Operation Desert Storm The early 1990s were a time of political, social and economic flux. George H.

W Bush, Bill Clinton, and Ross Perot all competed for the1992 presidential election. Each campaigned on such noble ideals as promise of peace, economic stability, and a return to traditional values. (Brown, 10) President H. W Bush was expected to win because of the United States exemplar performance during the Persian Gulf War. During this time period many third-world countries saw a shift in their living standards and an increase in individuals' quality of life. New exciting technologies also began to emerge. For the first time personal computers started to become are a reality and the Internet became a coined term. The early 1990s were not without their conflicts. The Persian Gulf War brought about many conflicting ideologies: war and peace, change and stagnation, new technologies and old values. (Ashbee, 4-5) The Gulf War was one of the most highly debated points during the 1992 Presidential election. Support for the war had been extremely high. This event was met with immediate international disapproval, and the United Nations voted unanimously to enforce economic sanctions on the invading country. The United States felt that economic sanctions were not punishment enough to prevent Iraq's illegal annexation of Kuwait. On August 8, 1990 the United States arrived in Saudi Arabia, a bordering country of Kuwait, at the request of the leader of King Fahd. (Atkison 509) The Persian Gulf War began with an aerial bombardment of specific enemy targets on January 17th 1991. This bombardment, codenamed Operation Desert Storm consisted of three primary objectives. (Atkison, 509) The first was the destruction of Iraqi anti-aircraft and air-force facilities. The next objective targeted communication facilities. The United States' intelligence believed that the destruction of these facilities would collapse the Iraqi resistance, and bring quick resolution to the war. The final and largest objective was to seek and destroy military targets and to search for Scud missiles. (Atkison, 41) This objective was twofold. Almost one-third of the American-British 2 forces took part in

an aerial assault mission, while several infantry divisions assisted on the ground. (Rottman, 13) Both British and American special forces had been covertly inserted behind enemy lines to aid in the search and destroy mission. (Atkison, 369) On January 29, 1991 Iraq turned its attention away from Israeli front and once again began their advancement toward Kuwait. Before they could continue this advancement Iraqi ground troops had to pass through the Saudi Arabian city of Khafji. The occupation of Khafji was met with heavy resistance from both the Saudi Arabian National Guard and the United States Marine Corps. The battle of Khafji resulted in some of the highest casualties of the war. After two days Iraq forces were driven out of Saudi Arabian with three-hundred dead and four-hundred captured. The loss of this pivotal city almost put a complete halt to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, quickening the end of the war Almost month later the coalition of American, British, and several Arab forces began the final maneuver of the war, the liberation of Kuwait. (Rottman, 61) The2nd Marine Division and first light armored artillery crossed the countries border and headed directly for Kuwait city. The coalition troops met very little resistance along the way. Some positions were lightly defended, but these were easily over-run. On February 27 Iraqi troops began their retreat out of the country burning oil wells as they went. The same day President Bush declared the country liberated. During this time period the USA launched a sweeping left-hook maneuver across the southern desert of Iraq. This maneuver was used to navigate around the Iraqi flank; its primary weapon was deception. (Atkinson, 113) For the maneuver to be successful it relied on three things. First Coalition forces could not be discovered by Bedouin-Iraqi spies. Second the Iraqis could not suspect that the Coalition planned on flanking them. Finally Iraqi troops must be fully engaged with the decoys that were set up by American forces when the attack began. (Atkinson, 332) The left-hook was successful for several reasons. The main one being Hussein's military intelligence had been destroyed by air-raids early

in the war, making it very difficult to know the exact location of Coalition forces. Iraqis also never expected a flanking maneuver to work because they believed traversing the desert would be impossible. Once Kuwait was free life in the country finally began to get back to normal. During the war over half the population had fled the country, now many were returning. In 1992 the United Nations drew up a commission that officially delimited the border between Iraq and Kuwait, and reinforced the border's inviolability. Because Saddam Hussein remained in power both Great Britain and the United States maintained a large military force in the area. During this time tensions between Kuwait and Iraq were very high. A compromise on trade relations between the two countries was never reached and the war had only created feelings of deep animosity.