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... a. "This will not stand. " He told reporters at a press conference. "This will not stand, this aggression against Kuwait. " Bush dubbed the defensive action Desert Shield. He immediately send more than 50, 000 US troops and put an additional 100, 000 on hold. Within hours, F- 15 fighter planes and paratroopers were on their way to the Middle East. Special radar-equipped planes called AWACs and huge B- 52 bombers also arrived shortly. Countless other aircraft, carriers, and tanks were sent to the Middle East.
The Arab League had now split into those against Iraq, and those with him. President Bush again demanded Saddam Hussein back out of Kuwait and remove his troops. Saddam refused, and told the world he would never leave Kuwait unless the Israelis withdrew from the territories they took in the 1967 and 1973 wars. Western and Arabs officials recognized this announcement as an attempt by Saddam to lift his image with Arabs, who hated Israel. Saddam felt that linking the Israelis with his invasion of Kuwait would win the support of the Arabs.
Most Arab nations, like Saudi Arabia and Egypt, dismissed this announcement. On August 17, 1990, the Iraqis acted on their plans against the nation of Kuwait. US, British, and other foreign citizens were not allowed to leave Iraq or Kuwait. An Iraqi spokesperson said that they would "stay as long as Iraq remains threatened with an aggressive war. " 5 Saddam said he would free the foreigners if the United States got out of Saudi Arabia. Three days later he started moving the citizens into industrial buildings and military sites.
This, he said, was to discourage the bombing of these areas. This was a blatant violation of international war law, to take up hostages, but Saddam dismissed the fact that the citizens were hostages, rather they were his "guests. " In preparing US forces for war against Iraq, President Bush realized the United States could not attack without the UN's consent. This was a very touchy topic, as many nations were involved, so their approval was very important. Early in November 1990, Bush sent James Baker on a sort of campaign throughout Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. His mission was to gain support for the Desert Storm effort among these countries. As a result of the campaign, the allied nations came up with an ultimatum for Iraq; get out of Kuwait by a given date or risk attack by the allies.
Baker and the rest of the allied countries then went to the UN Security Council, and presented their ideas. On November 29, the UN approved Resolution 678. This was an ultimatum for the Iraqis to leave Kuwait by midnight on January 15, 1991. Hours passed by since midnight, and still the Allies did not attack as they said.
The citizens of countries around the world were wondering if the ultimatum was a bluff. Maybe Saddam was right; the US was bluffing, and he had called it. Some people were angry, other relieved. Morning passed into afternoon, and many felt that there would be no Gulf War. But then, at about 7: 00 PM, a bulletin came in from the White House that bombing had started at 4: 50 that afternoon. The operation had been dubbed Operation Desert Storm. "The liberation of Kuwait has begun. " 6 Desert Storm was the largest air assault in history.
Its goal was to make it impossible for Iraq to attack Saudi Arabia and also weaken their army, in preparation for a ground attack. Allied planes were assigned to targets like Iraqi airfields, missile sites, troop bunkers, army bases, weapons factories, and industrial factories. At the same time, they focused their attacks on communication and radar sites to blind the Iraqi army. Biological weapons factories, chemical labs and other Iraqi targets were destroyed. These were all key strategic sites that had to be eliminated in order to decrease Allied casualties. With most of Iraq's radar warning systems down and the Iraqi air force on the run, Allied bombers and attack planes were free to attack all of their targets without fear of being shot down.
American bombers flew unchallenged through the sky, devastating targets all over. British tornado jets cruised low over Iraqi airfields, destroying hangars and demolishing runways, making them useless. American warships in the Persian Gulf launched over one hundred Tomahawk cruise missiles equipped with computerized cameras. These devices were pre-programmed with detailed maps of Iraqi terrain.
With adequate yet deadly accuracy, the missiles found the launch sites, oil refineries, power stations, and other targets. It was now Saddam's turn to act. After labeling Bush as the "Satan of the White House, " 7 he began his attack on January 18, 1991. His attack shocked people around the world. Following through on his promise to strike out against Israel, he ordered a missile attack against the Israelis at about 2: 00 AM. Detecting the incoming Scuds, the entire population of Tel-Aviv put on their gas masks.
This was because of another threat by Saddam that he would "burn half" of Israel with chemical weapons. Suddenly, after only 20 minutes after the announcement, eight Scuds appeared over Israel. Two hit Tel Aviv, three hit a port city named Haifa, and the other two landed in open fields. The Scuds caused only fifteen injuries and no deaths; they were embarrassingly inaccurate. Many people around the world were outraged by this, calling him a "barbarian" and a "madman. " Many people were surprised that Israel did not retaliate against Iraq, as they are know for their quick counterattacks.
They held back at the request of President Bush. He feared that if the Israelis joined the Allied effort, many of the Arab nations would quit. He compromised by promising to hunt down the Scud launchers in Iraq. He also promised to protect Israel from further Scud attacks by use of the Patriot missiles.
Meanwhile, the Allies continued their strategic bombings at the rate of thousands per day. Allied warplanes destroyed bridges, airfields, and military centers. Iraq's two nuclear power plants were leveled. By early February 1991, the 4. 5 million people of Baghdad had almost no electricity of running water. Hundreds of Iraqi tanks had become charred, smashed hunks of metal scattered around the desert.
Most of Iraq's military and industrial buildings were demolished. Tens of thousands of Iraqi military personnel were dead, while Allied fatalities numbered less than one hundred. Still, Saddam refused to surrender. On February 22, President Bush delivered a warning to the Iraqi dictator.
Saddam had to begin withdrawing from Kuwait by the 22 nd, or face the ground attack the Allies were preparing for. To nobody's surprise, Saddam again refused the warning. The ground attack started at 8: 00 PM on February 22, 1991. Bush determined that Iraq did not meet the conditions, and asked General Normal Schwartzkopf to "use all forces available, including ground forces, to eject the Iraqi army out of Kuwait. " The overall plan of the Allied attack was to move troops northward into southern Iraq and cut off Kuwait from the rest of Iraq. Then the Allies would focus on defeating Iraqi forces in Kuwait. For weeks the Allied commanders had kept their troops stationed in the Saudi desert just north of Kuwait.
But at the last minute, the Allies shifted their forces to the west, south of Iraq. The Iraqis were not aware of these changes. They did not have informative aircraft surveying the Allied movements. General Schwarzkopf also stationed eighteen thousand US Marines in plain sight in the Persian Gulf near the Kuwaiti coast. Thinking there would be an amphibious assault, the Iraqis pulled thousands of troops out of the desert and put them near the coast. They were taken completely by surprise when the huge mass of the Allied assault penetrated northward into Iraq.
At the same time, farther west, French and American troops sneaked across southern and central Iraq. They were trapped. While the other troops were invading Iraq, a combined force of Americans, Saudis, Egyptians, and Syrians launched an assault into southern Kuwait. Hundreds of tanks moved in and opened fire on Iraqi desert positions. Over fifty thousand troops followed. Most of the Iraqis in the desert along the Kuwaiti-Saudi border were already wiped out from weeks of bombing raids.
Day after day, hour after hour air attacks pounded Iraqi bunkers and trenches. It was a living hell for those soldiers. And they knew they were defeated. All they wanted to do was to go home- the war did not matter any longer. As a result, the invasion of Kuwait was a success, and thousands of Iraqi soldiers decided to surrender rather than face certain death. All that was left now was clean up.
Allies went on a search and kill mission to rid Kuwait of what was left of the Iraqi soldiers. The next day, newspapers around the world had the this on their headline in big, bold lettering: "KUWAIT FREED! War is over. " War in the end, seems to be a glorious thing. Especially in this Gulf War. Clearly you had the aggressor, the bad guy, Saddam Hussein, and the good guy, George Bush. Things turned out like something out of a movie; the good guy wins easily, the bad guy looses with disgrace.
Certainly it felt like a movie to us all, with the extensive press coverage and abundance of video captured. In this I feel we have taken war in the wrong way. War is not something to be looked at as great, or for that matter funny. I remember the various video shots of missiles destructing buildings, night vision video of bewildered Iraqi soldiers falling over in death from an enemy they cannot even see or hear...
It makes me cringe to think that these images are shown for our amusement, not for us to see the cruelty of war. It is true that Saddam is in fact a madman, but this does not label every single Iraqi citizen, or soldier as one. We look at gruesome footage of a charred Iraqi body, frozen while sitting up in his burnt truck- and we laugh. I think we have to rethink exactly what we fought this war for, was it worth the death on both sides, and why we put such a low humanitarian priority on the lives of our opponents. Nicholas Singh - PICARDesign Graphics - web -Serving all you graphical needs.
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Research essay sample on Saddam Iraq And The Gulf War
