Table of Contents Whitney's Homepage
Historical Overview
By Brennan and Whitney
“I knew that this would be happening. That my platoon would be activated and I soon would fly over to the Middle East to help our allies to fight a treacherous war against Saddam Hussein. America seemed quiet that day. We had been waiting for the call from our allies to come assist them. My family was very solemn and quiet about the news. Outside the clouds were gray and the air was cool. The dogs in the neighborhood weren’t making noise and the children weren’t even humming a tune. This is the day I will always remember, the day of Desert Storm.”
In 1979, Saddam Hussein took total control of Iraq. Immediately after becoming dictator, he set the tone by killing twenty-one of his cabinet members. He wanted to make his country one of the greatest in the Middle East. In order to do that he felt that he needed to have at least twenty percent of the world’s oil supplies, so he and his armies invaded Kuwait. Saddam Hussein had been making threats against Kuwait for a long time. His actual invasion caught most of the world by surprise.
When the United States found out about the invasion of Kuwait, they ordered Saddam to remove his troops from Kuwait by January 15th, 1991 or a U.S. coalition were ordered to drive them out. Saddam did not listen to the United States request, so on the morning of January 17th, 1991, the United States launched air attacks against Iraqi targets. On February 24th, ground forces from the United States, started their attack. Three days later, Kuwait’s city was declared liberated and with the United States and with other allied forces in Iraq, President Bush and his advisors decided to pause the war.
After the break in the war, Saddam and his Iraqi forces had continued to move towards downtown Kuwait and were heading towards the Saudi Arabian border. In Washington D.C., the governments first concern was if Saddam would stop at the Saudi border. As Iraq forces began to meet at the Saudi border, the U.S. had plans for coming to the defense of the Saudis, but they were waiting for Saudi Arabia to ask for U.S. assistance. Saudi Arabia immediately asked for help and Secretary of Defense Cheney and General Schwarkopf met with King Fahd of Saudi Arabia to inform him of the American plan. Kind Fahd approved of American plans and then orders were issued that started the largest build up of American forces since Vietnam.
Forces from the 82nd airborne division were heading for Saudi Arabia, along with three hundred combat aircrafts. Fighting continued and by the end of September there were over two hundred thousand American forces in and around Saudi Arabia. That was enough people to successfully win any Iraqi attacks.
The next question of the allies was how to get Iraq out of Kuwait. They decided to call for additional troops that added up to one hundred and forty thousand more. During this time troops from many other nations were arriving such as Britain, France, Egypt, and Syrian forces to help us out. On November 29th, the U.N. Security Counsel passed a law stating the use of force if Iraq did not withdraw from Kuwait by January 15th.
On January 16th, Iraq was still not out of Kuwait; so allied forces began the first phase of Operation Desert Storm. American forces destroyed the Iraqi border radar stations, the Presidential palace, communication centers, and power stations. That day the allied forces only lost two planes and the attacks continued through the night.
On January 17th, the Iraqis started to fight back by firing seven scud missiles at Israel. Saddam had threatened Israelis earlier. He said he would burn half of Israel with chemical weapons. Israelis awaited the attack from Iraq by wearing gas masks. The Israelis wanted to retaliate right away, but the United States did not want to respond to the scud missals attacks. The Israelis then started to doubt the U.S., but we promised to increase the number of aircrafts aimed at scud sites.
On January 29th, two weeks into the air assaults, the Iraqis mounted their One Attack. One Iraqi division attack Southward, capturing the town of Al Khafji, which is only eight miles away from the Kuwaiti border. The Iraqis destroyed the first Saudi force that attempted a counter attack. American air attacks did not see to be helping because they held on to the town day and night. The next day Saudi Arabia recaptured Al Khafji, forcing the remaining Iraqis to flee back to the Kuwaiti border.
On February 24th, the first real attacks started. The marines and allied troops crossed the borders into Kuwait. The allied offensive had three major groups of troops. The first aimed at Kuwait City, the second aimed at the Iraqi flanks, and the final one was located beyond the most important Iraqi lines. In the first day of the war, all major objectives were reached. The marines were advancing half way to Kuwait City and the Western advances were moving forward without trouble. American casualties in the first day were very low.
On the second day, American troops were advancing on all of their fronts. The marines approached Kuwait City while the other groups began to cut off the Iraqis ability to with drawl. Again, American causalities were low.
The third day of the war was known as the largest tank battle in history. The American forces put the Republican War forces to work by using their tanks. The American tanks destroyed the Iraqi heavy armor without losing a single machine. The Iraqi army then began a long retreat from Kuwait and southern Iraq. Allied aircraft eventually cut off that retreat. The Iraqis were told to leave their vehicles and retreat on foot. Planes then destroyed the vehicles.
The fourth and final day consisted of the American forces destroying much of the Iraqi army. A decision had already been taking into Washington, to end the war at one hundred hours. It had been decided that an assault on Baghdad was impractical, so the best thing to do was to destroy as much Iraqi equipment as possible.
“After being here, away from my family I have learned the many sorrows of life. Poor men and even young boys losing their lives for their country. I am glad to be coming home, back to my country of freedom and liberty.”