Desert Storm

Overall structure
Operation „Desert Shield“, Aug 7 1990 - Jan
16th, 1991
2nd Gulf War: Operation „Desert Storm“ -
lasted from Jan 17, 1991 - Feb 27, 1991

Situation before DS

2 years before the
2nd Gulf War
Sep 1980 - Aug 1988
1st Gulf War was Iraq vs. Iran > Saddam
Hussein is recognised by International
Community

Situation in Iraq
80 billions US $ of debt, mostly to Kuweit and
Saudi Arabia
High unemployment rate
45% of inflation
High insecurity
Petrol price goes down to 15 US $ per barrel

Chronology
July 1990, Saddam Hussein accuses Kuweit of
stealing oil (illegal drilling)
July 23th 1990, Iraq soldiers were ordered at
the Kuweit-Iraq border
July 27th 1990, OPEC meeting in Geneve
Up oil price: 21 US $ per barrel

Iraqi invasion
August 2, 1990 Iraq
invaded Kuwait
Oil financial objective
Strategic objective

Carter Doctrine - 1980
„...an attempt by any
outside force to gain
control of the Persian
Gulf will be regarded as
an assault on the vital
interests of the United
States of America, and
such an assault will be
repelled by any means
necessary, including
military force.“
Jimmy Carter

?
Hama oil fields

August 2, 1990 (same day) UN Resolution 660
August 3, 1990 Resolution of the Arab League
>>> both condemning the invasion and
demanding a withdrawl of iraqi troops
August 6, 1990 UN Res. 661 > economic sanctions
on Iraq

Operation Desert Shield
Pres. George Bush announces a „wholly
defensive“ mission to prevent Iraq fom
invading Saudi Arabia
August 7, 1990 US troops start moving into
Saudi Arabia
August 8, 1990 Iraq declares Kuweit the 19th
province

UNO Resolutions
661, 6 August 1990: Commercial, financial and
military blockade
674, 29 October 1990: Iraq must go out from
Kuweit
678, 29 November 1990: Use of all the
necessary mechanisms to get Iraq out of
Kuweit

Jan 12, 1991 Votes in the US Senate 52-47 for
the use of military force
Jan 15, 1991 last deadline of UN Resolution for
Iraq to withdrawl
Jan 16, 1991 Marlin Fitzwater announces, „The
liberation of Kuwait has begun...“
Jan 17, 1991 at 2:38 a.m. (local time) Apache
helicopter attack

Desert Storm

Overview DS
Jan 17, 1991 Iraq launches first SCUD
...more than a month of bombing / more than
1.000 sorties a day...
Feb 22, 1991 last ultimatum by Pres. Bush
Feb 23, 1991 Ground war - 100 hours
Feb 26, 1991 Kuwait City back under control
Feb 27, 1991 Pres. Bush orders a cease fire

Coalition Forces Republic of Iraq
8.600 tanks 5.800 tanks
15.000 armored vehicles 5.100 armored vehicles
3.800 artillery 3.850 artillery
2.430 fighters / bombers 750 fighters / bombers
200 other aircraft

Coalition Forces Republic of Iraq
575.000 50.000 360.000
plus auxiliary elements
43.000 35.000
plus 8 other countries
= 830.000 Ground Force = 540.000 Ground Force
(then 4th biggest army)

100.000 Turkish troops
830.000
Coalition troops

Main Air Campaign -
priorities / three
phases
1. Iraqi air force
2. command and communication facilities
3. military targets throughout Iraq and Kuweit

1. Iraqi air force
destruction of Iraqi air force and anti-aircraft
facilities
qickly achieved due to superior fighters,
stealth planes and high speed anti-radar
missiles (HARM)
sorties launched mostly from Saudi Arabia and
the six Coalition aircraft carriers battle groups
in the Persian Gulf and Red Sea

F-117A Stealth planes

anti-radar missiles

2. command and
command facilites
second phase wanted to disrupt the
communication between HQ and other
command posts
hope of quick collaps without command and
control
extensive use of laser-guided bombs

bunker hits?

3. a variety of targets
largest phase
throughout Kuweit and Iraq
SCUDs on trucks - difficult to achieve

also facilities for military and civilian use:
electricity production, nuclear reactors
(unclear), telecommunication equipment, port
facilities, oil refineries and distribution,
railrods and bridges
most major dams, most major pumping
stations, many sewage treatment plants
electricity production down to 4% of pre-war
production

Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr.
hypothetical invasion of
the oil fields in the
Persian Gulf by Iraq
AirLand Battle Doctrine
USCENTCOM
wargame of 1990

Ground campaign
Coalition forces: acting under air surpremacy
key technological advantages
longer range of M1A1 tanks in comparison
to russian-built T72, T80
GPS enabling them to freely navigate and
acting offensively, instead of wandering
around

M1 tank

T72

Coalition forces
enter Iraq

Retreat
February 26, 1991 Iraqi troops began to retreat
out of Kuweit > Kuweit City under control
setting the oil fields on fire (or: cluster bombs
did ignite them / unexploded had to be
cleared before starting exinguishing them)
retreating forces were followed within 150
miles of Baghdad
Feb 27, 1991 Pres. Bush orders a cease fire

Why not take Baghdad?
In 1992, the then United States Secretary of Defence during the
war, Dick Cheney, said:
„I would guess if we had gone there, I would still have forces in
Baghdad today. We‘d be running the country.
And the final point that I think needs to be made is this question
of casualties.
...
And the question in my mind is, how many additional American
casualties is Saddam (Hussein) worth? And the answer is, not
that damned many. So, I think we got it right, both when we
decided to expel him from Kuweit, but also when the president
made the decision that we‘d achieved our objectives and we were
not going to go get bogged down in the problems of trying to
take over and govern Iraq.“

oil fields

Situation after DS

Casualities
Coalition force
official figures: 378 dead, 1.000 wounded
Iraqi army
25.000 dead, 75.000 wounded
Iraqi population
150.000 - 500.000 dead

Gulf war illness
2000, 183.000 US vets have been declared
permanently declared disabled
2001, survey of US veterans:
1,8 (fathers) to 2,8 (mothers) times as likely to
report having children with birth defects than
the average
reasons still unknown
maybe: exposure to depleted uranium,
chemical weapons, anthrax vaccine and/or
infectious diseases

Sabot
high kinetic weapons
for tanks and
20-30mm cannons
smaller than the bore
diameter

Sabot
vaporizes into tiny particles on hard impact
first time use in DS
recent study: DU is a heavy metal and
chemical toxicant with kidney, lung risks and
birth defect-causing

Consequences for
Iraqi population
1998 massive increase in birth defects and
cancer, particulary leukemia (no exact figures,
government doctors)
claimed to be unable to provide evidence due
to the sanctions
WHO wanted to study higher cancer rates in
southern Iraq, but Saddam refused

UNO & Iraq
Saddam was still in power - Iraq is controlled
by the UN
destruction of the principal Iraq infrastructure
UNO forbids:
to sell weapons to Iraq
any commercial activity or help
transportations are blocked

Result of these UNO
sanctions
Strongest sanction in the UNO History =
Human Catastrophe
1990 - 2000 Highest Mortality Rate: 160%
1996, about 4500 dead childrens per month due
to denutrition, illnesses etc.
Denutrition Increase of 72%; 32% of the
children under age of 5 suffer from it

„Food for oil“
Program
1995, UNO, resolution 986:
53% to help center and south Iraq
30% to pay Kuweit
5-10% to pay UNO operations
13% to help north Iraq

Was the 2nd Gulf War
more a massacre ?

Media
very restrictive, Pentagon document „Annex
Foxtrot“
press information by military briefings
only selected journalists may visit frontlines or
interview officers, always an office present
prior approval and censorship afterward

„History is made by winners.“
one-sided media, only very few controversial
voices
„...it wasn‘t a war, it was genocide.“ (?)
motives, reasoning, overestimated numbers
and swift ground war

Madeleine Albright , former Secretary of State
Interview, CBS USA TV
May 12, 1996
„Half million Iraq children had died because of
the sanctions, more than in Hiroshima... Is the
price worth it?“
„I think this is a very hard choice, but the price
- we think the price is worth it.“
2005 „I never should have made it (the
statement), it was stupid.“

Thanks for your
attention.