Practicing Success

Target Exam

CUET

Subject

Political Science

Chapter

Contemporary World Politics: US Hegemony in World Politics

Question:

In reference to the First Gulf War, which of the following incidents was called a ‘war crime’ and a violation of the Geneva Convention by many observers?

Options:

The approval by the UN to liberate Kuwait by force

The use of nuclear weapons by the USA.

Bombing by the US on a particular stretch of ‘Highway of Death’.

None of the above

Correct Answer:

Bombing by the US on a particular stretch of ‘Highway of Death’.

Explanation:

A famous picture of burned and broken vehicles was taken on the ‘Highway of Death’, a road between Kuwait and Basra, on which the retreating Iraqi army was attacked by American aircraft during the First Gulf War in February 1991. Some commentators have suggested that the US forces deliberately bombed this stretch of highway where fleeing and ‘out of combat’ Iraqi soldiers were stuck in a frenzied traffic jam and that the victims included Kuwaiti prisoners and hostages and Palestinian civilian refugees. Many observers have called it a ‘war crime’ and a violation of the Geneva Convention.