Iraq - Government Direct negotiations between Iraq and Kuwait began at the end of July 1990, with the aim of resolving their disputes over territory and Iraqi debt. The discussions failed, however, and on 2 August Iraqi forces invaded Kuwait, taking control of the country and establishing a provisional "free government". On 8 August Iraq announced its formal annexation of Kuwait, claiming that its forces had entered Kuwait at the invitation of insurgents, who had overthrown the Kuwaiti Government. The UN Security Council responded to Iraq´s action by unanimously adopting, on the day of the invasion, Resolution 660, which demanded the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of Iraqi forces from Kuwait. Subsequent resolutions imposed mandatory economic sanctions against Iraq and occupied Kuwait, and declared Iraq´s annexation. On 7 August 1990, at the request of King Fahd of Saudi Arabia, the US Government dispatched troops and aircraft to Saudi Arabia, in order to secure that country´s border with Kuwait against a possible Iraqi attack: other countries quickly lent their support to "Operation Desert Shield", as it was known, and a multinational force was formed to defend Saudi Arabia. At a meeting of the Arab League, on the day after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, 14 of the 21 members condemned the invasion and demanded an unconditional withdrawal by Iraq, and a week later 12 member states voted to send an Arab deterrent force to the Persian (Arabian) Gulf. However, there were widespread demonstrations of popular support for Iraq, notably among the Palestinian population of Jordan and in the Maghreb states. "Operation Desert Shield", despite being endorsed by the UN, was perceived in parts of the Arab world and elsewhere as a US-led campaign to secure US interests in the Gulf region. Diplomatic efforts to achieve a peaceful solution to the Gulf crisis all foundered on Iraq´s refusal to withdraw its forces from Kuwait. Diplomacy was initially complicated by Iraq´s detention of foreign citizens as hostages (keeping them in places of strategic importance in Iraq, in order to deter an attack), but by early December 1990 all had been released. In late November the UN Security Council adopted a resolution (No.678) which permitted member states to use "all necessary means" to enforce the withdrawal of Iraqi forces from Kuwait, if they had not left by 15 January 1991. "Operation Desert Storm" -in effect, war with Iraq- began on the night of 16-17 January, with air attacks on Baghdad by the multinational force. The Iraqi air force offered little effective resistance, and by the end of January the allies had achieved supremacy in the air. On 16 July 1979 the Vice-Chairman of the RCC, Saddam Hussain, who had long exercised the real power in Iraq, replaced al-Bakr as Chairman, and as President of Iraq. A few days later, an attempted coup was reported and several members of the RCC were executed for their alleged part in the plot. The suspicion of Syrian implication in this affair resulted in the suspension of discussions concerning political union between Iraq and Syria, but economic co-operation continued. In August 1990, the UN imposed mandatory economic sanctions on Iraq, and exports of crude and refined petroleum ceased. The Government´s post-war reconstruction efforts concentrated on repairing damage to facilities for the production of crude petroleum. Suggestions by U.S. government officials that the “war on terrorism” might be expanded to include operations against Iraq as well as in Afghanistan were publicly rejected by Arab League nations in Mar., 2002, but increasing threats of a U.S. invasion to end Iraq’s development of weapons of mass destruction led Iraq to announce in September that UN inspectors could return. Iraqi slowness to agree on the terms under which inspections could take place and U.S. insistence on new, stricter conditions for Iraqi compliance stalled the inspectors’ return. In October President Hussein won a referendum on a seven-year extension of his presidency, receiving 100% of the vote according to Iraqi officials. The same month the U.S. Congress approved the use of force against Iraq, and in November the Security Council passed a resolution offering Iraq a “final opportunity” to cooperate on arms inspections. A strict timetable was established for the return of the inspectors and resumption of inspections, and active Iraqi compliance was insisted on. The Iraqi parliament rejected the terms of the resolution, but inspectors were permitted to return, and inspections resumed in late November. An official Iraqi declaration (December) that it had no weapons of mass destruction was generally regarded as incomplete and uninformative. By Jan., 2003, UN inspectors had found no evidence of forbidden weapons programs, but they also indicated that Iraq was not actively cooperating with their efforts to determine if previously known or suspected weapons had been destroyed and weapons programs had been ended. Meanwhile, the United States and Britain continued preparations for possible military action against Iraq. Continued U.S.-British insistence on complete Iraqi cooperation with the UN inspections, and continued Iraqi resistance to doing so, led the United States and Britain to demand (Mar., 2003) that Hussein step down or face an invasion. On Mar. 19, 2003, the Anglo-American attack began with an airstrike aimed at Hussein personally. Sizable ground forces began invading the following day, surging primarily toward Baghdad, the southern oil fields, and port facilities; a northern front was opened by Kurdish and Anglo-American forces late in March. After less than a month of fighting, Hussein’s rule had collapsed, and U.S. and British forces had established a controlling presence in the major urban areas. U.S.-British failure to find biological or chemical weapons led to charges that Anglo-American leaders had exaggerated the Iraqi threat to international security. Hussein apparently survived the war, and guerrilla resistance to the occupation by what were believed to be Ba’ath loyalists persisted in the following weeks, largely in Sunni-dominated central Iraq. The Kurdish-dominated north and Shiite-dominated south were generally calmer. L. Paul Bremer 3d was appointed as civilian head of the occupation, but formation of a new Iraqi government, initially expected to occur shortly after the fighting stopped, was postponed. UN economic sanctions were lifted in May, 2003, and in mid-July an interim Governing Council consisting of representatives of Iraqi opposition groups was established.