1991). "War in the Gulf: Post Mortem of an Environmental Tragedy: Oil Spills and Oil Fires". Earth Island Journal. 6 (2): 43–45. ISSN 1041-0406.
  8. Glassman, Laura; Walsh, Jacquelyn (1991). "War in the Gulf: Post Mortem of an Environmental Tragedy: Oil Spills and Oil Fires". Earth Island Journal. 6 (2): 43–45. ISSN 1041-0406.
  9. Glassman, Laura; Walsh, Jacquelyn (1991). "War in the Gulf: Post Mortem of an Environmental Tragedy: Oil Spills and Oil Fires". Earth Island Journal. 6 (2): 43–45. ISSN 1041-0406.
  10. HEGAZY, AHMAD K. (1997). "International Conference on the Long-Term Environmental Effects of the Gulf War: Held in Kuwait, during 18–20 November 1996". Environmental Conservation. 24 (1): 83–84. ISSN 0376-8929.
  11. Glassman, Laura; Walsh, Jacquelyn (1991). "War in the Gulf: Post Mortem of an Environmental Tragedy: Oil Spills and Oil Fires". Earth Island Journal. 6 (2): 43–45. ISSN 1041-0406.
  12. HEGAZY, AHMAD K. (1997). "International Conference on the Long-Term Environmental Effects of the Gulf War: Held in Kuwait, during 18–20 November 1996". Environmental Conservation. 24 (1): 83–84. ISSN 0376-8929.
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