Iraq's invasion of Kuwait was long coming because of the tension between the two oil competing companies who had very different government and culture. Iraq was basically under a dictatorship while Kuwait had a king and parliament that gave more freedoms to it's people then Iraq did. Iraq was a more militarized nation while Kuwait was more focused on its economy, which made them become more friendly with the outside world then Iraq was. The invasion was rather easy for Saddam because of Kuwait's small military and the countries usual reliance on the United Kingdom to defend them, like they did in the 60's when Iraq attempted to invade. The worlds response to the invasion was fast because of the reliance on oil from that part of the world, which made the stability of the region a priority. The military response to liberate Kuwait was rather slow because of the fear of Iraq's Army being one of the best in the world and also because of war wariness from Vietnam. The coalition that was formed was slow to intervene because of the fear of massive casualties that could effect the future of U.N. Coalition's. This made it so an extended air campaign and technology war was used as opposed to direct 'boots on the ground'. The Iraqi military was quickly defeated because they simply lacked the will to fight due to low moral from the air campaign and lack of organization because of the destruction of Iraq's communication system. Iraq's withdrawal of troops was heavily contested because the coalition wanted to destroy Iraq's Army to prevent it from causing more trouble in the regions. The Highway of Death was a result of this and remains a major controversy because the general who approved of it should be taken up on charges of war crimes. This was not done because the U.N. allowed for 'any means necessary' to be taken. Overall the conflict was overblown and Iraq could have been defeated faster and more efficiently if they were imminently contested. The Persian Gulf War is the reason for other wars to occur in the region in the near future because of the U.N. 'shaking the hornets nest' of rouge states and extremist groups who would soon attack U.S. soil.