Persian Gulf War Part 2

Before Coalition Commander and General Norman Schwarzkopf would launch the ground offensive, he insisted that his air forces kill half of the enemy’s ground forces. Early on the morning of January 17, 1991, the liberation of Kuwait, “Operation Desert Storm”, began with a massive US-led air offensive that hit Iraq’s air defenses, before moving swiftly on to its communications networks, weapons plants, oil refineries and more. The coalition effort benefited from the latest military technology, including Stealth bombers, Cruise missiles, so-called “Smart” bombs with laser-guidance systems and infrared night- bombing equipment. The Iraqi air force was either destroyed early on or opted out of combat under the relentless attack, the objective of which was to win the war in the air and minimize combat on the ground as much as possible.

38 days later, on February 24, the coalition forces had achieved air supremacy.  Airpower had done what Schwarzkopf had demanded of it.  It had destroyed thousands of Iraqi tanks and artillery pieces, supply routes and communications lines, and command-and-control bunkers; plus, had limited Iraq's ability to produce nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons. Iraqi troop morale suffered so badly under the bombing that an estimated 30% of Baghdad's forces deserted before the ground campaign started.

The allied ground campaign relied on deception, mobility, and overwhelming air superiority to defeat the larger Iraqi army. The allied strategy was to mislead the Iraqis into believing the allied attack would occur along the Kuwaiti coastline and Kuwait's border with Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, General Schwarzkopf, American commander of the coalition forces, shifted more than 300,000 American, British, and French troops into western Saudi Arabia, allowing them to strike deep into Iraq, some 120 miles west of Kuwait, attacking Iraq’s armored reserves from the rear. The elite Iraqi Republican Guard mounted a defense south of Al-Basrah in southeastern Iraq, but most were defeated by February 27.

During this time, Saddam tried to draw Israel into the war in a desperate ploy to detach Arab nations   from the coalition.  He fired dozens of Scud missiles into Israel, but the painstaking diplomatic efforts     of the US kept Israel out of the war and protected the coalition.

In only 4 days, allied forces bored into enemy positions and drove what was left of the Iraqi army toward the Iraqi border.  Untold numbers, certainly tens of thousands, of Iraqi soldiers were killed during the allied onslaught.  The main retreat route out of Kuwait and into Iraq was easily targeted by coalition air forces and became known as the “Highway of Death”.  Large numbers of Iraqi soldiers surrendered,    and large numbers, about a third of the total, escaped across the border.  Perhaps as much as half of Hussein’s elite force, the Republican Guard, escaped with its heavy equipment intact.  The allies seemed content to let it go.  Only 100 hours after the ground campaign started, the war ended. Saddam Hussein remained in power, but his ability to control events in the region was dramatically curtailed.

With Iraqi resistance nearing collapse, Bush declared a ceasefire on February 28, ending the Persian Gulf War. According to the peace terms that Hussein subsequently accepted, Iraq would recognize Kuwait’s sovereignty and get rid of all its weapons of mass destruction (including biological and chemical weapons). In all, an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 Iraqi forces were killed, in comparison to the 383 Americans killed, 458 wounded.  The rest of the allied coalition suffered 510 casualties.  History records few such tactically decisive wars as this one. 

US military leaders expected to continue their remarkable progress and predicted capture of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, and Saddam Hussein himself within a week.  President Bush was then faced with a very difficult decision.  The UN resolution to use force against Iraq was only for the purpose of expelling Iraq from Kuwait.  It did not authorize the invasion of Iraq or the overthrow of its government.  Overthrowing Saddam presented a number of complications:

  • If the United Nations mandate was exceeded, the coalition would likely fall apart and the US would lose the support of many coalition allies.

  • If the UN mandate was exceeded, UN support might be jeopardized the next time US needed it.

  • If the UN mandate was exceeded, other pro-US Arab nations might turn against the US.

  •  If Saddam is removed, Iraq could quickly devolve into civil war.

  • Saddam’s military capabilities are no longer a threat and they will continue to be suppressed, so there is no urgent need to remove him

  • As long as Saddam remains in power, his presence will justify continued American occupation of Saudi Arabia, which would be in the best interests of the US.

President Bush had promised there would be no “murky ending” to this war, but this was not to be.  He ordered US forces out of Iraq; Saddam Hussein survived and continued his rule.  As military thinkers observed long ago, no degree of tactical success can overcome a strategic miscalculation.  Though the Gulf War was recognized as a decisive victory for the coalition, Kuwait and Iraq suffered enormous damage, and Saddam Hussein was not forced from power, and the repercussions of this war would be felt for decades.

VIETNAM PUT TO REST

The Bush administration’s successful handling of the Gulf War banished the ghosts of Vietnam once and for all.  All during the spring and summer of 1991, America welcomed the troops home with parades and ceremonies.  Bush’s public approval rating had soared at one point to 88%.  But the parades and their memories faded, and Bush was unable to sustain his popularity on military victories while the economy slipped into a recession.  The Gulf War was intended by US leaders to be a “limited” war fought at minimum cost, but it would have lingering effects for years to come, both in the Persian Gulf region  and around the world.

KURDS

In the immediate aftermath of the war, Hussein’s forces brutally suppressed uprisings by Kurdish peoples in the north of Iraq.  The Kurds, whom Saddam had used poison gas against, were encouraged by the US to launch an uprising in the North that would serve as a diversion while the coalition attacked in the South; the Kurds were promised air support for their uprising.  After President Bush announced the cease fire, not only was air support for the Kurds withdrawn, but coalition forces returned control of an Iraqi military base home to attack helicopters to the Iraqi military---those helicopters were then used to brutally attack the Kurds.

CONTINUED MILITARY EFFORTS

Wars presumably have beginnings, middles, and ends.  Only the beginning of this war seems clear. For years after the war, American and British aircraft patrolled Iraqi skies to conduct regular air strikes against Iraqi targets, and enforce a “no-fly zone” over nearly 2/3 of Iraq.  Spy satellites scoured every inch of Iraq in an effort to detect signs of any aggressive Iraqi actions.

MEDIA COVERAGE

The media coverage consumed twice the bandwidth in reporting the war as the allies did in fighting it.  However, much of the media coverage was facilitated by the US military, which provided information that might now be deemed “propaganda”.  Military-sourced information included reports about Iraqi atrocities that were later proven untrue.  During the war, the US military public relations teams were relied upon as the primary source of official information, which tended to show US efforts in a most favorable light. Journalists were also ‘embedded’ with US forces to cover the war in real time, giving viewers an unprecedented view of armed conflict, but a somewhat skewed view of war insofar as this conflict was   so thoroughly one-sided. 

OIL FIRES

During its retreat from Kuwait, the Iraqi military set fire to roughly 700 oil wells.  Many of these fires raged for upwards of a year, and the thick smoke blocked out the sun and produced a fine misting rain of condensed oil vapors.  The last of the fires were not extinguished until 10 months later, after which an estimated 1.5 billion barrels of oil were burned. The Kuwait oil fires are considered the 3rd worst man-made environmental catastrophe ever.  This catastrophe had yet-to-be calculated health consequences for people in the region, as well as environmental consequences on a global scale.

DEPLETED URANIUM

The US employed anti-tank missiles constructed with depleted-uranium, which enables them to penetrate tank armor.  Depleted uranium weapons contaminate impact areas with extremely fine radioactive and toxic dust.  Coalition soldiers Iraqi and Kuwaiti civilians who entered impact areas were then exposed to this toxic dust.  It is suspected that the unusual symptoms known as ‘Gulf War illness’, with long-term health consequences including kidney problems, various cancers, and birth defects, are the result of depleted uranium exposure.  Similar to the Vietnam-era Agent Orange controversy, the official US military position is that soldiers were not exposed to unsafe conditions and various illnesses cannot be definitively traced to depleted uranium exposure.

They have pinned the blame on the nerve agent sarin, which was released into the air when caches of Iraqi chemical weapons were bombed. Many veterans have complained of a range of debilitating symptoms which developed after their service.  But for decades the cause of Gulf War Syndrome has remained elusive.

Sarin is usually deadly, but lead researcher Dr Robert Haley said the gas that soldiers were exposed to in Iraq was diluted, and so not fatal.  "But it was enough to make people ill if they were genetically predisposed to illness from it."  The key to whether somebody fell ill was a gene known as PON1, which plays an important role in breaking down toxic chemicals in the body.  Veterans with a less effective version of the PON1 gene were more likely to become sick.