Why did Iraq spill millions of tons of oil into the sea during the 1991 Gulf War?
I am not sure the Iraqis were concerned with the food chain or the ecological implications of their act. They were more likely to be concerned with survival. They knew that the reason they were being invaded had everything to do with oil. Therefore, making the oil less easily accessible would be a sound policy, a bit like companies under the prospect of a hostile take-over taking a ‘poison-pill’ approach. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poison_Pill However, given that Iraq is supposed to have oil reserves rivalling those of Saudi Arabia, this was bound to fail.
