16
January 1991 A.D. “Time’s Up,
Saddam—Fire When Ready, Gridley:”
Offensive Ops Begin (Literally) 30 Minutes After UN Midnight Deadline
Expires for Ordered Pullback from Kuwait;
0030 Local Time, Red Sea & Persian Gulf Areas
Editors.
“1991 -At midnight in Iraq, the United Nations deadline for the Iraqi withdrawal
from Kuwait expires, and the Pentagon prepares to commence offensive operations
to forcibly eject Iraq from its five-month occupation of its oil-rich neighbor.”
This Day in U.S. Military History. N.d.
https://thisdayinusmilhist.wordpress.com/2014/01/16/january-16/. Accessed 15 Jan 2015.
1991 -At
midnight in Iraq, the United Nations deadline for the Iraqi withdrawal from
Kuwait expires, and the Pentagon prepares to commence offensive operations to
forcibly eject Iraq from its five-month occupation of its oil-rich neighbor.
At 4:30 p.m. EST, the first fighter aircraft were launched from Saudi Arabia
and off U.S. and British aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf on bombing
missions over Iraq. All evening, aircraft from the U.S.-led military coalition
pounded targets in and around Baghdad as the world watched the events transpire
in television footage transmitted live via satellite from Baghdad and
elsewhere. At 7:00 p.m., Operation Desert Storm, the code-name for the massive
U.S.-led offensive against Iraq, was formally announced at the White House. The
operation was conducted by an international coalition under the 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 a massive 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 Iraqi leader Saddam 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ground offensive began, and Iraq’s outdated and poorly supplied armed forces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. Kuwait was liberated in less than four days, and a
majority of Iraq’s armed forces surrendered, retreated into Iraq, or were
destroyed. On February 28, President George Bush declared a cease-fire, and
Iraq pledged to honor future coalition and U.N. peace terms. One hundred and
twenty-five American soldiers were killed in the Persian Gulf War, with another
21 regarded as missing in action.
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