War in the Persian Gulf


Daniel 8: 3 - 7: Then I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and, behold, there stood before the river a ram which had two horns: and the two horns were high; but one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last. I saw the ram pushing westward, and northward, and southward; so that no beasts might stand before him, neither was there any that could deliver out of his hand; but he did according to his will, and became great. And as I was considering, behold, an he goat came from the west on the face of the whole earth, and touched not the ground: and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes. And he came to the ram that had two horns, which I had seen standing before the river, and ran unto him in the fury of his power. And I saw him come close unto the ram, and he was moved with choler against him, and smote the ram, and brake his two horns: and there was no power in the ram to stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground, and stamped upon him: and there was none that could deliver the ram out of his hand.

The vision of the ram and the he goat had a fulfillment in modern times during the 1991 Persian Gulf War. The ram was Iraq, and the shorter horn of the ram was Iraq’s President Saddam Hussein. Saddam Hussein wanted to build Iraq into a nation as glorious and great as ancient Babylon once was. In doing so, Saddam Hussein warred against the Kurds in northern Iraq from 1987 to 1988, he invaded Kuwait in the south in 1990, and he launched scuds against Israel to the west. Saddam Hussein’s iron rule was really that of a dictator; he did according to his will and made Iraq militarily powerful and wealthy through its oil riches.

Such abuse of power caused the western world to form a mighty coalition against Iraq. This coalition was led by America, represented by the he goat in Daniel’s vision. America’s commander-in-chief was George Bush Senior, represented by the notable horn of the he goat. The coalition armies came to Iraq by sea and air (touching not the ground), and began Operation Desert Storm by softening the Iraqi military up with a furious air campaign. Iraq had no power to stand against the coalition armies as its intricate weapons network was systematically destroyed. Once control of the skies had been established, the coalition armies then began to trample and stamp upon the ram in the ground assault that followed the air war. When the ground assault ended, Iraq had been thoroughly beaten.