On February 27, President Bush ordered a cease-fire and the surviving Iraqi troops were allowed to escape back into southern Iraq. Saddam's second war of foreign conquest ended even worse than the first one. Iraq again stood defeated with the liberation of Kuwait. Despite the crushing defeat and subsequent Shiite and Kurdish rebellions, Saddam's government retained a strong grip on power in Iraq. The economic and trade sanctions begun during the war continue to the present day, contributing to severe economic hardship in Iraq.
Some reports say hundreds of thousands of children have died due to the sanctions.
There are no indications that the government or military suffer undo hardships. It is believed that Syria's President Assad was given a free hand to deal with Lebanon in return for joining the war in Kuwait. When Yemen declared sympathy for Iraq, Saudi Arabia expelled upwards of a million Yemeni guest workers, causing economic hardship in Yemen and increased tension between the two neighbors. See Saudi-Yemen Border Conflict page. Original figures listed 100,000 Iraqi military dead, but more recent estimates place Iraqi dead at 20,000 military and 2,300 civilian.