The reason Iraq annexed Kuwait dates back to the Iran-Iraq War. Saudi Arabia and Kuwait financed the war against Iran. After the war Iraq was left with huge debts to pay off which they refused to pay. Sadam Hussein then accused Kuwait of lowering the oil prices and soon after border tensions increased. Iraqi divisions mobilized near the Kuwaiti border and a tense situation became even worse. On Aug. 2, 1990 Sadam Hussein gave the order for the Iraqi Armed Forces to invade Kuwait. Iraq had the 4th largest Armed Forces in the world and were able to easily defeat any resistance in Kuwait. Sadam annexed Kuwait and made it one a province within Iraq. The UN condemned the invasion and sanctions were placed on Iraq. Sadam made another mistake, he moved Iraqi divisions close to the Saudi Arabian border. King Fahad, Leader of Saudi Arabia, worried what Sadam might do next invited US forces to his country. Sadam was helped by the US during the Iran-Iraq War and it's because of this he felt confident that the US would not get involved in Kuwait. He also boasted that when US soldiers arrived home in body bags it will be another Vietnam for the US. In the mean time the US organized a Coalition of countries that would remove Iraqi troops from Kuwait. To the US's surprise Afghanistan and Syria joined the US against Iraq. On June 15, 1991 the deadline set by the UN, Resolution 678, for Iraq to withdraw passed but only a few hours later the US and Coalition Forces declared war on Iraq and set out to liberate Kuwait.
Contents:
I.Backround
II.Iraqi Forces
III.Coalition Forces
IV.Iraqi Losses
V.Coalition Losses
VI.Conclusion
VII.Pictures
I.Backround
II.Iraqi Forces |
Iraqi Commander: Pres.Sadam Hussein
Iraqi Army:
5,500 Tanks
Iraqi Air Force:
Bombers:
Iraqi Air Defenses:
160 SA-2 Batteries
Iraq had the 4th largest Army and 4th largest Air Force in the world at the time. It's troops were battle hard and experienced from the war with Iran. Sadam's best troops were the Republican Guard. They had the best weapons, the best training and the highest moral. The only thing Iraq lacked was a strong navy. Sadam Hussein knew that his best assets were his artillery and tanks. The Iraqi Air Force was equally impressive with new Russian aircraft and training by Russian pilots. What Sadam viewed as his greatest advantage over the US was the American public. He believed that the public would not support the war and thus would turn into another Vietnam.
-1,600 T-55
-500 Type 59
-900 Type 62
-1,500 T-62
-1,000 T-72
1,000 Infantry Fighting Vehicles
1,100 Reconnaissance Vehicles
6,000 APC's
2,800 Towed Artillery
500 Self-Propelled Guns
200 Multiple-Rocket Launchers
-20 Su-24
-8 Tu-22
-8 Tu-16
-4 H-6
Fighter-Bombers:
-70 Mig-23
-64 Mirage F-1
-45 Su-20
-30 Su-25
Fighters:
-40 J-6
-150 Mig-21
-40 Mirage F-1
-10 Mig-25
-24 Mig-29
60 Transport Aircraft
600 Hard Bunkers for Aircraft
140 SA-3 Batteries
100 Roland Batteries
300 SA-6 & SA-8 Mobile SAMs
10,000 Anti-Aircraft Artillery
III.Coalition Forces |
Coalition Commander: Gen.Norman Schwarzkopf
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Country
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Troops
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Aircraft
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Helicopters
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Ships
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Tanks
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APC's
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Afghanistan Australia Bahrain Bangladesh Belgium Canada Denmark Egypt France Germany Greece Italy Kuwait Netherlands Niger Norway Oman Qatar Portugal Saudi Arabia Spain Syria Turkey United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States |
300 |
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Equally impressive as the victory during the Gulf War was the speed at which the US built up its forces. It was an astonishing feat never seen before. The United States mobilized nearly 600,000 men, 3,000 tanks, 150 warships, 2,000 aircraft and 1,700 helicopters in just a few months they were assembled in Saudi Arabia. The Coalition was made up of 37 countries including an Arab Coalition. The Arab Coalition was made up of Egypt, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Pakistan, Turkey and a few others. Each country contributed a small way with the US leading the Coalition and doing much of the work. Other than the US France and the United Kingdom played key roles in the victory. This is exactly what Sadam was not expecting, he had no support militarily, only Jordan and Arafat sided with Sadam. Russia advised Iraq to get out of Kuwait and made it clear it would not help them in this war.
IV.Iraqi Losses |
Soldiers Killed: 20,000-30,000
The initial airstrikes stunned the Iraqi Armed Forces and the Coalition seized the initiative. Within days the Coalition enjoyed air superiority over Iraq. Iraq had hundreds of bunkers made to protect their aircraft but those were easily penetrated by US smart bombs and thus left no place for Iraqi aircraft to hide. Sadam then sent his aircraft to Iran, by wars end over 150 Iraqi aircraft would fly to Iran. Those aircraft remain there to this day, Iran views the weapons pay for the suffrage Iraq has caused the Iranian people during the Iran-Iraq War. Radar and communications towers were all taken out, it blinded the Iraqi forces who became sitting ducks. Before the ground campaign began, Iraqis troop strength was at 70% because of the airstrikes.
The Casualties were enormous, thousands of Iraqis died and thus the Iraqi moral was very low. Iraqis were so scared of the US power that they surrendered to everything in site including helicopters, drones and even camera guys. I all the US took some 65,000 Iraqi prisoners with the rest of the allies taking another 20,000. Low estimates put the Iraqi death toll at 20,000-30,000 but the true estimate could be as high as 100,000. What makes it hard to find out is that Iraqi soldiers killed were buried in their bunkers by their fellow soldiers and Iraq did not keep an accurate count of their dead. The biggest Turkey shoot of the war came as Iraqi troops were retreating from Kuwait. The incident is know as "The Highway to Hell". The retreating Iraqis were blocked of in the North, South and West. Their only escape route was Iran, which they chose not take. The Coalition Forces called in Air Support to wipe out the Iraqis, even B-52's came and bombed the column.
For a detailed table on the Gulf Air War click
here.
Tanks Lost: 3,847
Artillery Lost: 2,917
Armored Personal Carriers Lost: 1,450
Helicopters Lost: 7
Aircraft Lost on the Ground: 141
Aircraft Lost in the Air: 43
V.Coalition Losses |
US Casualties:
148 Killed
458 Wounded
207 Killed in friendly fire or accidents
Tank Lost: 4(all to friendly fire)
Artillery Lost: 1
Armored Personal Carriers Lost: 9
Helicopters Lost: 17
Aircraft Lost: 44(23 US)
Aircraft Lost in the Air: 1
US Casualties were very low. Some critics before the war predicted that 10,000-15,000 US soldiers might die. Led by Gen. Schwarzkopf the US was ready to put behind them any doubts about its readiness. The war could not have come at a better time because of the Reagan Era massive military spending. After Vietnam major reforms in the military took place and the results were excellent. This was a volunteer professional fighting force, the officers were better trained and unlike the Vietnam war the Generals had control of the war.
For a detailed table on the Coalition Air Losses click
here.
VI.Conclusion |
The Pentagon overestimated the Iraqi force. At first it was believed that Iraq had around 550,000 troops near Kuwait. It was only later confirmed that Iraq had only about 300,000. Iraq invaded Kuwait on Aug. 2nd, 1990 with 120,000 troops and 300 tanks. Kuwait had 15,000 soldiers to resist Iraq but they were quickly defeated. The one bright spot for Kuwait was their air defenses. Kuwaiti air defense units equipped with US Mim-23 Hawk antiaircraft missiles downed 22 Iraqi aircraft and one combat helicopter during the invasion of 2 August 1990.
The Coalition opened the war with a huge barrage of Tomahawk Cruise Missiles in downtown Baghdad. US AH-64 Apachesand strike aircraft targeted Iraqi radar and air defenses. The ensuing air war and the effects of the economic embargo decimated Iraq's military infrastructure, severed communication and supply lines, smashed weapons arsenals, and destroyed morale. Overall, the coalition air campaign accumulated a total of 109,876 sorties over the 43-day war, an average of 2,555 sorties per day. Of these, over 27,000 targeted Scuds, airfields, air defenses, electrical power, biological and chemical weapons, headquarters, intelligence assets, communications, the Iraqi army, and oil refining. When this was over the ground troops were sent in to clean up whatever Iraqi troops were in Kuwait.
The F-117 Nighthawk saw combat officially for the first time (The F-117 saw action in Panama). The F-16 Falcon, A-10 Warthog and Ah-64 Apache performed excellent missions destroying thousands of ground vehicles and other targets. The F-15 Eagle downed a few Mig-29 Fulcrums to keep the title "Best Aircraft in the World" with over 100 wins and no losses. The M270 MLRS also made name for itself during the war.
Another highlight of the war took place when 1 Iraqi Republican Guard Division met up with 1 Marine Division. For the first time the US M1A1 Abrams would duel head to head with the Russian T-72 tank. When the smoke cleared about 200 Iraqi tanks, most T-72's, were destroyed without the loss of a single US tank. As Sadam realized he had no chance of winning he sought out to break the Coalition apart. He launched Scuds at Israel and Saudi Arabia. He was hoping that Israel would join the US against Iraq and thus upset the Arab Coalition who did not recognize Israel as a state. Israel at one point brought out nuclear missiles for US satellites to see that they were serious about responding to Iraq especially if Chemicals would be used in a Scud attack. General Schwarzkopf assigned elite US commandoes along with British SAS commandoes to track down and destroy Scud bases. But the biggest reason that Israel stayed out was the US Mim-104 Patriot anti-missile batteries. The Patriot downed 60% of the Scuds launched at Saudi Arabia and 40% of the launched Scuds in Israel. It should be noted that the Patriots hit the Scuds at a much higher percentage that 40%, but debris was still able to land and cause damage. If the Patriot hit a Scud and debris landed and caused damage that would not be considered a succesful knockdown.
VII.Pictures |
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Iraqi Prisoners
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More Iraqi Prisoners
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Iraqi Tank
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Iraqi Airport
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Iraqi Tank
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Captured Iraqi Mi-24
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Iraqi Troop Carrier
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Iraqi Tank
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Iraqi Tanks and APC's
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Iraqi Vehicle
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Destroyed Iraqi ZSU-23-4
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Destroyed Iraqi APC
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Captured Iraqi 2S1 Howitzer
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Destroyed Iraqi Tank
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Destroyed Iraqi APC
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