978-1-4222-3442-6

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I RAQ AT W AR AND R EBUILDING

tries that became known as the “highway of death.” As defeated Iraqi troops retreated from Kuwait, they left a trail of devastation, setting fire to oil fields, looting homes, and destroying public build- ings and infrastructure. The rebuilding of Kuwait would cost some $160 billion. On February 28, 1991, with the goal of liberating Kuwait achieved, the United States unilaterally declared a cease- fire. The coalition’s leaders did not want to pursue the Iraqi Army into Iraq, in part because they believed that some key allies, includ- ing Saudi Arabia and Turkey, would not support an effort to remove Saddam Hussein from power. However, U.S. President George H.W. Bush encouraged Iraqis to rise up and overthrow the dictator Encourged by Bush’s words, in the aftermath of the Gulf War Shiite Muslims in the south and Kurds in the north rebelled against Saddam’s regime. In Shiite cities like Basra and Karbala, returning

President George Bush greets U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia after the 1991 Gulf War. Although the brief war succeeded in expelling Iraq from Kuwait, it left Saddam Hussein in power.