ECOLOGICAL VANDALISM IN THE GULF, 1991
The Effects of Oil Well Fires and Spills
When Iraqi troops were compelled to retreat from Kuwait in February of 1991, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein gave orders for Kuwait's oil wells to be blown up and set on fire. This constituted an act of ecological warfare, or perhaps ecological terrorism. Since the action seemed to serve no clear strategic purpose, however, it might most accurately be regarded as an act of vandalism. In all, 613 oil well fires were set by the retreating Iraqi troops, and the last of these was not extinguished until November 6, 1991, nearly nine months after they were set (Charrier, 1998, p. iii).
The short term effects of the oil fires were dramatic. The smoke plumes rising from hundreds of burning oil wells were easily visible from outer space. In the weeks and months before the fires were controlled and extinguished, air temperatures in the region were reduced by as much as 10 degrees C (18 degrees F), while water temperatures were also reduced several degrees (Charrier, 1998, p. iii).
In all, the total cost in environmental damage has been estimated at $40 billion (Charrier, 1998, p. v). This of course is in addition to, and separate from, the economic costs in destroyed or damaged oil facilities and other infrastructure. In all, Saddam Hussein's order to set Kuwait's oil wells on fire is surely the costliest act of vandalism in history.
The broader question raised by ecological damage is its long term consequences. In the immediate wake of the Gulf War, the environmental effects seemed catastrophic, and were widely thus reported at the time. In fact, "predictions often ... differed widely, ranging from the Gulf becoming virtually lifeless to more or less trivial effects" (Price, 1994, p. 53).
The intent of this study is to examine what is now known of the long term extent and effects of environmental damage resulting from the oil well d...