This paper is to inform the reader about Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm as well as to point out the aftermath of Operation Desert Storm to the region. This paper will guide the reader through a series of events that evolved from a war between Iran and Iraq through Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, to the Unites States invasion of Iraq in March of 2003. This paper's goal is to show how the events following Desert Storm led to the United States invasion of Iraq and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

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