"I have seen in your eyes a fire of determination to get this war job done quickly. My confidence in you is total, our cause is just. Now you must be the thunder and the lighting of Desert Storm." - General Schwarzkopf
On August 2, 1990, Iraqi forces invaded Kuwait and seized control of the small nation. In response, U.S. military forces were quickly sent to the Persian Gulf region.
In a battle for the history books, the allies rolled over the Iraqi Army - quickly, totally, and at an unbelieveably low cost, when the Allied armies launched the ground war on February 23, 1991, the Iraqi occupation forces in Kuwait were already beaten. Cut off from their bases and headquarters by and intense 5 week air campaign, thousands of Iraqi soldiers simply gave up rather than fight, as the allies pushed through Iraq's defenses with relative ease. Said one American soldier, "There's nothing to this. It's like a nature hike. They jump up like squirrels to surrender."
Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein warned that the fight for Kuwait would be the "Mother of all Battles" but his army was routed in the 100-hour ground war. For the first time since WW II, triumphant American soldiers liberated an occupied nation like heroes. |
