Saddam still holds on

On April 6, 1991, Iraq formally accepted the terms of a cease-fire agreement. Iraq agreed to pay war damages to Kuwait and promised to destroy its chemical and biological weapons stockpiles and production facilities. The United Nations was charged with enforcing the agreement.

The decision to end the war after 100 hours has been questioned, since it allowed Iraqi forces to retreat to Iraq before they had been captured by the coalition flanking movement. This meant that Saddam Hussein, while overwhelmingly defeated, still had an army to keep him in power.

And it kept him in power. Despite successive post-war rebellions, coup plots and continued U.N. economic sanctions, and long after General Schwarzkopf had retired and President Bush was turned out of office, Saddam Hussein remained right where he had been at the start of the war.

Meanwhile, according to the United Nations, the terms of the cease-fire agreement have never been met. Seven years later, disagreement over one key provision of the 1991 cease-fire -- the destruction of Iraq's capacity to make chemical and biological weapons -- threatens to return war to the Gulf.

Iraq Standoff Main  |  The Dispute  |  The Diplomacy  |  Military Moves  |  Inside Iraq

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