The oil fires may have been put out and most of the oil spills cleaned up, but Kuwait is still counting the environmental and health costs of Iraq's occupation and the subsequent Gulf War.
Scientists say parts of the desert are still heavily polluted with oil.
Off the coast, oil covers large patches of the seabed. Kuwait's coral reefs have yet to recover. The environmental catastrophe that happened to Kuwait is unique Doctors have reported a significant increase in patients with heart diseases and cancers - and they say pollution from the war is the most likely cause. Iraqi troops deliberately spilled oil into the Persian Gulf in 1991, in an effort to foil any attempt by US-led forces to launch a marine assault on the emirate. As they retreated in February 1991, they set fire to hundreds of oil wells, coating the country with thick black smoke.