Iraq invades Kuwait
On
August 9, Operation Desert Shield, the American defense of Saudi Arabia, began
as U.S. forces raced to the Persian Gulf. Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein,
meanwhile, built up his occupying army in Kuwait to about 300,000 troops. On
November 29, the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution authorizing the use
of force against Iraq if it failed to withdraw by January 15, 1991. Hussein
refused to withdraw his forces from Kuwait, which he had established as a
province of Iraq, and some 700,000 allied troops, primarily American, gathered
in the Middle East to enforce the deadline.
At
4:30 p.m. EST on January 16, 1991, Operation Desert Storm, the massive U.S.-led
offensive against Iraq, began as the first fighter aircraft were launched from
Saudi Arabia and off U.S. and British aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf.
All evening, aircraft from the U.S.-led military coalition pounded targets in
and around Baghdad as the world watched the events transpire on television
footage transmitted live via satellite from Iraq. Operation Desert Storm was
conducted by an international coalition under the supreme command of U.S.
General Norman Schwarzkopf and featured forces from 32 nations, including
Britain, Egypt, France, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait.
During
the next six weeks, the allied force engaged in an intensive air war against
Iraq’s military and civil infrastructure and encountered little effective
resistance from the Iraqi air force or air defenses. Iraqi ground forces were
helpless during this stage of the war, and Hussein’s only significant
retaliatory measure was the launching of SCUD missile attacks against Israel
and Saudi Arabia. Saddam hoped that the missile attacks would provoke Israel to
enter the conflict, thus dissolving Arab support of the war. At the request of
the United States, however, Israel remained out of the war.
On
February 24, a massive coalition ground offensive began, and Iraq’s outdated
and poorly supplied armed forces were rapidly overwhelmed. By the end of the
day, the Iraqi army had effectively folded, 10,000 of its troops were held as
prisoners, and a U.S. air base had been established deep inside Iraq. After
less than four days, Kuwait was liberated, and the majority of Iraq’s armed
forces had either surrendered, retreated to Iraq, or been destroyed.
On
February 28, U.S. President George Bush declared a cease-fire, and on April 3
the U.N. Security Council passed Resolution 687, specifying conditions for a
formal end to the conflict. According to the resolution, Bush’s cease-fire
would become official, some sanctions would be lifted, but the ban on Iraqi oil
sales would continue until Iraq destroyed its weapons of mass destruction under
U.N. supervision. On April 6, Iraq accepted the resolution, and on April 11 the
Security Council declared it in effect. During the next decade, Saddam Hussein
frequently violated the terms of the peace agreement, prompting further allied
air strikes and continuing U.N. sanctions.
In
the Persian Gulf War, 148 American soldiers were killed and 457 wounded. The
other allied nations suffered about 100 deaths combined during Operation Desert
Storm. There are no official figures for the number of Iraqi casualties, but it
is believed that at least 25,000 soldiers were killed and more than 75,000 were
wounded, making it one of the most one-sided military conflicts in history. It
is estimated that 100,000 Iraqi civilians died from wounds or from lack of
adequate water, food, and medical supplies directly attributable to the Persian
Gulf War. In the ensuing years, more than one million Iraqi civilians have died
as a result of the subsequent U.N. sanctions.
War in Iraq begins
In 2003, the United States, along with coalition forces primarily from
the United Kingdom, initiates war on Iraq. Just after explosions began to rock
Baghdad, Iraq’s capital, U.S. President George W. Bush announced in a televised
address, “At this hour, American and coalition forces are in the early stages
of military operations to disarm Iraq, to free its people and to defend the
world from grave danger.” President Bush and his advisors built much of their
case for war on the idea that Iraq, under dictator Saddam Hussein, possessed or
was in the process of building weapons of mass destruction.
Hostilities
began about 90 minutes after the U.S.-imposed deadline for Saddam Hussein to
leave Iraq or face war passed. The first targets, which Bush said were “of
military importance,” were hit with Tomahawk cruise missiles from U.S.
fighter-bombers and warships stationed in the Persian Gulf. In response to the
attacks, Republic of Iraq radio in Baghdad announced, “the evil ones, the
enemies of God, the homeland and humanity, have committed the stupidity of
aggression against our homeland and people.”
Though
Saddam Hussein had declared in early March 2003 that, “it is without doubt that
the faithful will be victorious against aggression,” he went into hiding soon
after the American invasion, speaking to his people only through an occasional
audiotape. Coalition forces were able to topple his regime and capture Iraq’s
major cities in just three weeks, sustaining few casualties. President Bush
declared the end of major combat operations on May 1, 2003. Despite the defeat
of conventional military forces in Iraq, an insurgency has continued an intense
guerrilla war in the nation in the years since military victory was announced,
resulting in thousands of coalition military, insurgent and civilian deaths.
After
an intense manhunt, U.S. soldiers found Saddam Hussein hiding in a
six-to-eight-foot deep hole, nine miles outside his hometown of Tikrit. He did
not resist and was uninjured during the arrest. A soldier at the scene
described him as “a man resigned to his fate.” Hussein was arrested and began
trial for crimes against his people, including mass killings, in October 2005.
In
June 2004, the provisional government in place since soon after Saddam’s ouster
transferred power to the Iraqi Interim Government. In January 2005, the Iraqi
people elected a 275-member Iraqi National Assembly. A new constitution for the
country was ratified that October. On November 6, 2006, Saddam Hussein was
found guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced to death by hanging.
After an unsuccessful appeal, he was executed on December 30, 2006.
No weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq.
A LOT TO READ! NOT WORTH READING.
JUST REMEMBER THIS -.
It has been called the most unpopular war in America since Vietnam.
Iraq Coalition Military
Fatalities By Year
Year
|
US
|
UK
|
Other
|
Total
|
2003
|
486
|
53
|
41
|
580
|
2004
|
849
|
22
|
35
|
906
|
2005
|
846
|
23
|
28
|
897
|
2006
|
823
|
29
|
21
|
873
|
2007
|
904
|
47
|
10
|
961
|
2008
|
314
|
4
|
4
|
322
|
2009
|
149
|
1
|
0
|
150
|
2010
|
60
|
0
|
0
|
60
|
2011
|
54
|
0
|
0
|
54
|
2012
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
2014
|
3
|
0
|
0
|
3
|
2015
|
6
|
0
|
2
|
8
|
2016
|
7
|
0
|
0
|
7
|
Total
|
4502
|
179
|
141
|
4822
|
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IRAN
http://mrrmideast.blogspot.com/2016/07/iran.html
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IRAN
http://mrrmideast.blogspot.com/2016/07/iran.html
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