Rationale: To rebuff Saddam Hussein’s invasion and annexation of Kuwait.

International authority: U.N. Security Council resolution authorizing subsequent international coalition.

Type of operation: Airstrikes and ground invasion.

U.S. involvement: Massive investment of military resources, including at least 575,000 troops at vanguard of 34-nation coalition.

Outcome: In conducting the war, 294 U.S. personnel were killed; Iraqi deaths – both civilians and soldiers — numbered between 20,000 and 40,000. As a result of the invasion, Saddam’s forces were repelled from Kuwait, and the Emir of Kuwait was restored to his throne. U.N. economic sanctions on Iraq, initiated by a Security Council resolution before the war, continued after the war’s conclusion. Also after the war, Saddam crushed an Iraqi Shiite uprising against his rule, which had been encouraged, but not supported, by the United States.

LINK TO THE INTERACTIVE : SOMALIA, BOSNIA, KOSOVO, AFGHANISTAN/SUDAN, DESERT/FOX (IRAQ), AFGHANISTAN, PAK-YEMEN-SOMALIA, IRAQ INVASION AND OCCUPATION, lIBYA,