The Iraq invasion of Kuwait in August 1990 presented the United Nations with the first major international conflict in the post-Cold War era. As a result, the international response to Iraqi war policy would set precedents for the authorisation of coalition military action, deliverance of humanitarian aid, and management of natural and cultural heritage in times of armed conflict. This chapter looks at the latter issue, as articulated through the archives of UNESCO from 1990 until 1992. Through a close analysis of material consisting mainly of internal memos and correspondence between Iraqi and Kuwaiti officials with UNESCO, issues of looting, environmental destruction, and damage to cultural heritage are brought to the fore. As in Chap. 7 , the organisation’s response, criticised for both bureaucratic inefficiency and an anti-Iraq bias, was ultimately insufficient for resolving the problems at the heart of the conflict. This period also saw accusations from Iraq of a Western alliance with Israel intent on undermining Saddam’s government. American rhetoric after the coalition liberation of Kuwait led to Kurdish and Shiite uprisings across Iraq which were brutally suppressed by Saddam, leading to even more looting and destruction of natural and cultural heritage. Ultimately, although the coalition’s successful liberation of Kuwait heralded the dawn of the post-Cold War era, the cultural and natural heritage of Iraq and Kuwait would not benefit from this new singular vision. This chapter combines archival research with the work of scholars and analysts to examine the ways in which occupational cultural governance (first by Iraq in Kuwait, followed by coalition forces in Iraq) was pursued and legitimated in the post-Cold War era.