From Desert Storm to Iraqi Freedom: A Comparative Study on the Transformation of Conflicts in the MENA Region

The premise behind this work is to inspect the evolution of warfare in the MENA region, more precisely focusing on the country of Iraq, and as such to understand the shift from a conventional understanding of war to the current hybrid and asymmetric nature of conflicts, which has become a common instance for the global society. Through the analysis of the 1991 Gulf War and the 2003 Invasion of Iraq and its subsequent campaign, and by employing crucial documents that reflect on these historical events and their consequences, this work aims at understanding the military and strategic processes employed by the US-led Coalitions that operated in both occasions, which greatly impacted the Middle Eastern territory and ultimately shaped its processes in a permanent way. While the two conflicts are only a decade apart, they prove to be great elements to compare for the similarities and differences that exist between their origin, their development, their conclusion, and their outcomes, which range from the perceived international resonance and the creation of a “coalition of the willing” to the development of innovative weapons and the enforcement of the United States Administration’s intentions. This study also briefly touches the question of the disappearance of the instrument of war declarations, considered to be the key element signaling the end of the traditional approach and the beginning of a hybrid one. The intent is to show the reader that changes in the realm of warfare are oftentimes not completely innovative, meaning that they probably have roots in past occurrences, but their progressively wider employment is what constitutes the true historical advancement as they generate a greater impact on the international community. The purpose is also to instill the seed of a more complex reasoning on the possible future for the panorama of war, which is destined to lean more than ever on the concept of hybridity.