Human Shields and the Gulf War.

This article examines Iraq's 1990 policy of holding hundreds of Western and Japanese civilians as "human shields" at strategic sites to deter the Gulf War coalition's offensive. Drawing on newly declassified records, it reveals that while coalition leaders accepted the risk of hostage casualties, they implemented special precautionary measures and planned a risky rescue operation in Kuwait City to mitigate harm to foreign nationals. The presence of hostages complicated military planning by forcing trade-offs between military objectives, force protection, and political considerations, including concerns about public opinion in the United States and the United Kingdom. The policy was terminated early in December 1990 under diplomatic pressure, easing coalition war planning. The findings contribute to understanding the legal, ethical, and strategic challenges posed by human shields in armed conflict and suggest avenues for further research on their impact in the Gulf War and beyond.