5. the Gulf war of 1991 (War and Media‪)‬

"A War by Any Other Name ..." One's audience is important to consider when discussing the wars in the Persian Gulf region during the past two decades. People in the region often refer to them as the "First," "Second," and "Third" Gulf Wars (TBS, 2003, #10). The first was the long, bloody struggle between Iran and Iraq from 1980 to 1988, that began with an Iraqi attack on an Iran perceived by the Iraqis to be militarily vulnerable. The second began with the Iraqi attack on Kuwait and ended with the American and Coalition forces' defeat of the Iraqi army, in 1991. The third was the 2003 defeat and occupation of Iraq by chiefly American forces. More usual in the United States is to call the first the "Iran-Iraq War," the second the "Persian Gulf War," the "First Gulf War," or simply the "Gulf War," and the third the "Iraq War" or the "War in Iraq," provisionally, although history may eventually give it a more permanent name. Since most of the sources to be cited in this paper are American, it seems simplest to stay with the U.S. terminology.