1991 takes place after 1990, which is when Saddam “brought in anti-woman legislation, such as the 1990 presidential decree granting immunity to men who had committed honour crimes.”
They started “attempting to maintain legitimacy with conservative Islamic fundamentalists” before the 1991 Gulf War, yet you think the 1991 Gulf War is what caused them to "maintain legitimacy with conservative Islamic fundamentalists”?
You also think that if it wasn’t for a war that took place after they started "attempting to maintain legitimacy with conservative Islamic fundamentalists” that they would’ve magically stopped "attempting to maintain legitimacy with conservative Islamic fundamentalists.”