The Persian Gulf War

The Persian Gulf War (2 August 1990 – 28 February 1991), codenamed Operation Desert Storm (17 January 1991 – 28 February 1991) commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a UN-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait. Sony VAIO VGN-CR11H/B Battery

The war is also known under other names, such as the First Gulf War, Gulf War I, or the Iraq War,^[12][13][14]before the term "Iraq War" became identified instead with the 2003 Iraq War (also referred to in the U.S. as "Operation Iraqi Freedom").Sony VAIO VGN-CR11S/L Battery

The invasion of Kuwait by Iraqi troops that began 2 August 1990 was met with international condemnation, and brought immediate economic sanctions against Iraq by members of the UN Security Council. U.S. President George H. W. Bush deployed American forces into Saudi Arabia, and urged other countries to send their own forces to the scene. Sony VAIO VGN-CR11S/P Battery

An array of nations joined the coalition. The great majority of the military forces in the coalition were from the United States, with Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom and Egypt as leading contributors, in that order. Around US$36 billion of the US$60 billion cost was paid by Saudi Arabia.^[15] Sony VAIO VGN-CR11S/W Battery

The war was marked by the beginning of live news on the front lines of the fight, with the primacy of the U.S. network CNN.^[16][17][18] The war has also earned the nickname Video Game War after the daily broadcast images on board the American bombers during Operation Desert Storm.^[19][20] Sony VAIO VGN-CR11Z/R Battery

The initial conflict to expel Iraqi troops from Kuwait began with an aerial bombardment on 17 January 1991. This was followed by a ground assault on 23 February. This was a decisive victory for the coalition forces, who liberated Kuwait and advanced into Iraqi territory. The coalition ceased their advance, and declared a cease-fire 100 hours after the ground campaign started. Sony VAIO VGN-CR120E/L Battery

Aerial and ground combat was confined to Iraq, Kuwait, and areas on the border of Saudi Arabia. However, Iraq launched Scud missiles against coalition military targets in Saudi Arabia and against Israel.

Throughout much of the Cold War, Iraq had been an ally of the Soviet Union, and there was a history of friction between it and the United States. Sony VAIO VGN-CR120E/P Battery

The U.S. was concerned with Iraq's position on Israeli–Palestinian politics, and its disapproval of the nature of the peace between Israel and Egypt. The United States also disliked Iraqi support for many Arab and Palestinian militant groups such as Abu Nidal, which led to its inclusion on the developing U.S. list of State Sponsors of Terrorism on 29 December 1979. Sony VAIO VGN-CR120E/R Battery

The U.S. remained officially neutral after the invasion of Iran in 1980, which became the Iran–Iraq War, although it provided resources, political support, and some "non-military" aircraft.^[21] In March 1982, however, Iran began a successful counteroffensive —Operation Undeniable Victory, Sony VAIO VGN-CR125E/B Battery

and the United States increased its support for Iraq to prevent Iran from forcing a surrender. In a U.S. bid to open full diplomatic relations with Iraq, the country was removed from the U.S. list of State Sponsors of Terrorism. Ostensibly this was because of improvement in the regime’s record, Sony VAIO VGN-CR13/B Battery

although former United States Assistant Secretary of Defense Noel Koch later stated, "No one had any doubts about [the Iraqis'] continued involvement in terrorism... The real reason was to help them succeed in the war against Iran."^[22] With Iraq's newfound success in the war, and the Iranian rebuff of a peace offer in July, Sony VAIO VGN-CR13/L Battery

arms sales to Iraq reached a record spike in 1982. When Iraqi President Saddam Hussein expelled Abu Nidal to Syria at the United States' request in November 1983, the Reagan administration sent Donald Rumsfeld to meet President Hussein as a special envoy and to cultivate ties. Sony VAIO VGN-CR13/P Battery

By the time the ceasefire with Iran was signed in August 1988, Iraq was heavily debt-ridden and tensions within society were rising.^[23] Most of its debt was owed to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Iraq pressured both nations to forgive the debts, but they refused.^[24]

The Iraq-Kuwait dispute also involved Iraqi claims to Kuwait as a territory of Iraq.^[21] Sony VAIO VGN-CR13/R Battery

After gaining independence from the United Kingdom in 1932, the Iraqi government immediately declared that Kuwait was rightfully a territory of Iraq, as it had been associated with Basra until the British creation of Kuwait after World War I and thus stated that Kuwait was a British imperialist invention.^[25] Sony VAIO VGN-CR13/W Battery

Kuwait had been a part of the Ottoman Empire's province of Basra, something that Iraq claimed made it rightful Iraq territory.^[26] Its ruling dynasty, the al-Sabah family, had concluded a protectorate agreement in 1899 that assigned responsibility for its foreign affairs to Britain. Sony VAIO VGN-CR131E/L Battery

Britain drew the border between the two countries in 1922, making Iraq virtually landlocked.^[21] Iraqi attempts to secure further provisions in the region had been rejected by Kuwait.^[26]

Iraq also accused Kuwait of exceeding its OPEC quotas for oil production. Sony VAIO VGN-CR13G Battery

In order for the cartel to maintain its desired price of $18 a barrel, discipline was required. The United Arab Emirates and Kuwait were consistently overproducing; the latter at least in part to repair losses caused by Iranian attacks in the Iran–Iraq War and to pay for the losses of an economic scandal. Sony VAIO VGN-CR13G/B Battery

The result was a slump in the oil price – as low as $10 a barrel – with a resulting loss of $7 billion a year to Iraq, equal to its 1989 balance of payments deficit.^[27] Resulting revenues struggled to support the basic costs of the government, let alone repair Iraq's damaged infrastructure.Jordan and Iraq both looked for more discipline, with little success.^[28] Sony VAIO VGN-CR13G/L Battery

The Iraqi Government described it as a form of economic warfare,^[28] which it claimed was aggravated by Kuwait slant-drilling across the border into Iraq's Rumaila oil field.^[29] At the same time, Saddam looked for closer ties with those Arab states that had supported Iraq in the war. Sony VAIO VGN-CR13G/P Battery

This was supported by the United States, who believed that Iraqi ties with pro-Western Gulf states would help bring and maintain Iraq inside the US' sphere of influence.^[30]

In 1989, it appeared that Saudi-Iraqi relations, strong during the war, would be maintained. Sony VAIO VGN-CR13G/R Battery

A pact of non-interference and non-aggression was signed between the countries, followed by a Kuwaiti-Iraqi deal for Iraq to supply Kuwait with water for drinking and irrigation, although a request for Kuwait to lease Iraq Umm Qasr was rejected.^[30] Saudi-backed development projects were hampered by Iraq's large debts, Sony VAIO VGN-CR13G/W Battery

even with the demobilization of 200,000 soldiers. Iraq also looked to increase arms production so as to become an exporter, although the success of these projects was also restrained by Iraq's obligations; in Iraq, resentment to OPEC's controls mounted.^[31] Sony VAIO VGN-CR13T/L Battery

Iraq's relations with its Arab neighbors – in particular Egypt – were degraded by mounting violence in Iraq against expatriate groups, well-employed during the war, by Iraqi unemployed, amongst them demobilized soldiers. These events were not picked up on outside the Arab world because of fast-moving events in Eastern Europe. Sony VAIO VGN-CR13T/P Battery

The United States did, however, begin to condemn Iraq's human rights record, including the well-known use of torture.^[32] Britain also condemned the execution of Farzad Bazoft, a journalist working for the British newspaper The Observer.^[21] The assassination of Gerald Bull, a nuclear scientist, Sony VAIO VGN-CR13T/R Battery

and the arrest of several men at London's Heathrow Airport on charges of attempting to smuggle parts required for a nuclear capability to Iraq, were symptomatic of a slide in Iraqi relations with the West.^[33] For its part, Iraq attacked the alleged smugglers' arrest as part of a "Western–Zionist plot" to facilitate an Israeli attack on Iraq. Sony VAIO VGN-CR13T/W Battery

Following a declaration by Saddam that "binary chemical weapons" would be used on Israel if it used military force against Iraq, Washington halted part of its funding.^[34] A UN mission to the Israeli-occupied territories, where riots had resulted in Palestinian deaths, was vetoed by the United States, 
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making Iraq deeply skeptical of US foreign policy aims in the region, combined with the US' reliance on Middle Eastern energy reserves.^[35]

In early July 1990, Iraq complained about Kuwait's behavior, such as not respecting their quota, and openly threatened to take military action. Sony VAIO VGN-CR150E/B Battery

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On the 23rd, theCIA reported that Iraq had moved 30,000 troops to the Iraq-Kuwait border, and the U.S. naval fleet in the Persian Gulf was placed on alert. Saddam believed an anti-Iraq conspiracy was developing– Kuwait had begun talks with Iran, and Syria (Iraq's rival) had arranged a visit to Egypt.^[36] Sony VAIO VGN-CR190E/L Battery

 On 15 July 1990, Saddam's government laid out its combined objections to the Arab League, including that policy moves were costing Iraq $1 billion a year, that Kuwait was still using the Rumelia oil field, that loans made by the UAE and Kuwait could not be considered debts to its "Arab brothers".^[36] Sony VAIO VGN-CR190E/P Battery

 Discussions in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, mediated on behalf of the Arab League by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, were held on 31 July and led Mubarak to believe that a peaceful course could be established.^[37]

On the 25th, Saddam Hussein met with April Glaspie, an American ambassador, in Baghdad. Sony VAIO VGN-CR190E/R Battery

According to an Iraqi transcript of that meeting, Glaspie told the Iraqi delegation, "We have no opinion on the Arab-Arab conflicts."^[38] According to Glaspie's own account, she stated in reference to the precise border between Kuwait and Iraq, "(...) that she had served in Kuwait 20 years before; 'then, as now, we took no position on these Arab affairs'."^[39] Sony VAIO VGN-CR190E/W Battery

Glaspie similarly believed that war was not imminent.^[37]

Invasion of Kuwait

The result of the Jeddah talks was an Iraqi demand for $10 billion to cover the lost revenues from Rumaila; the Kuwaiti's bullish response was to offer $9 billion, so as not to give Saddam everything he wanted. Sony VAIO VGN-CR19VN/B Battery

The Iraqi response was to immediately order the invasion.^[40]

On 2 August 1990 Iraq launched the invasion by bombing Kuwait City, the Kuwaiti capital. In spite of Iraqi saber-rattling, Kuwait did not have its forces on alert; the army had been stood down on 19 July.^[41] Sony VAIO VGN-CR19XN/B Battery

At the time of the invasion, the Kuwaiti force was believed to have numbered 16,000 men, arranged into three armored, one mechanised infantry and one artillery under-strength brigade.^[42] Iraqi commandos infiltrated the Kuwaiti border first to prepare for the major units which began the attack at the stroke of midnight. Sony VAIO VGN-CR20 Battery

The Iraqi attack had two prongs, with the primary attack force driving south straight for Kuwait City down the main highway, and a supporting attack entering Kuwait farther west, but then turning and driving due east, cutting off the capital city from the southern half of the country. Sony VAIO VGN-CR21/B Battery

The commander of a Kuwaiti armored battalion, 35th Armoured Brigade, deployed them against the Iraqi attack and was able to conduct a robust defense (The Battle of the Bridges), near Al Jahra, west of Kuwait City.^[43]

The pre-war strength of the Kuwait Air Force was around 2,200 Kuwaiti personnel, with 80 aircraft and forty helicopters.^[42]Sony VAIO VGN-CR21E/L Battery

Aircraft scrambled to meet the invading force, but approximately 20% were lost or captured. An air battle with the Iraqi helicopter airborne forces was fought over Kuwait City, inflicting heavy losses on the Iraqi elite troops, and a few combat sorties were flown against Iraqi ground forces.^[44] Sony VAIO VGN-CR21E/P Battery

The main Iraqi thrust into Kuwait City was conducted by commandos deployed by helicopters and boats to attack the city from the sea, while other divisions seized the airports and two airbases. The Iraqis attacked the Dasman Palace, the Royal Residence of the Emir of Kuwait, Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, which was defended by the Emiri Guard supported with M-84tanks. Sony VAIO VGN-CR21E/W Battery

In the process, the Iraqis killed Fahad Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, the Emir of Kuwait's youngest brother.

Within 12 hours, most resistance had ended within Kuwait and the royal family had fled, leaving Iraq in control of most of Kuwait.^[40] Sony VAIO VGN-CR21S/L Battery

After two days of intense combat, most of the Kuwaiti Armed Forces were either overrun by the Iraqi Republican Guard, or had escaped to neighboring Saudi Arabia. The emir and key ministers were able to get out and head south along the highway for refuge in Saudi Arabia. Sony VAIO VGN-CR21S/P Battery

Iraqi ground forces consolidated their control on Kuwait City, then headed south and redeployed along the border of Saudi Arabia. After the decisive Iraqi victory, Saddam Hussein initially installed a puppet regime known as the "Provisional Government of Free Kuwait" before installing his cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid as the governor of Kuwait on 8 August. Sony VAIO VGN-CR21S/W Battery

Diplomatic means

Within hours of the invasion, Kuwaiti and U.S. delegations requested a meeting of the UN Security Council, which passed Resolution 660, condemning the invasion and demanding a withdrawal of Iraqi troops.^[45] Sony VAIO VGN-CR21Z/N Battery

On 3 August the Arab League passed its own resolution, which called for a solution to the conflict from within the League, and warned against outside intervention; Iraq and Libya were the only two nations in the Arab League which opposed a resolution for Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait. The PLO opposed it as well. Sony VAIO VGN-CR21Z/R Battery

The Arab nations of Yemen and Jordan – a Western ally which bordered Iraq and relied on the country for economic support^[48] – also opposed military intervention from non-Arab nations.^[49] The Arab nation of Sudan also aligned itself with Hussein.^[48]

On 6 August, UN Resolution 661 placed economic sanctions on Iraq.^[50] Sony VAIO VGN-CR220E/R Battery

United Nations Security Council Resolution 665 followed soon after, which authorized a naval blockade to enforce the economic sanctions against Iraq. It said the “use of measures commensurate to the specific circumstances as may be necessary ... to halt all inward and outward maritime shipping in order to inspect and verify their cargoes and destinations and to ensure strict implementation of resolution 661.” Sony VAIO VGN-CR23/B Battery

From the beginning, U.S. officials insisted on a total Iraqi pullout from Kuwait, without any linkage to other Middle Eastern problems, fearing any concessions would strengthen Iraqi influence in the region for years to come.^[52]

On 12 August 1990, Saddam Hussein called for compromise via Baghdad radio and the former Iraqi News Agency. Sony VAIO VGN-CR23/L Battery

Hussein "propose[d] that all cases of occupation, and those cases that have been portrayed as occupation, in the region, be resolved simultaneouly [sic]". Specifically, he called for Israel to withdraw from occupied territories in Palestine, Syria, and Lebanon, Syria to withdraw from Lebanon, Sony VAIO VGN-CR23/N Battery

and "mutual withdrawals by Iraq and Iran and arrangement for the situation in Kuwait." He also called for a replacement of US troops that mobilized in Saudi Arabia in response to the invasion of Kuwait with "an Arab force", as long as that force did not involve Egypt. Additionally, Sony VAIO VGN-CR23/P Battery

he requested an "immediate freeze of all boycott and siege decisions" and a general normalization of relations with Iraq.^[53] From the beginning of the crisis, President Bush was strongly opposed to any "linkage" between the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait and the Palestinian issue. Sony VAIO VGN-CR23/R Battery

On 23 August Saddam Hussein appeared on state television with Western hostages to whom he had refused exit visas. In the video he asks a young British boy named Stuart Lockwood whether he is getting his milk, and goes on to say, through his interpreter, "We hope your presence as guests here will not be for too long. Sony VAIO VGN-CR23/W Battery

Your presence here, and in other places, is meant to prevent the scourge of war."^[55]

Another Iraqi proposal communicated in August 1990 was delivered to National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft by an unidentified Iraqi official. The official communicated to the White House that Iraq would "withdraw from Kuwait and allow foreigners to leave" provided that the UN lifted sanctions, Sony VAIO VGN-CR240E/B Battery

allowed "'guaranteed access' to the Persian Gulf through the Kuwaiti islands of Bubiyan and Warbah", and allowed Iraq to "gain full control of the Rumailah oil field that extends slightly into Kuwaiti territory". The proposal also "include[d] offers to negotiate an oil agreement with the United States 'satisfactory to both nations' national security interests, Sony VAIO VGN-CR240N/B Battery

' develop a joint plan 'to alleviate Iraq's economical and financial problems' and 'jointly work on the stability of the gulf.'"^[56]

In December 1990, Iraq made a proposal to withdraw from Kuwait provided that their forces were not attacked as they left, Sony VAIO VGN-CR25G/N Battery

and that a consensus was reached regarding the banning of WMD in the Palestinian region. The White House rejected the proposal.^[57] Yasser Arafatof the PLO expressed that neither he nor Hussein insisted that solving the Israel-Palestine issues should be a precondition to solving the issues in Kuwait, though he did acknowledge a "strong link" between these problems.^[58]Sony VAIO VGN-CR290EAL Battery

Ultimately, the US stuck to its hard line position that there would be no negotiations until Iraq withdrew from Kuwait and that they should not grant Iraq concessions, lest they give the impression that Iraq benefited from its military campaign.^[52] Also, when Secretary of State James Baker met with Tariq Aziz in Geneva for last minute peace talks in early 1991, Sony VAIO VGN-CR290EAN Battery

Aziz reportedly made no concrete proposals and did not outline any hypothetical Iraqi moves.^[59]

On 29 November 1990 the U.N. passed security council resolution 678 which gave Iraq until 15 January 1991 to withdraw from Kuwait and empowered states to use "all necessary means" to force Iraq out of Kuwait after the deadline. Sony VAIO VGN-CR290EAP Battery

On 14 January 1991, France proposed that the U.N. Security Council call for "a rapid and massive withdrawal" from Kuwait along with a statement to Iraq that Council members would bring their "active contribution" to a settlement of other problems of the region, "in particular, of the Arab-Israeli conflict and in particular to the Palestinian problem by convening, Sony VAIO VGN-CR290EAR Battery

at an appropriate moment, an international conference" to assure "the security, stability and development of this region of the world." The French proposal was supported by Belgium (at the moment one of the rotating Security Council members), and Germany,Spain, Italy, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, and several non-aligned nations. The U.S., Great Britain, and the Soviet Union, rejected it. Sony VAIO VGN-CR290EAW Battery

American U.N. Ambassador Thomas Pickering stated that the French proposal was unacceptable, because it went beyond previous U.N. Security Council resolutions on the Iraqi invasion.^[60][61][62]

Military means

One of the main concerns to the West was the significant threat Iraq posed to Saudi Arabia. Sony VAIO VGN-CR29XN/B Battery

Following the conquest of Kuwait, the Iraqi army was within easy striking distance of Saudi oil fields. Control of these fields, along with Kuwaiti and Iraqi reserves, would have given Hussein control over the majority of the world's oil reserves. Iraq also had a number of grievances with Saudi Arabia. Sony VAIO VGN-CR305E/RC Battery

The Saudis had lent Iraq some 26 billion dollars during its war with Iran. The Saudis backed Iraq, as they feared the influence of Shia Iran's Islamic revolution on its own Shia minority. After the war, Saddam felt he should not have to repay the loans due to the help he had given the Saudis by fighting Iran. 
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Soon after his conquest of Kuwait, Hussein began verbally attacking the Saudi kingdom. He argued that the U.S.-supported Saudi state was an illegitimate and unworthy guardian of the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. He combined the language of theIslamist groups that had recently fought in Afghanistan with the rhetoric Iran had long used to attack the Saudis.^[63] Sony VAIO VGN-CR323/W Battery

Acting on the policy of the Carter Doctrine, and out of fear the Iraqi army could launch an invasion of Saudi Arabia, U.S. President George H. W. Bush quickly announced that the U.S. would launch a "wholly defensive" mission to prevent Iraq from invading Saudi Arabia under the codename Operation Desert Shield. Sony VAIO VGN-CR33 Battery

Operation Desert Shield began on 7 August 1990 when U.S. troops were sent to Saudi Arabia due also to the request of its monarch, King Fahd, who had earlier called for U.S. military assistance.^[64] This "wholly defensive" doctrine was quickly abandoned when, on 8 August, Iraq declared Kuwait to be the 19th province of Iraq and Saddam Hussein named his cousin, Sony VAIO VGN-CR382 Battery

Ali Hassan Al-Majid as its military-governor.^[65]

The United States Navy dispatched two naval battle groups built around the aircraft carriers USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and USSIndependence to the Gulf, where they were ready by 8 August. The U.S. also sent the battleships USS Missouri and USSWisconsin to the region. Sony VAIO VGN-CR490EBL Battery

A total of 48 U.S. Air Force F-15s from the 1st Fighter Wing at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia, landed in Saudi Arabia, and immediately commenced round the clock air patrols of the Saudi–Kuwait–Iraq border areas to discourage further Iraqi military advances. They were joined by 36 F-15 A-Ds from the 36th TFW at Bitburg, Germany. Sony VAIO VGN-CR490EBN Battery

The Bitburg contingent was based at Al Kharj Air Base, approximately 1 hour southeast of Riyadh. The 36th TFW would be responsible for 11 confirmed Iraqi Air Force aircraft shot down during the war. There were also two Air National Guard units stationed at Al Kharj Air Base, Sony VAIO VGN-CR490EBP Battery

the South Carolina Air National Guard (169th Fighter Wing) flew bombing missions with 24 F-16's flying 2,000 combat missions and dropping 4 million pounds of munitions, and the New York Air National Guard 174th Fighter Wing from Syracuse flew 24 F-16's on bombing missions. Sony VAIO VGN-CR490EBR Battery

Military buildup continued from there, eventually reaching 543,000 troops, twice the number used in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Much of the material was airlifted or carried to the staging areas viafast sealift ships, allowing a quick buildup.

Creating a coalition

A series of UN Security Council resolutions and Arab League resolutions were passed regarding the invasion of Kuwait by Saddam Hussein's Iraq. Sony VAIO VGN-CR490EBT Battery

One of the most important was Resolution 678, passed on 29 November 1990, which gave Iraq a withdrawal deadline until 15 January 1991, and authorized “all necessary means to uphold and implement Resolution 660,” and a diplomatic formulation authorizing the use of force if Iraq failed to comply. Sony VAIO VGN-CR490EBW Battery

The United States assembled a coalition of forces to join it in opposing Iraq's aggression, consisting of forces from 34 countries: Argentina, Australia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Egypt, France, Greece, Italy, Kuwait, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Niger, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Portugal, Sony VAIO VGN-CR50B/W Battery

Qatar, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Spain, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States itself.^[67] US Army GeneralNorman Schwarzkopf was designated to be the commander of the coalition forces in the Persian Gulf area. Sony VAIO VGN-CR51B/W Battery

Although they did not contribute any forces, Japan and Germany made financial contributions totaling $10 billion and $6.6 billion respectively. U.S. troops represented 73% of the coalition’s 956,600 troops in Iraq.

Many of the coalition forces were reluctant to join. Some felt that the war was an internal Arab affair, or did not want to increase U.S. influence in the Middle East. Sony VAIO VGN-CR520E/J Battery

In the end, however, many nations were persuaded by Iraq’s belligerence towards other Arab states, offers of economic aid or debt forgiveness, and threats to withhold aid.^[68]

Justification for intervention

The United States and the United Nations gave several public justifications for involvement in the conflict, the most prominent being the Iraqi violation of Kuwaiti territorial integrity. Sony VAIO VGN-CR52B/W Battery

In addition, the United States moved to support its ally Saudi Arabia, whose importance in the region, and as a key supplier of oil, made it of considerable geopolitical importance. Shortly after the Iraqi invasion, Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney made the first of several visits to Saudi Arabia where King Fahd requested US military assistance. Sony VAIO VGN-CR590EBL Battery

During a speech in a special joint session of the U.S. Congress given on 11 September 1990, U.S. President George H. W. Bush summed up the reasons with the following remarks: "Within three days, 120,000 Iraqi troops with 850 tanks had poured into Kuwait and moved south to threaten Saudi Arabia. It was then that I decided to act to check that aggression."^[69] Sony VAIO VGN-CR590EBN Battery

The Pentagon claimed that satellite photos showing a buildup of Iraqi forces along the border were the source of this information, but this was later shown to be false. A reporter for the Saint Petersburg Times acquired two commercial Soviet satellite images made at the time in question, which showed nothing but empty desert.^[70] Sony VAIO VGN-CR590EBP Battery

However, serious questions were raised later when it was revealed that the satellite images were actually Soviet military images, not private commercial images, and it would have been impossible for the Soviets to share original source imagery without compromising security of classified images. Sony VAIO VGN-CR590EBR Battery

The images were, in fact, not different magnifications of one original source image of the area in question, but separate images taken at different times and locations. The Soviets were heavily invested in Iraq and made numerous attempts to stop the coalition from invading Iraq, through diplomacy and also through deceptive propaganda; Sony VAIO VGN-CR590EBT Battery

and in this case it was the Christian Science Monitor, not the Saint Petersburg Times who broke the story, as erroneously reported in this article and other publications.

Other justifications for foreign involvement included Iraq’s history of human rights abuses under President Saddam. Sony VAIO VGN-CR590EBW Battery

Iraq was also known to possess biological weapons and chemical weapons, which Saddam had used against Iranian troops during the Iran–Iraq War and against his own country's Kurdish population in the Al-Anfal Campaign. Iraq was also known to have a nuclear weapons program, but the report about it from January 1991 was partially declassified by the CIA on May 26, 2001.^[71]Sony VAIO VGN-CR60B/L Battery

Although there were human rights abuses committed in Kuwait by the invading Iraqi military, the ones best known in the U.S. were inventions of the public relations firm hired by the government of Kuwait to influence U.S. opinion in favor of military intervention. Shortly after Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait, the organization Citizens for a Free Kuwait was formed in the U.S. Sony VAIO VGN-CR60B/P Battery

It hired the public relations firm Hill & Knowlton for about $11 million, paid by the Kuwaiti government.^[72]

Among many other means of influencing U.S. opinion (distributing books on Iraqi atrocities to U.S. soldiers deployed in the region, Sony VAIO VGN-CR60B/R Battery

'Free Kuwait' T-shirts and speakers to college campuses, and dozens of video news releases to television stations), the firm arranged for an appearance before a group of members of the U.S. Congress in which a woman identifying herself as anurse working in the Kuwait City hospital described Iraqi soldiers pulling babies out of incubators and letting them die on the floor.^[73]Sony VAIO VGN-CR61B/L Battery

The story was an influence in tipping both the public and Congress towards a war with Iraq: six Congressmen said the testimony was enough for them to support military action against Iraq and seven Senators referenced the testimony in debate. The Senate supported the military actions in a 52–47 vote. 
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A year after the war, however, this allegation was revealed to be a fabrication. The woman who had testified was found to be a member of the Kuwaiti Royal Family, in fact the daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador to the U.S.^[73] She had not been living in Kuwait during the Iraqi invasion. Sony VAIO VGN-CR61B/P Battery

The details of the Hill & Knowlton public relations campaign, including the incubator testimony, were published in a John R. MacArthur's Second Front: Censorship and Propaganda in the Gulf War (Berkeley, CA: University of CA Press, 1992), and came to wide public attention when an Op-ed by MacArthur was published in the New York Times. Sony VAIO VGN-CR61B/R Battery

This prompted a reexamination by Amnesty International, which had originally promoted an account alleging even greater numbers of babies torn from incubators than the original fake testimony. After finding no evidence to support it, the organization issued a retraction. President George H. W. Bush then repeated the incubator allegations on television. Sony VAIO VGN-CR62B/L Battery

At the same time, the Iraqi army committed several well-documented crimes during its occupation of Kuwait, such as the summary execution without trial of three brothers after which their bodies were stacked in a pile and left to decay in a public street.^[74] Iraqi troops also ransacked and looted private Kuwaiti homes, Sony VAIO VGN-CR62B/N Battery

one residence was repeatedly defecated in.^[75] A resident later commented, "The whole thing was violence for the sake of violence, destruction for the sake of destruction... Imagine a surrealistic painting by Salvador Dalí".^[76]

Air campaign

The Gulf War started with an extensive aerial bombing campaign on 17 January 1991. Sony VAIO VGN-CR62B/P Battery

The coalition flew over 100,000 sorties, dropping 88,500 tons of bombs,^[77] and widely destroying military and civilian infrastructure.^[78] The air campaign was commanded by USAFLieutenant General Chuck Horner, who briefly served as Commander-in-Chief – Forward of U.S. Central Command while General Schwarzkopf was still in the United States. Sony VAIO VGN-CR62B/R Battery

A day after the deadline set in Resolution 678, the coalition launched a massive air campaign, which began the general offensive codenamed Operation Desert Storm. The first priority for Coalition forces was the destruction of the Iraqi air force and anti-aircraft facilities. Sony VAIO VGN-CR70B/W Battery

The sorties were launched mostly from Saudi Arabia and the six Coalition aircraft carrier battle groups (CVBG) in the Persian Gulf and Red Sea.

The next coalition targets were command and communication facilities. Saddam Hussein had closelymicromanaged the Iraqi forces in the Iran–Iraq War, and initiative at lower levels was discouraged. Sony VAIO VGN-CR71B/W Battery

Coalition planners hoped that Iraqi resistance would quickly collapse if deprived of command and control.

The third and largest phase of the air campaign targeted military targets throughout Iraq and Kuwait: Scud missile launchers, weapons research facilities, and naval forces. Sony VAIO VGN-CR72B/W Battery

About one-third of the Coalition airpower was devoted to attacking Scuds, some of which were on trucks and therefore difficult to locate. Some U.S. and British special forces teams had been covertly inserted into western Iraq to aid in the search and destruction of Scuds. Sony VAIO VGN-CR90HS Battery

Iraqi antiaircraft defenses, including MANPADS, were surprisingly ineffective against coalition aircraft and the coalition suffered only 75 aircraft losses in over 100,000 sorties, 44 of which were the result of Iraqi action. Two of these losses are the result of aircraft colliding with the ground while evading Iraqi ground fired weapons.^[79][80] Sony VAIO VGN-CR90NS Battery

One of these losses is a confirmed air-air victory.^[81]

Iraq launches missile strikes

The Iraqi government made no secret that it would attack Israel if invaded. Prior to the start of the war, Tariq Aziz, Iraq's English-speaking Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, Sony VAIO VGN-CR90S Battery

was asked in the aftermath of the failed U.S.-Iraq peace talks in Geneva, Switzerland by a reporter. “Mr. Foreign Minister, if war starts...will you attack Israel?” His response was, “Yes, absolutely, yes.”^[82][83]

Five hours after the first attacks, Iraq's state radio broadcast a voice identified as Saddam Hussein declaring that "The great duel, the mother of all battles has begun. Sony VAIO VGN-CR92HS Battery

The dawn of victory nears as this great showdown begins." Iraq responded by launching eight Al Hussein missiles at Israel the next day. These missile attacks on Israel were to continue throughout the war. A total of 42 Scud missiles were fired by Iraq into Israel during the seven weeks of the war.^[84] Sony VAIO VGN-CR92NS Battery

The Iraqis hoped that they would provoke a military response from Israel. It was expected that many Arab nations would withdraw from the coalition, as they would be reluctant to fight alongside Israel.^[54] Following the first attacks, Israeli Air Force jets were deployed to patrol the northern airspace with Iraq, Sony VAIO VGN-CR92S Battery

and Israel prepared to respond with military force, as its policy for the previous forty years had always been retaliation. However, President Bush pressured Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir not to retaliate and withdraw Israeli jets, fearing that if Israel attacked Iraq, the other Arab nations would either desert from the coalition or join Iraq. Sony VAIO VGN-CS118E/Q Battery

It was also feared that if Israel used Syrian or Jordanian airspace to attack Iraq, they would intervene in the war on Iraq's side or attack Israel. Israel was promised that the Coalition would deploy Patriot missiles to defend Israel if it refrained from responding to the Scud attacks. Sony VAIO VGN-CS118E/R Battery

The Scud missiles targeting Israel were relatively ineffective, as firing at extreme range resulted in a dramatic reduction in accuracy and payload. The missile attacks killed two Israeli civilians, and caused several others to suffer fatal heart attacks. Approximately 230 Israelis were injured. Sony VAIO VGN-CS118E/W Battery

Of the injuries, 10 were considered moderate injuries, while one was considered a severe injury.^[10] Extensive property damage was also caused, and some 4,000 Israelis were left homeless. It was feared that Iraq would fire missiles filled with nerve agents or sarin. As a result, the Israeli government issued gas masksto its citizens. Sony VAIO VGN-CS11S/P Battery

When the first Iraqi missiles hit Israel, some people injected themselves with an antidote for nerve gas.

In response to the threat of Scuds on Israel, the United States rapidly sent a Patriot missile air defense artillery battalion to Israel along with two batteries of MIM-104 Patriot missiles for the protection of civilians. Sony VAIO VGN-CS11S/Q Battery

Coalition air forces were also extensively exercised in "Scud hunts" in the Iraqi desert, trying to locate the camouflaged trucks before they fired their missiles at Israel or Saudi Arabia. On the ground, special forces also infiltrated Iraq, tasked with locating and destroying Scuds. Once special operations were combined with air patrols, Sony VAIO VGN-CS11S/W Battery

the number of attacks fell sharply, then increased slightly as Iraqi forces adjusted to Coalition tactics. At one point, Israeli commandos were loaded onto helicopters ready to fly to Iraq, but the mission was called off after a phone call from US Defense Secretary Dick Cheney, reporting on the extent of Coalition efforts to destroy Scuds and emphasizing that Israeli intervention could endanger American forces.Sony VAIO VGN-CS11Z/R Battery

The Royal Netherlands Air Force also deployed Patriot missiles in both Turkey and Israel to counter the Scud threat. The Dutch Defense Ministry later stated that the military use of the Patriot missile system was largely ineffective, but its psychological value was high, Sony VAIO VGN-CS120J/P Battery

even though the Patriot missiles caused far more casualties and property damage than the Scuds themselves did.It has been suggested that the sturdy construction techniques used in Israeli cities, coupled with the fact that Scuds were only launched at night, played an important role in limiting the number of casualties from Scud attacks.^[10] Sony VAIO VGN-CS120J/Q Battery

Three Scud missiles and a coalition Patriot that malfunctioned hit Ramat Gan on 22 January 1991, injuring 96 people, and possibly causing the deaths of three elderly people who died of strokes.

In addition, 47 Scud missiles were fired into Saudi Arabia, and one missile was fired at Bahrain and another at Qatar. Sony VAIO VGN-CS120J/R Battery

The missiles were fired at both military and civilian targets. One Saudi civilian was killed, and 78 others were injured. No casualties were reported in Bahrain or Qatar. The Saudi government issued all its citizens and expatriates with gas masks in the event of Iraq using missiles with chemical or biological warheads. Sony VAIO VGN-CS190JTB Battery

The government broadcast alerts and 'all clear' messages over television to warn citizens during scud attacks.

On 25 February 1991, a Scud missile hit a U.S. Army barracks of the 14th quartermaster Detachment, out of Greensburg, PA, stationed in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, killing 28 soldiers and injuring over 100.^[11] Sony VAIO VGN-CS190JTP Battery

Battle of Khafji

On 29 January Iraqi forces attacked and occupied the lightly defended Saudi city of Khafji with tanks and infantry. The Battle of Khafji ended two days later when the Iraqis were driven back by the Saudi Arabian National Guard and the United States Marine Corps, supported by Qatari forces. Sony VAIO VGN-CS190JTQ Battery

The allied forces provided close air support and used extensive artillery fire.

Casualties were heavy on both sides, although Iraqi forces sustained substantially more dead and captured than the allied forces. Eleven Americans were killed in two separate friendly fire incidents, Sony VAIO VGN-CS190JTR Battery

an additional 14 U.S. airmen were killed when an American AC-130 gunship was shot down by an Iraqi surface-to-air missile (SAM), and two American soldiers were captured during the battle. Saudi and Qatari forces had a total of 18 dead. Iraqi forces in Khafji had 60–300 dead and 400 captured. Sony VAIO VGN-CS190JTW Battery

Khafji was a strategically important city immediately after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. The Iraqi reluctance to commit several armored divisions to the occupation, and its subsequent use of Khafji as a launching pad into the initially lightly defended east of Saudi Arabia is considered by many academics^[who?] a grave strategic error. Sony VAIO VGN-CS190NAB Battery

Not only would Iraq have secured a majority of Middle Eastern oil supplies, but it would have found itself better able to threaten the subsequent U.S. deployment along superior defensive lines.

Ground campaign

The Coalition forces dominated the air with their technological advantages, but the ground forces were considered to be more evenly matched. Sony VAIO VGN-CS190NAC Battery

Coalition forces had the significant advantage of being able to operate under the protection of air supremacy that had been achieved by their air forces before the start of the main ground offensive. Coalition forces also had two key technological advantages:

The Coalition main battle tanks, such as the U.S. M1 Abrams, Sony VAIO VGN-CS190NAD Battery

1. British Challenger 1, and Kuwaiti M-84AB were vastly superior to the Chinese Type 69 and domestically built T-72 tanks used by the Iraqis, with crews better trained and armoured doctrine better developed.

The use of GPS made it possible for Coalition forces to navigate without reference to roads or other fixed landmarks. Sony VAIO VGN-CS190NBB Battery

This, along with air reconnaissance, allowed them to fight a battle of maneuverrather than a battle of encounter: they knew where they were and where the enemy was, so they could attack a specific target rather than searching on the ground for enemy forces.Sony VAIO VGN-CS190NCA Battery

Liberation of Kuwait

American decoy attacks by air attacks and naval gunfire the night before the liberation of Kuwait were designed to make the Iraqis believe the main coalition ground attack would focus on Central Kuwait. Sony VAIO VGN-CS190NCB Battery

For months, American units in Saudi Arabia had been under almost constant Iraqi artillery fire, as well as threats from Scud missile or chemical attacks. On 23 February 1991, the 1st Marine Division, 2nd Marine Division, and the 1st Light Armored Infantry crossed into Kuwait and headed toward Kuwait City. Sony VAIO VGN-CS190NCC Battery

They encountered trenches, barbed wire, and minefields. However, these positions were poorly defended, and were overrun in the first few hours. Several tank battles took place, but apart from that, Coalition troops encountered minimal resistance, as most Iraqi troops surrendered. Sony VAIO VGN-CS50B/W Battery

The general pattern was that the Iraqis would put up a short fight before surrendering. However, Iraqi air defenses shot down nine American aircraft. Meanwhile, forces from Arab countries advanced into Kuwait from the east, encountering little resistance and suffering few casualties. Sony VAIO VGN-CS51B/W Battery

Despite the successes of Coalition forces, it was feared that the Republican Guard would escape into Iraq before it could be destroyed. It was decided to send British armored forces into Kuwait fifteen hours ahead of schedule, and to send American forces after the Republican Guard. Sony VAIO VGN-CS52JB/W Battery

The Coalition advance was preceded by a heavy artillery and rocket barrage, after which 150,000 troops and 1,500 tanks began their advance. Iraqi forces in Kuwait counterattacked against U.S. troops, acting on a direct order from Saddam himself. Despite the intense combat, the Americans repulsed the Iraqis and continued to advance towards Kuwait city. Sony VAIO VGN-CS60B/P Battery

Kuwaiti forces were tasked with liberating the city. Iraqi troops offered only light resistance. The Kuwaitis lost one soldier killed and one plane shot down, and quickly liberated the city. On 27 February, Saddam ordered a retreat from Kuwait, and President George H.W. Bush declared it liberated. Sony VAIO VGN-CS60B/Q Battery

However, an Iraqi unit at Kuwait International Airport appeared not to have gotten the message, and fiercely resisted. U.S. Marines had to fight for hours before securing the airport, after which Kuwait was declared secure. After four days of fighting, Iraqi forces were expelled from Kuwait. Sony VAIO VGN-CS60B/R Battery

As part of a scorched-earth policy, they set fire to nearly 700 oil wells, and placed land mines around the wells to make extinguishing the fires more difficult.

Initial moves into Iraq

The ground phase of the war was given the official designation Operation Desert Sabre.^[91] Sony VAIO VGN-CS61B/P Battery

The first units to move into Iraq were three patrols of the B squadron of the British Special Air Service, call signs Bravo One Zero, Bravo Two Zero, and Bravo Three Zero, in late January. These eight-man patrols landed behind Iraqi lines to gather intelligence on the movements of Scud mobile missile launchers, which could not be detected from the air, Sony VAIO VGN-CS61B/Q Battery

as they were hidden under bridges and camouflage netting during the day. Other objectives included the destruction of the launchers and their fiber-optic communications arrays that lay in pipelines and relayed coordinates to the TEL operators that were launching attacks against Israel. Sony VAIO VGN-CS61B/R Battery

The operations were designed to prevent any possible Israeli intervention. Due to lack of sufficient ground cover to carry out their assignment, One Zero and Three Zero abandoned their operations, while Two Zero remained, and was later compromised, with only Sergeant Chris Ryan escaping to Syria. Sony VAIO VGN-CS62JB/P Battery

Elements of the 2nd Brigade, 1st Battalion 5th Cav of the 1st Cavalry Division of the U.S. Army performed a Direct attack into Iraq on 15 February 1991, followed by one in force on 20 February that led directly through 7 iraqi divisions which were caught off guard.From 15–20 February, the Battle of Wadi Al-Batin took place inside Iraq, Sony VAIO VGN-CS62JB/Q Battery

this was the first of two attacks by 1 Battalion 5th Cavalry of the 1st Cavalry Division. It was a feint attack, designed to make the Iraqis think that a coalition invasion would take place from the south. The Iraqis fiercely resisted, and the Americans eventually withdrew as planned back into the Wadi Al-Batin. Sony VAIO VGN-CS62JB/R Battery

Three American soldiers were killed and nine wounded as well with only 1 M-2 IFV turret destroyed, but they had taken 40 prisoners and destroyed five tanks, and successfully deceived the Iraqis. This attack led the way for the XVIII Airborne Corps to sweep around behind the 1st Cav and attack Iraqi forces to the west. Sony VAIO VGN-CS71B/W Battery

On 22 February 1991, Iraq agreed to a Soviet-proposed ceasefire agreement. The agreement called for Iraq to withdraw troops to pre-invasion positions within six weeks following a total cease-fire, and called for monitoring of the cease-fire and withdrawal to be overseen by the UN Security Council. Sony VAIO VGN-CS72JB/W Battery

The Coalition rejected the proposal, but said that retreating Iraqi forces would not be attacked, and gave twenty-four hours for Iraq to begin withdrawing forces. On 23 February, fighting resulted in the capture of 500 Iraqi soldiers. On 24 February, British and American armoured forces crossed the Iraq/Kuwait border and entered Iraq in large numbers, Sony VAIO VGN-CS90HS Battery

taking hundreds of prisoners. Iraqi resistance was light, and 4 Americans were killed.^[92]

Coalition forces enter Iraq

Shortly afterwards, the U.S. VII Corps, in full strength and spearheaded by the 3rd Squadron of the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment (3/2 ACR), launched an armored attack into Iraq early on 24 February, just to the west of Kuwait, taking Iraqi forces by surprise. Sony VAIO VGN-CS90NS Battery

Simultaneously, the U.S. XVIII Airborne Corps launched a sweeping “left-hook” attack across the largely undefended desert of southern Iraq, led by the 3rd Armoured Cavalry Regiment (3rd ACR) and the 24th Infantry Division (Mechanized). The left flank of this movement was protected by the French 6th Light Armoured Division Daguet. Sony VAIO VGN-CS90S Battery

The French force quickly overcame the Iraqi 45th Infantry Division, suffering light casualties and taking a large number of prisoners, and took up blocking positions to prevent an Iraqi counter-attack on the Coalition flank. The right flank of the movement was protected by the British 1st Armoured Division. Sony VAIO VGN-CS91HS Battery

Once the allies had penetrated deep into Iraqi territory, they turned eastward, launching a flank attack against the elite Republican Guard before it could escape. The Iraqis resisted fiercely from dug-in positions and stationary vehicles, and even mounted armored charges.

Unlike many previous engagements, the destruction of the first Iraqi tanks did not result in a mass surrender. Sony VAIO VGN-CS91NS Battery

The Iraqis suffered massive losses and lost dozens of tanks and vehicles, while American casualties were comparatively low, with a single Bradley knocked out. Coalition forces pressed another ten kilometers into Iraqi territory, and captured their objective within three hours. They took 500 prisoners and inflicted heavy losses, defeating the Iraqi 26th Infantry Division. Sony VAIO VGN-CS91S Battery

An American soldier was killed by an Iraqi land mine, another five by friendly fire, and thirty wounded during the battle. Meanwhile, British forces attacked the Iraqi Medina Division and a major Republican Guard logistics base. In nearly two days of some of the war's most intense fighting, the British destroyed 40 enemy tanks and captured a division commander. Sony VAIO VGN-CS92DS Battery

Meanwhile, American forces attacked the village of Al Busayyah, meeting fierce resistance. They suffered no casualties, but destroyed a considerable amount of military hardware and took prisoners.

On 25 February 1991, Iraqi forces fired a scud missile at an American barracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. Sony VAIO VGN-CS92JS Battery

The missile attack killed 28 American military personnel.^[93]

The Coalition advance was much swifter than U.S. generals had expected. On 26 February, Iraqi troops began retreating from Kuwait, after they had set its oil fields on fire (737 oil wells were set on fire). Sony VAIO VGN-CS92XS Battery

 A long convoy of retreating Iraqi troops formed along the main Iraq-Kuwait highway. Although they were retreating, this convoy was bombed so extensively by Coalition air forces that it came to be known as the Highway of Death. Hundreds of Iraqi troops were killed. Forces from the United States, the United Kingdom, Sony VAIO VGN-FW11E Battery

and France continued to pursue retreating Iraqi forces over the border and back into Iraq, eventually moving to within 150 miles (240 km) of Baghdad before withdrawing back to the Iraqi border with Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

One hundred hours after the ground campaign started, on 28 February, President Bush declared a ceasefire, and he also declared that Kuwait had been liberated. Sony VAIO VGN-FW11L Battery

Post-war military analysis

Although it was said in Western media at the time that Iraqi troops numbered approximately 545,000 to 600,000, most experts today believe that both the qualitative and quantitative descriptions of the Iraqi army at the time were exaggerated, Sony VAIO VGN-FW11M Battery

as they included both temporary and auxiliary support elements. Many of the Iraqi troops were young, under-resourced, and poorly trained conscripts.

The Coalition committed 540,000 troops, and a further 100,000 Turkish troops were deployed along the Turkish-Iraqi border.Sony VAIO VGN-FW11S Battery

This caused a significant force dilution of the Iraqi military by forcing it to deploy its forces along all its borders. This allowed the main thrust by the U.S. to possess not only a significant technological advantage, but also a numerical superiority.

The widespread support for Iraq during the Iran-Iraq War equipped Iraq with military equipment from most major world arms dealers. Sony VAIO VGN-FW11ZU Battery

This resulted in a lack of standardization in this large heterogeneous force, which additionally suffered from poor training and poor motivation. The majority of Iraqi armored forces still used old Chinese Type 59s and Type 69s, Soviet-made T-55s from the 1950s and 1960s, and some poor quality Asad Babil tanks Sony VAIO VGN-FW139E/H Battery

 (domestically assembled tank based on Polish T-72 hulls with other parts of mixed origin). These machines were not equipped with up-to-date equipment, such as thermal sights or laser rangefinders, and their effectiveness in modern combat was very limited.

The Iraqis failed to find an effective countermeasure to the thermal sights and sabot rounds used by the Coalition tanks. Sony VAIO VGN-FW140AE Battery

This equipment enabled them to engage and destroy Iraqi tanks from more than three times the range that Iraqi tanks could engage coalition tanks. The Iraqi crews used old, cheap steel penetratorsagainst the advanced Chobham Armour of the U.S. and British tanks, with ineffective results. Sony VAIO VGN-FW140D Battery

The Iraqis also failed to exploit the advantage that could be gained from using urban warfare — fighting within Kuwait City – which could have inflicted significant casualties on the attacking forces. Urban combat reduces the range at which fighting occurs, and can negate some of the technological advantages of well-equipped forces. Sony VAIO VGN-FW140E Battery

The Iraqis also tried to use Soviet military doctrine, but the implementation failed due to the lack of skill of their commanders, and the preventive coalition air strikes on communication centers and bunkers.

The end of active hostilities

In Iraqi territory that was occupied by the coalition, a peace conference was held where a ceasefire agreement was negotiated and signed by both sides. Sony VAIO VGN-FW140E/H Battery

At the conference, Iraq was approved to fly armed helicopters on their side of the temporary border, ostensibly for government transit due to the damage done to civilian infrastructure. Soon after, these helicopters and much of the Iraqi armed forces were used to fight a Shi'ite uprising in the south. Sony VAIO VGN-FW140E/W Battery

The rebellions were encouraged by an airing of "The Voice of Free Iraq" on 2 February 1991, which was broadcast from a CIA run radio station out of Saudi Arabia. The Arabic service of the Voice of America supported the uprising by stating that the rebellion was large, and that they soon would be liberated from Saddam.^[94] Sony VAIO VGN-FW140FE Battery

In the North, Kurdish leaders took American statements that they would support an uprising to heart, and began fighting, hoping to trigger a coup d'état. However, when no American support came, Iraqi generals remained loyal to Saddam and brutally crushed theKurdish uprising. Sony VAIO VGN-FW140N Battery

Millions of Kurds fled across the mountains to Kurdish areas of Turkey and Iran. These events later resulted inno-fly zones being established in both the North and the South of Iraq. In Kuwait, the Emir was restored, and suspected Iraqi collaborators were repressed. Eventually, over 400,000 people were expelled from the country, Sony VAIO VGN-FW140N/W Battery

including a large number ofPalestinians, due to PLO support of Saddam Hussein. Yasser Arafat did not apologize for his support of Iraq, but after his death the Fatah under the authority of Mahmoud Abbas would formally apologize in 2004.^[95]

There was some criticism of the Bush administration, Sony VAIO VGN-FW145E Battery

as they chose to allow Saddam Hussein to remain in power instead of pushing on to capture Baghdad and overthrowing his government. In their co-written 1998 book, A World Transformed, Bush and Brent Scowcroftargued that such a course would have fractured the alliance, and would have had many unnecessary political and human costs associated with it. Sony VAIO VGN-FW145E/W Battery

In 1992, the United States Secretary of Defense during the war, Dick Cheney, made the same point:

I would guess if we had gone in there, we would still have forces in Baghdad today. We'd be running the country. Sony VAIO VGN-FW160AE Battery

We would not have been able to get everybody out and bring everybody home. And the final point that I think needs to be made is this question of casualties. I don't think you could have done all of that without significant additional U.S. casualties, and while everybody was tremendously impressed with the low cost of the (1991) conflict, Sony VAIO VGN-FW160D Battery

for the 146 Americans who were killed in action and for their families, it wasn't a cheap war. And the question in my mind is, how many additional American casualties is Saddam (Hussein) worth? And the answer is, not that damned many. So, I think we got it right, both when we decided to expel him from Kuwait, Sony VAIO VGN-FW160E Battery

but also when the President made the decision that we'd achieved our objectives and we were not going to go get bogged down in the problems of trying to take over and govern Iraq.

Instead of a greater involvement of its own military, the United States hoped that Saddam Hussein would be overthrown in an internalcoup d'état. Sony VAIO VGN-FW160E/H Battery

The Central Intelligence Agency used its assets in Iraq to organize a revolt, but the Iraqi government defeated the effort.

On 10 March 1991, 540,000 American troops began to move out of the Persian Gulf. Sony VAIO VGN-FW160F/E Battery

Coalition involvement

Members of the Coalition included Argentina, Australia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belgium, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Egypt, France, Greece, Honduras, Hungary, Italy, Kuwait, Malaysia, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Niger, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, Sony VAIO VGN-FW170J/H Battery

Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Syria, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the United States of America.^[97]

Germany and Japan provided financial assistance and donated military hardware, but did not send direct military assistance.Sony VAIO VGN-FW180AE Battery

This later became known as checkbook diplomacy.

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom committed the largest contingent of any European nation that participated in the combat operations of the war. Operation Granby was the codename for the operations in the Persian Gulf. 
Sony VAIO VGN-FW180D Battery

 British Army regiments (mainly with the British 1st Armoured Division), Royal Air Force squadrons and Royal Navy vessels were mobilized in the Gulf. The Royal Air Force, using various aircraft, operated from airbases in Saudi Arabia. Almost 2,500 armored vehicles and 43,000 troops^[97] were shipped for action. Sony VAIO VGN-FW180E Battery

Chief Royal Navy vessels deployed to the gulf included a number of Broadsword-class frigates, and Sheffield-class destroyers, other RN and RFA ships were also deployed. The light aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal was not deployed to the Gulf area, but was deployed to the Mediterranean Sea. Sony VAIO VGN-FW180E/H Battery

The British Special Forces, the SAS, were deployed in several squadrons. The most known story of their involvement is that ofBravo Two Zero. Members of the patrol Andy McNab and Chris Ryan both wrote books on their experiences, Bravo Two Zero and The One That Got Away (So named because Chris Ryan was the only member of the patrol to successfully avoid capture).Sony VAIO VGN-FW180FU Battery

France

The second largest European contingent was France, which committed 18,000 troops.^[97] Operating on the left flank of the U.S. XVIII Airborne Corps, the main French army force was the 6th Light Armoured Division, including troops from the French Foreign Legion. Sony VAIO VGN-FW190EBH Battery

Initially, the French operated independently under national command and control, but coordinated closely with the Americans, Saudis and CENTCOM. In January, the Division was placed under the tactical control of the U.S. XVIII Airborne Corps. France also deployed several combat aircraft and naval units. Sony VAIO VGN-FW190ECH Battery

The French called their contribution Opération Daguet.

Canada

Canada was one of the first nations to condemn Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, and it quickly agreed to join the U.S.-led coalition. In August 1990, Prime Minister Brian Mulroneycommitted the Canadian Forces to deploy a Naval Task Group. Sony VAIO VGN-FW190EDH Battery

The destroyers HMCS Terra Novaand HMCS Athabaskan joined the maritime interdiction force supported by the supply shipHMCS Protecteur. The Canadian Task Group led the coalition maritime logistics forces in the Persian Gulf. A fourth ship, HMCS Huron, arrived in-theater after hostilities had ceased and was the first allied ship to visit Kuwait. Sony VAIO VGN-FW190NAH Battery

Following the UN authorized use of force against Iraq, the Canadian Forces deployed a CF-18 Hornet and Sikorsky CH-124 Sea King squadron with support personnel, as well as a field hospital to deal with casualties from the ground war. When the air war began, Sony VAIO VGN-FW190NBH Battery

Canada's CF-18s were integrated into the coalition force and were tasked with providing air cover and attacking ground targets. This was the first time since the Korean War that the Canadian military had participated in offensive combat operations. The only CF-18 Hornet to record an official victory during the conflict was an aircraft involved in the beginning of the Battle of Bubiyan against the Iraqi Navy.^[98] Sony VAIO VGN-FW190NCH Battery

The Canadian Commander in the Middle East was Commodore Ken Summers.

Australia

Australia contributed a Naval Task Group, which formed part of the multi-national fleet in the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman, under Operation Damask. Sony VAIO VGN-FW190NDH Battery

In addition, medical teams were deployed aboard a U.S. hospital ship, and a naval clearance diving team took part in de-mining Kuwait’s port facilities following the end of combat operations.

Australia was a member of the international coalition which contributed military forces to the 1991 Persian Gulf War. Sony VAIO VGN-FW190NEH Battery

While the Australian forces did not see combat, they did play a significant role in enforcing the sanctions put in place against Iraq following the invasion of Kuwait, as well as other small support contributions to Operation Desert Storm. Following the end of the Persian Gulf War, Sony VAIO VGN-FW198U/H Battery

Australia deployed a medical unit on Operation Habitat to northern Iraq as part of Operation Provide Comfort.

Civilian

The increased importance of air attacks from both warplanes and cruise missiles led to controversy over the number of civilian deaths caused during the initial stages of the war. Sony VAIO VGN-FW260J/B Battery

Within the first 24 hours of the war, more than 1,000 sorties were flown, many against targets in Baghdad. The city was the target of heavy bombing, as it was the seat of power for President Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi forces' command and control. This ultimately led to civilian casualties. Sony VAIO VGN-FW280J/H Battery

In one noted incident, two USAF stealth planes bombed a bunker in Amiriyah, causing the deaths of 408 civilians who were in the shelter at the time.^[99] Scenes of burned and mutilated bodies were subsequently broadcast, and controversy arose over the status of the bunker, with some stating that it was a civilian shelter, Sony VAIO VGN-FW290JRB Battery

while others contended that it was a center of Iraqi military operations, and that the civilians had been deliberately moved there to act as human shields.

An investigation by Beth Osborne Daponte estimated total civilian fatalities at about 3,500 from bombing, and some 100,000 from other effects of the war. Sony VAIO VGN-FW290JTB Battery

Iraqi

The exact number of Iraqi combat casualties is unknown, but it is believed to have been heavy. Some estimate that Iraq sustained between 20,000 and 35,000 fatalities.^[100] A report commissioned by the U.S. Sony VAIO VGN-FW290JTH Battery

Air Force, estimated 10,000–12,000 Iraqi combat deaths in the air campaign, and as many as 10,000 casualties in the ground war.^[103] This analysis is based on Iraqi prisoner of war reports.

Saddam Hussein's government gave high civilian casualty figures in order to draw support from the Islamic countries. Sony VAIO VGN-FW290JTW Battery

The Iraqi government claimed that 2,300 civilians died during the air campaign.According to the Project on Defense Alternatives study, 3,664 Iraqi civilians, and between 20,000 and 26,000 military personnel, were killed in the conflict, while 75,000 Iraqi soldiers were wounded.Sony VAIO VGN-FW355J/H Battery

Coalition

The DoD reports that U.S. forces suffered 148 battle-related deaths (35 to friendly fire), with one pilot listed as MIA (his remains were found and identified in August 2009). A further 145 Americans died in non-combat accidents. Sony VAIO VGN-FW373J/B Battery

The UK suffered 47 deaths (9 to friendly fire), France two,^[107] and the other countries, not including Kuwait, suffered 37 deaths (18 Saudis, 1 Egyptian, 6 UAE, and 3 Qataris).^[107] At least 605 Kuwaiti soldiers were still missing 10 years after their capture.^[110]

The largest single loss of life among Coalition forces happened on 25 February 1991, Sony VAIO VGN-FW30B Battery

when an Iraqi Al Hussein (missile) hit an American military barrack in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, killing 28 U.S. Army Reservists from Pennsylvania. In all, 190 coalition troops were killed by Iraqi fire during the war, 113 of whom were American, out of a total of 358 coalition deaths. Sony VAIO VGN-FW50B Battery

Another 44 soldiers were killed, and 57 wounded, by friendly fire. 145 soldiers died of exploding munitions, or non-combat accidents.

The largest accident among Coalition forces happened on 21 March 1991, a C-130H of the Royal Saudi Air Force crashed in heavy smoke on approach to Ras Al-Mishab Airport, Saudi Arabia. 92 Senegalese soldiers were killed. Sony VAIO VGN-FW51B/W Battery

The number of coalition wounded in combat seems to have been 776, including 458 Americans.^[111]

190 Coalition troops were killed by Iraqi combatants, the rest of the 379 coalition deaths being from friendly fire or accidents.Sony VAIO VGN-FW51MF Battery

This number was much lower than expected. Among the American dead were three female soldiers.

Friendly fire

While the death toll among Coalition forces engaging Iraqi combatants was very low, a substantial number of deaths were caused by accidental attacks from other allied units. Sony VAIO VGN-FW51MF/H Battery

Of the 148 American troops who died in battle, 24% were killed by friendly fire, a total of 35 service personnel. A further 11 died in detonations of allied munitions. Nine British service personnel were killed in a friendly fire incident when a United States Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II attacked a group of two Warrior IFVs. Sony VAIO VGN-FW51ZF Battery

Gulf War Illness

Many returning coalition soldiers reported illnesses following their action in the Gulf War, a phenomenon known as Gulf War syndrome or Gulf War illness. There has been widespread speculation and disagreement about the causes of the illness and the reported birth defects. Sony VAIO VGN-FW51ZF/H Battery

Some factors considered as possibilities include exposure to depleted uranium, chemical weapons, anthrax vaccines given to deploying soldiers, and/or infectious diseases. Major Michael Donnelly, a former USAF officer during the Gulf War, helped publicize the syndrome and advocated for veterans' rights in this regard. Sony VAIO VGN-FW52JB Battery

Effects of depleted uranium

Depleted uranium (DU) was used in the Gulf War in tank kinetic energy penetrators and 20–30 mm cannon ordnance. DU is apyrophoric, genotoxic, and teratogenic heavy metal. Sony VAIO VGN-FW54FB Battery

Many have cited its use during the Gulf War as a contributing factor to a number of instances of health issues in both veterans of the conflict and surrounding civilian populations. However, scientific opinion on the risk is mixed.^{[112][113][114]}

Highway of Death

On the night of 26–27 February 1991, some Iraqi forces began leaving Kuwait on the main highway north of Al Jahra in a column of some 1,400 vehicles. 
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A patrolling E-8 Joint STARS aircraft observed the retreating forces and relayed the information to the DDM-8 air operations center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.^[115] These vehicles and the retreating soldiers were subsequently attacked, resulting in a 60 km stretch of highway strewn with debris—the Highway of Death. Sony VAIO VGN-FW71DB/W Battery

Chuck Horner, Commander of U.S. and allied air operations has written:

[By February 26], the Iraqis totally lost heart and started to evacuate occupied Kuwait, but airpower halted the caravan of Iraqi Army and plunderers fleeing toward Basra. This event was later called by the media "The Highway of Death. Sony VAIO VGN-FW72JGB Battery

" There were certainly a lot of dead vehicles, but not so many dead Iraqis. They'd already learned to scamper off into the desert when our aircraft started to attack. Nevertheless, some people back home wrongly chose to believe we were cruelly and unusually punishing our already whipped foes. Sony VAIO VGN-FW73JGB Battery

By February 27, talk had turned toward terminating the hostilities. Kuwait was free. We were not interested in governing Iraq. So the question became "How do we stop the killing.

Bulldozer assault

Another incident during the war highlighted the question of large-scale Iraqi combat deaths. Sony VAIO VGN-FW74FB Battery

This was the "bulldozer assault", wherein two brigades from the 1st Infantry Division (Mechanized) were faced with a large and complex trench network, as part of the heavily fortified "Saddam Hussein Line". After some deliberation, they opted to use anti-mine plows mounted on tanks and combat earthmovers to simply plow over and bury alive the defending Iraqi soldiers. Sony VAIO VGN-FW81HS Battery

One newspaper story reported that the U.S. commanders estimated thousands of Iraqi soldiers surrendered, escaping live burial during the two-day assault 24–26 February 1991. Patrick Day Sloyan of Newsday reported, "Bradley Fighting Vehicles and Vulcan armored carriers straddled the trench lines and fired into the Iraqi soldiers as the tanks covered them with mounds of sand. Sony VAIO VGN-FW81NS Battery

'I came through right after the lead company,' [Col. Anthony] Moreno said. 'What you saw was a bunch of buried trenches with peoples' arms and things sticking out of them...'"^[117] However, after the war, the Iraqi government claimed to have found only 44 bodies.^[118] Sony VAIO VGN-FW81S Battery

In his book The Wars Against Saddam, John Simpson alleges that U.S. forces attempted to cover up this incident.^[119] After the incident, the commander of the 1st Brigade said: "I know burying people like that sounds pretty nasty, but it would be even nastier if we had to put our troops in the trenches and clean them out with bayonets." Sony VAIO VGN-FW82DS Battery

1991 Palestinian exodus from Kuwait

Kuwait expulsion policy was a response to alignment of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and the PLO with Saddam Hussein, who had earlier invaded Kuwait. Prior to the Gulf War, Palestinians made up about 30% of Kuwait's population of 2.2 million. Sony VAIO VGN-FW82JS Battery

The exodus took place during one week in March 1991, following Kuwait's liberation from Iraqi occupation. Kuwait expelled about 450,000 Palestinians from its territory,^[121] an event, which has become the second largest displacement of Palestinian Arabs ever, and is related as an ethnic cleansing. Sony VAIO VGN-FW82XS Battery

By 2006, only a few had returned to Kuwait and today the number of Palestinians living in Kuwait is less than 40,000 (under 3% of the population).

Coalition bombing of Iraq's civilian infrastructure

In the 23 June 1991 edition of the Washington Post, reporter Bart Gellman wrote: "Many of the targets were chosen only secondarily to contribute to the military defeat of  Sony VAIO VGN-FW83DS Battery

. . . . Military planners hoped the bombing would amplify the economic and psychological impact of international sanctions on Iraqi society. . . . They deliberately did great harm to Iraq's ability to support itself as an industrial society. . . ."^[123] In the Jan/Feb 1995 edition of Foreign Affairs, French diplomat Eric Rouleau wrote: Sony VAIO VGN-FW83JS Battery

"[T]he Iraqi people, who were not consulted about the invasion, have paid the price for their government's madness. . . . Iraqis understood the legitimacy of a military action to drive their army from Kuwait, but they have had difficulty comprehending the Allied rationale for using air power to systematically destroy or cripple Iraqi infrastructure and industry: Sony VAIO VGN-FW83XS Battery

electric power stations (92 percent of installed capacity destroyed), refineries (80 percent of production capacity), petrochemical complexes, telecommunications centers (including 135 telephone networks), bridges (more than 100), roads, highways, railroads, hundreds of locomotives and boxcars full of goods, Sony VAIO VGN-FW90HS Battery

radio and television broadcasting stations, cement plants, and factories producing aluminum, textiles, electric cables, and medical supplies."^[124]

Abuse of coalition POWs

During the conflict coalition aircrew shot down over Iraq were displayed as POWs on TV, most with visible signs of abuse. Sony VAIO VGN-FW90NS Battery

Amongst several testimonies to poor treatment,Royal Air Force Tornado crew John Nichol and John Peters have both alleged that they were tortured during this time. Nichol and Peters were forced to make statements against the war in front of television cameras. Sony VAIO VGN-FW90S Battery

Members of a British Special Forces group named Bravo Two Zero were captured whilst providing information about an Iraqi Supply line of Scud Missiles to coalition forces, only one, Chris Ryan, evaded capture whilst other surviving members of the group were violently tortured. Sony VAIO VGN-FW91NS Battery

Flight surgeon (later General) Rhonda Cornum was molested by one of her captors^[129] after the Blackhawk she was riding in was shot down while searching for a downed F-16 pilot.

Operation Southern Watch

Since the Gulf war, the U.S. has had a continued presence of 5,000 troops stationed in Saudi Arabia – a figure that rose to 10,000 during the 2003 conflict in Iraq. Sony VAIO VGN-FW91S Battery

Operation Southern Watch enforced the no-fly zones over southern Iraq set up after 1991; oil exports through the shipping lanes of the Persian Gulf were protected by the U.S. Fifth Fleet, based in Bahrain.

Since Saudi Arabia houses the holiest sites in Islam (Mecca and Medina) — many Muslims were upset at the permanent military presence. Sony VAIO VGN-FW92DS Battery

The continued presence of U.S. troops after the Gulf War in Saudi Arabia was one of the stated motivations behind the 11 September terrorist attacks,^[130] the Khobar Towers bombing, as well, the date chosen for the 1998 United States embassy bombings (7 August), was eight years to the day that American troops were sent to Saudi Arabia. Sony VAIO VGN-FW92JS Battery

Osama Bin Laden interpreted the Prophet Muhammad as banning the "permanent presence of infidels in Arabia".^[132] In 1996, Bin Laden issued a fatwa, calling forAmerican troops to get out of Saudi Arabia. In the December 1999 interview with Rahimullah Yusufzai, bin Laden said he felt that Americans were "too near to Mecca" and considered this a provocation to the entire Muslim world. Sony VAIO VGN-FW93DS Battery

Gulf war sanctions

On 6 August 1990, after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, the U.N. Security Council adopted Resolution 661 which imposed economic sanctions on Iraq, providing for a full trade embargo, excluding medical supplies, food and other items of humanitarian necessity,Sony VAIO VGN-FW93JS Battery

these to be determined by the Security Council sanctions committee. From 1991 until 2003 the effects of government policy and sanctions regime led to hyperinflation, widespread poverty and malnutrition.

During the latter part of the 1990s the UN considered relaxing the sanctions imposed because of the hardships suffered by ordinary Iraqis. Sony VAIO VGN-FW93XS Battery

According to UN estimates, between 500,000 and 1.2 million children died during the years of the sanctions.^[134]

Draining of the Qurna Marshes

The draining of the Qurna Marshes was an irrigation project in Iraq during and immediately after the Gulf War, to drain a large area of marshes in the Tigris-Euphrates river system. Sony VAIO VGN-FW94FS Battery

Formerly covering an area of around 3000 square kilometres, the large complex of wetlands were almost completely emptied of water, and the local Shi'ite population relocated, following the Gulf War and 1991 uprisings. By 2000, United Nations Environment Programme estimated that 90% of the marshlands had disappeared, causing desertification of over 7,500 square miles (19,000 km²). Sony VAIO VGN-FW94GS Battery

Many international organizations such as the U.N. Human Rights Commission, the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, the International Wildfowl and Wetlands Research Bureau, and Middle East Watch have described the project as a political attempt to force the Marsh Arabs out of the area through water diversion tactics. Sony VAIO VGN-FW94HS Battery

Gulf War oil spill

On 23 January, Iraq dumped 400 million US gallons (1,500,000 m³) of crude oil into the Persian Gulf^[137], causing the largest offshore oil spill in history at that time.^[136] It was reported as a deliberate natural resources attack to keep U.S. Sony VAIO VGN-FZ11E Battery

Marine forces from coming ashore (Missouri and Wisconsin had shelledFailaka Island during the war to reinforce the idea that there would be an amphibious assault attempt). About 30–40% of this came from Allied raids on Iraqi coastal targets.^[138] Sony VAIO VGN-FZ11L Battery

Kuwaiti oil fires

The Kuwaiti oil fires were caused by Iraqi military forces setting fire to 700 oil wells as part of a scorched earth policy while retreating from Kuwait in 1991 after conquering the country but being driven out by Coalition military forces. Sony VAIO VGN-FZ11M Battery

The fires started in January and February 1991 and the last one was extinguished by November 1991.^[139]

The resulting fires burned out of control because of the dangers of sending in firefighting crews. Sony VAIO VGN-FZ11S Battery

Land mines had been placed in areas around the oil wells, and a military cleaning of the areas was necessary before the fires could be put out. Somewhere around 6 million barrels (950,000 m³) of oil were lost each day. Eventually, privately contracted crews extinguished the fires, at a total cost of US$1.5 billion to Kuwait. Sony VAIO VGN-FZ11Z Battery

 By that time, however, the fires had burned for approximately ten months, causing widespread pollution.

Cost

The cost of the war to the United States was calculated by the United States Congress to be $61.1 billion.^[141] Sony VAIO VGN-FZ130E Battery

About $52 billion of that amount was paid by different countries around the world: $36 billion by Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and other Arab states of the Persian Gulf; $16 billion by Germany and Japan (which sent no combat forces due to their constitutions). About 25% of Saudi Arabia's contribution was paid in the form of in-kind services to the troops, Sony VAIO VGN-FZ130E/B Battery

such as food and transportation.^[141] U.S. troops represented about 74% of the combined force, and the global cost was therefore higher.

Effect on developing countries

Apart from the impact on the Gulf States themselves, the resulting economic disruptions after the crisis affected many countries.Sony VAIO VGN-FZ130EB Battery

The ODI undertook a study in 1991 to assess the effects on developing countries and the response of the international community. A Briefing Paper finalized on the day that the conflict ended draws on their findings which had two main conclusions: Many developing countries were severely affected and while there has been a considerable response to the crisis, Sony VAIO VGN-FZ140E Battery

the distribution of assistance was highly selective.^[142]

The ODI factored in elements of ‘cost’ which included; Oil imports, remittance flows, re-settlement costs, loss of export earnings and tourism. For Egypt the cost totaled: 1bn – 3% of GDP. Sony VAIO VGN-FZ140E/B Battery

Yemen was badly affected with a cost of 1bn – 10% of GDP, while it cost Jordan 2bn, 32% of GDP.

International response to the crisis on developing countries came with the channeling of aid through The Gulf Crisis Financial Co-ordination Group. They were 24 countries, comprising most of the OECD countries plus some Gulf States: Sony VAIO VGN-FZ140EB Battery

Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait. The members of this group agreed to disperse 14bn in development assistance.

The World Bank responded by speeding up the disbursement of existing project and adjustment loans. Sony VAIO VGN-FZ140N Battery

The International Monetary Fund adopted two lending facilities – the Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility (ESAF) and the Compensatory & Contingency Financing Facility (CCFF). The European Community offered 2 billion in assistance.

Media coverage

The Persian Gulf War was a heavily televised war. Sony VAIO VGN-FZ140N/B Battery

For the first time people all over the world were able to watch live pictures of missiles hitting their targets and fighters taking off from aircraft carriers. Allied forces were keen to demonstrate the accuracy of their weapons.

In the United States, the "big three" network anchors led the network news coverage of the war: Sony VAIO VGN-FZ140QE Battery

ABC's Peter Jennings, CBS's Dan Rather, and NBC's Tom Brokawwere anchoring their evening newscasts when air strikes began on 16 January 1991. ABC News correspondent Gary Shepard, reporting live from Baghdad, told Jennings of the quietness of the city. But, moments later, Sony VAIO VGN-FZ145E Battery

Shepard was back on the air as flashes of light were seen on the horizon and tracer fire was heard on the ground.

On CBS, viewers were watching a report from correspondent Allen Pizzey, who was also reporting from Baghdad, when the war began. Rather, after the report was finished, Sony VAIO VGN-FZ15 Battery

announced that there were unconfirmed reports of flashes in Baghdad and heavy air traffic at bases in Saudi Arabia. On the "NBC Nightly News", correspondent Mike Boettcher reported unusual air activity in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. Moments later, Brokaw announced to his viewers that the air attack had begun. Sony VAIO VGN-FZ150E Battery

Still, it was CNN which gained the most popularity for their coverage, and indeed its wartime coverage is often cited as one of the landmark events in the development of the network. CNN correspondents John Holliman and Peter Arnett and CNN anchor Bernard Shaw relayed audio reports from the Al-Rashid Hotel as the air strikes began. Sony VAIO VGN-FZ150E/BC Battery

The network had previously convinced the Iraqi government to allow installation of a permanent audio circuit in their makeshift bureau. When the telephones of all of the other Western TV correspondents went dead during the bombing, CNN was the only service able to provide live reporting. Sony VAIO VGN-FZ150EBC Battery

After the initial bombing, Arnett remained behind and was, for a time, the only American TV correspondent reporting from Iraq.

In Britain, the BBC devoted the FM portion of its national speech radio station BBC Radio 4 to a 18h rolling news format creating Radio 4 News FM. Sony VAIO VGN-FZ15G Battery

The station was short lived, ending shortly after the President Bush declared the ceasefire and the liberation of Kuwait. However, it paved the way for the later introduction of Radio Five Live.

Two BBC journalists, John Simpson and Bob Simpson (who, despite sharing a surname, are unrelated), defied their editors and remained in Baghdad to report on the progress of the war. 
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They were responsible for a report which included an "infamous cruise missile that travelled down a street and turned left at a traffic light."^[143]

Newspapers all over the world also covered the war and Time magazine published a special issue dated 28 January 1991, the headline "WAR IN THE GULF" emblazoned on the cover over a picture of Baghdad taken as the war began. Sony VAIO VGN-FZ15M Battery

U.S. policy regarding media freedom was much more restrictive than in the Vietnam War. The policy had been spelled out in a Pentagon document entitled Annex Foxtrot. Most of the press information came from briefings organized by the military. Only selected journalists were allowed to visit the front lines or conduct interviews with soldiers. Sony VAIO VGN-FZ15S Battery

Those visits were always conducted in the presence of officers, and were subject to both prior approval by the military and censorship afterward. This was ostensibly to protect sensitive information from being revealed to Iraq. This policy was heavily influenced by the military's experience with the Vietnam War, Sony VAIO VGN-FZ15T Battery

in which public opposition within the United States grew throughout the course of the war. It wasn't only the limiting of information in the Middle East, media were also restricting what was shown about the war with more graphic depictions like Ken Jarecke's image of a burnt Iraqi soldier being pulled from the American AP wire whereas in Europe it was given extensive coverage. Sony VAIO VGN-FZ160E Battery

 At the same time, the coverage of this war was new in its instantaneousness (that is to say, unlike anything else the news has ever done). About halfway through the war, Iraq's government decided to allow live satellite transmissions from the country by Western news organizations, and U.S. journalists returned en masse to Baghdad. Sony VAIO VGN-FZ160E/B Battery

Tom Aspell of NBC, Bill Blakemore of ABC, and Betsy Aaron of CBS News filed reports, subject to acknowledged Iraqi censorship. Throughout the war, footage of incoming missiles was broadcast almost immediately.

A British crew from CBS News (David Green and Andy Thompson), Sony VAIO VGN-FZ160EB Battery

equipped with satellite transmission equipment traveled with the front line forces and, having transmitted live TV pictures of the fighting en route, arrived the day before the forces in Kuwait City, broadcasting live television from the city and covering the entrance of the Arab forces the following day. Sony VAIO VGN-FZ17 Battery

Alternative media outlets provided views in opposition to the Gulf War. Deep Dish Television compiled segments from independent producers in the U.S. and abroad, and produced a ten hour series that was distributed internationally, called The Gulf Crisis TV Project. The first program of this series War, Sony VAIO VGN-FZ17G Battery

Oil and Power was compiled and released in 1990, before the war broke out. News World Order was the title of another program in the series; it focused on the complicity of the media in promoting the war, as well as Americans' reactions to the media coverage. In San Francisco, as a local example, Sony VAIO VGN-FZ17L Battery

Paper Tiger Television West produced a weekly cable television show with highlights of mass demonstrations, artists' actions, lectures, and protests against mainstream media coverage at newspaper offices and television stations. Local media outlets in cities across the country screened similar oppositional media. Sony VAIO VGN-FZ18 Battery

The organization Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) critically analyzed media coverage during the Gulf War in various articles and books, such as the 1991 Gulf War Coverage: The Worst Censorship was at Home.^[147]

Technology

Precision-guided munitions, such as the United States Air Force guided missile AGM-130, Sony VAIO VGN-FZ180E Battery

were heralded as key in allowing military strikes to be made with a minimum of civilian casualties compared to previous wars, although they were not used as often as more traditional, less accurate bombs. Specific buildings in downtown Baghdad could be bombed whilst journalists in their hotels watched cruise missiles fly by. Sony VAIO VGN-FZ180E/B Battery

Precision-guided munitions amounted to approximately 7.4% of all bombs dropped by the coalition. Other bombs included cluster bombs, which disperse numerous submunitions,^[148] and daisy cutters, 15,000-pound bombs which can disintegrate everything within hundreds of yards. Sony VAIO VGN-FZ180EB Battery

Global Positioning System units were important in enabling coalition units to navigate easily across the desert.

Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) and satellite communication systems were also important. Two examples of this are the U.S. Navy E-2 Hawkeye and the U.S. Air Force E-3 Sentry. Sony VAIO VGN-FZ180U Battery

Both were used in command and control area of operations. These systems provided essential communications links between the ground forces, air forces, and the navy. It is one of the many reasons why the air war was dominated by the Coalition Forces.

American-made color photocopiers were used to produce some of Iraq's battle plans. Sony VAIO VGN-FZ180U/B Battery

Some of the copiers contained concealed high-tech transmitters that revealed their positions to American electronic-warfare air-crafts leading to more precise bombings.^[149]

Scud and Patriot missiles

The role of Iraq's Scud missiles featured prominently in the war. Scud is a tactical ballistic missile that the Soviet Union developed and deployed among the forward deployed Red Army divisions in East Germany. Sony VAIO VGN-FZ180UB Battery

The role of the Scuds which were armed with nuclear and chemical warheads was to destroy command, control, and communication facilities and delay full mobilisation of Western German and Allied Forces in Germany. It could also be used to directly target ground forces. Sony VAIO VGN-FZ18E Battery

Scud missiles utilise inertial guidance which operates for the duration that the engines operate. Iraq used Scud missiles, launching them into both Saudi Arabia and Israel. Some missiles caused extensive casualties, while others caused little damage. Concerns were raised of possible chemical or biological warheads on these rockets, Sony VAIO VGN-FZ18G Battery

but if they existed they were not used.

Scud missiles are not as effective at delivering chemical payloads as is commonly believed because intense heat during the Scud's flight at approximately Mach 5 denatures most of the chemical payload. Sony VAIO VGN-FZ18M Battery

Chemical weapons are inherently better suited to being delivered by cruise missiles or fighter bombers. The Scud is best suited to delivering tactical nuclear warheads, a role for which it is as capable today as it was when it was first developed.

The U.S. Patriot missile was used for the first time in combat. Sony VAIO VGN-FZ18ME Battery

The U.S. military claimed a high effectiveness against Scuds at the time, but later analysis gives figures as low as nine percent, with forty-five percent of the 158 Patriot launches being against debris or false targets. The Dutch Ministry of Defense who also sent Patriot missiles to protect civilians in Israel and Turkey, later disputed the higher claim.Sony VAIO VGN-FZ18S Battery

Further, there is at least one incident of a software error causing a Patriot missile's failure to engage an incoming Scud, resulting in deaths.Both the U.S. Army and the missile manufacturers maintained the Patriot delivered a "miracle performance" in the Gulf War. Sony VAIO VGN-FZ18T Battery,Sony VAIO VGN-FZ190 Battery,Sony VAIO VGN-FZ190E Battery