THE PERSIAN GULF MONUMENT - 1991
OMRI AMRANY - SCULPTOR
Started on 2 August 1990 (at 2 AM) with the Kuwait invasion by Iraq, the Gulf War highlights human rights and interdependence among the nations. With more than half the world's proved reserves of petroleum and natural gas in the Gulf peace required regional cooperation. Amidst cries of terrible abuse in Kuwait, and use of chemical weapons, 34 countries joined a United Nations Coalition, involving five weeks of strategic bombing, and a lightning ground offensive. The 100-hour War under General H. Norman Schqarzkopf, CIC, achieved unity with Coalition partners. Kuwait City was liberated - but only after horrendous ecological crimes. Desert Storm temporarily returned peace to the Gulf Region, until Gulf War II, March, 2003. Billowing smoke from a burning oil well symbolizes in bronze the severe environmental pollution triggered by the Gulf War. Bas relief elements include infantry soldier, armor, helicopter, and jet. Two camels suggest the eons, the desert and the Middle East.
SOURCES:
The Persian Gulf War Almanac, Col. Harry G. Summers Jr., Facts of File.
USA Today World - 1991 Gulf War Chronology
Crusade: The Untold Story of the Persian Gulf War, Rick Atkinson, Houston Mifflin Company, 1993.
World Book Encyclopedia, 2000.
George M. Bush Presidential Library, University of Texas.
All monument descriptions in the Memorial Gallery are written by Kathleen Van Ella.
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