25 Years ago – 16th January 1991 – Operation Desert Storm in Kuwait
Twenty-five years ago, former President George H.W. Bush took to the airwaves to announce the launch of what is now known as Operation Desert Storm.
US-led military operation to drive Saddam Hussein’s forces out of Kuwait. “Just two hours ago, allied air forces began an attack on military targets in Iraq and Kuwait,” Bush said on the evening of January 16, 1991. “These attacks continue as I speak.” For five weeks, coalition forces bombarded Iraqi positions from the air and sea. When a ground invasion followed in February, it took only 100 hours to drive Iraqi forces out of Kuwait.
Operation Desert Storm marked a shift in how Americans experience combat when the US military deploys in far-flung countries.
For the first time, the beginning of a conflict played out on live TV, and viewers could “watch the war” from the comfort of home as it unfolded.
It was billed as a smashing success: an “accurate” bombing campaign, followed up by a swift, four-day ground assault that led to Iraq’s expulsion from Kuwait and a ceasefire.
Then again, how does one define success in Iraq? Coalition losses reached the hundreds, while Iraqi troop deaths reached into the tens of thousands, and another 2,000-plus civilians were killed.
The anniversary of Operation Desert Storm is a reminder of the unfinished history of the United States at war in Iraq. After all, here we are 25 years later, still dropping bombs there.
Kuwait News
- Events in Kuwait
- Replace 25% expats with Kuwaitis
- close down 17 domestic labor offices
- Government panel works end to kafeel system
- Police are looking for two women wearing niqab
- Police Arrested a Filipino
- Warning came from an official source at the Ministry of Interior
- Jobs for Teachers
- Security forces moved near Iraq border
- Take Care – Bank account thefts in steep rise
- Vacancies in teaching jobs for Expats GCC nationals and Bedouns,
- Employment of expat staff in co-op to be suspended
- Another Filipino worker on death row in Kuwait
- Salary deduction
- Man gets death sentence for killing his wife by burning her
- Expats serving sheesha to minors face deportation
- Kuwait denies visa bans
- 60 year of age expats on way to retirement
- Fixed period contract
- Driving License transfer from Gulf countries to Kuwait
- 9 Pakistani sailors stranded on Kuwaiti cargo ship
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