War 3 Essay Research Paper The task

War 3 Essay, Research Paper

The undertaking of the Air Force in Operaton Desert Storm was to obtain air superior ity, provide air support for the land military personnels, work stoppage enemy marks in Kuwait and Iraq, and airlift Army and Marine forces. When Operation Desert Storm was launched, it was the Air Force that conducted most of the foraies against the Iraqi military. From air bases in Saudi Arabia, Turkey, England, Egypt, and the bantam island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, wave after moving ridge of combatant bomber, figh- ter planes, and stategic bombers pounded Iraqi military places in Kuwait and Iraq. Many experts believe that the air work stoppages were responsible for the speedy four- twenty-four hours land war. Sing the devastation wrought by the Air Force & # 8217 ; s conven- tional bombs, smart bombs and guided missiles, it is difficult to differ with them. B-52s pounded the Iraqi ground forces twenty-four hours and dark. By the clip the land war had begun, most of the Iraqi military personnels were ready to give up. F-15s, F-16s, F-111s, Harriers, A-10 Warthogs, and an mixture of other sophistocated machines destroyed Iraq & # 8217 ; s communications centres, Bridgess, power workss, chemical workss and weaponries workss. Thousands of armored combat vehicles, vehicles, and heavy weapon pieces were besides destroyed by U.S. air foraies. Desert Storm marked the first clip in history that an air force had defeated an enemy before a land war was launched

The Army & # 8217 ; s undertaking in Operation Desert Storm was to support Saudi Arabia and win the land war against Iraq. Without the U.S. Army, Operation Desert Storm would non hold been able to force Iraqi forces from Kuwait. Their powerful firepower and velocity with shich they struck made it impossible for Iraqi military personnels to keep control of the land. Most of Iraq & # 8217 ; s ground forces fled at the sight of the ground forces approaching. Those who stayed and fought either surrend- ered or died. The Iraqi military had ne’er seen anything like it. After relentless buffeting by its heavy heavy weapon, the U.S. Army launched its onslaught at dark, adding to the confusion and panic. Spearheading the onslaught were 1000s of M1A1 Abrams Main Battle Tanks. They roared over Iraqi munitions at velocities of over 40 stat mis per hr firing their 120mm guns with unbelievable truth. Then came moving ridge after moving ridge of mechanised foot in their Bradley Fighting Vehicles. Overhead, Army Cobra and Apache onslaught choppers let free a firestorm of Hellfire missiles and cannon fire, destructing Iraqi armored combat vehicles, trucks, and heavy weapon. While the U.S. Army & # 8217 ; s heavy armour rolled over the Iraqi forepart lines, 1000s of Army paratroopers descended on Iraqi landing fields to prehend control of them. Once on the land, these paratroopers directed immense C-130 Hercules trans- ports onto the safe stretches of cratered tracks. More Army military personnels and heavy equipment poured out of the conveyances. Their occupation was to barricade the es- ness paths of the withdrawing Iraqi ground forces. Thousands of Iraqi military personnels were cap- tured, loaded onto conveyance trucks, so sent south to prisoner-of-war cantonments in Saudi Arabia. In four yearss, the land war was over. The Marines of the 1st Division were the first U.S. military personnels to contend the Iraqi ground forces. It happened in mid-January 1991 when Operation Desert Storm was foremost launched. The Marines had been in place along the Kuwaiti boundary line since August 1990. The Iraqis shelled the Marine places with heavy weapon fire and missiles. Marine scouts spotted the Iraqi heavy weapon places and called in their Cobra chopper gunships and A-10 Thunderbolts. The Marines were besides used to capture oil platforms off the shores of Kuwait. These platforms were being used by the Iraqis as anti-aircraft gun and mis- sile sites.

Marine aircraft besides played an of import function in Operation Desert Storm. Marine Harriers based in Saudi Arabia were sent in to Kuwait to destruct an Iraqi wireless communicating centre. The Marine Harriers swept in fast and low and dropped 500-pound destruction bombs and bunch bombs. The Marine aircraft besides attacked elsewhere. The planes subjected the Iraqi Republican Guard to constant, continual bombardment with no lull. It was this changeless bombardment bombardment that led to the mob of the Iraqi ground forces. The Marine 1st and 2nd Divisions were besides combined with the Army & # 8217 ; s heavy armoured brigade along the Kuwaiti boundary line for the large push into Kuwait. Using M1A1 Abrams armored combat vehicles and Bradley Fighting Vehicles, the Marines skirted the Iraqi minefields and bastioned sand traps and pushed their manner to Kuwait City. They encountered small opposition from the Iraqis, most of whom thirstily surrendered before any shootings were fired. The Marines were besides used as steerers in Operation Desert Storm. Since Iraq knew that the Marines were normally the first to establish a work stoppage, they kept a good figure of military personnels in topographic point along the eastern shores of Kuwait where the Marines, on board Navy ships, were stationed. By the clip the alliance forces swept into Kuwait from the South and west, it was excessively late for the Iraqi forces along the seashore to

drive the onslaught.

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The undertaking of the Navy in Operation Desert Storm was to obtain control of the Persian Gulf, protect friendly ships, halt Iraqi trade, and launch an onslaught against Iraq. Much of the heavy armor, supplies, and military personnels of Desert Shield and Desert Storm were transported to the Middle East by the Navy. Navy ships stationed in the Persian Gulf prevented supplies from being ship- ped to Iraq during Operation Desert Shield. The first shooting fired in Operation Desert Storm was from a Navy ship, in the signifier of a Tomahawk sail missile. By the terminal of the first hebdomad of Operation Desert Storm, the battlewagons Wis- consin and Missouri had fired about 200 Tomahawk missiles at Iraq. Most Smitten with deathly truth at Baghdad, over 100 stat mis off. The large guns on the battlewagons besides softened Iraqi places in Kuwait, pav- ing the manner for the land assault. Navy and Marine pilots flew 1000s of sallies and accounted for about 40 per centum of all missions flown. Other than establishing sail missiles, blasting Iraqi places, and establishing aircraft, the Navy had small elese to make in the manner of contending. That & # 8217 ; s because the Iraqi naval forces and air force refused to prosecute the U.S. Navy in conflict, fearing its deadly firepower. The Navy besides used their minesweepers to assist unclutter the Persian Gulf of Iraqi mines. Navy hospital ships were stationed in the Per- sian Gulf but fortuitously for the alliance forces, these ships weren & # 8217 ; t neces- sary.

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Aftermath

During the Gulf War, more than 85,000 Iraki soldiers were taken captive. Simply-written cusps had been provided to detail instructions on how to give up to the Allied forces. Many of the Enemy Prisoners of War ( EPW ) were dehydrated, hungry and in demand of medical attention. The EPW were sent to detainment installations in Saudi Arabia to wait out the war and have the neces- sary medical attending. Some pilots and air sailors of downed alliance aircraft were killed. Many others were picked up, sometimes far behind Iraqi lines, by U.S. hunt and deliverance choppers. Other flyers were captured by Iraqi military personnels. In misdemeanor of the Geneva Convention, Saddam displayed the downed flyers on telecasting. He forced them to do statements and threatened them as human shields at military installings. At the terminal of the Gulf War belligerencies, the captured aviators were safely released.

The Stakes Are High

In the early yearss of the business, Iraqi military personnels were ordered to set up Kuwaiti authorities edifices, public-service corporations, and oil Fieldss with explosives for destruction. Within four or five yearss of the invasion, Iraqi soldiers had affixed plasic ex- stop consonants to most of Kuwait & # 8217 ; s 1,080 working wellsprings. The tackle of explo- Sifs had been carefully planned before the invasion. Six of the oil Wellss were detonated in December 1990 to find the effectivity of the strategy. Ecologically, Kuwait suffered more from the war than Iraq did. Going Ira- chi had set fire to 100s of oil Wellss. Each twenty-four hours, some 5 million gallons of oil burned, making monolithic dark clouds of pollution seeable even from infinite. Oil fires in Kuwait were devouring more oil each twenty-four hours than the state had sold before the invasion. Thousands of trees and wildlife were besides victims of the environmental catastrophe, including flocks of sheep, Equus caballuss, birds, and fish. No estimation has yet been made of the war & # 8217 ; s environmental costs. The environmental and ecological harm caused by Iraq & # 8217 ; s let go ofing 1000000s of gallons of Kuwaiti petroleum oil into the gulf destroyed all marine life in the country, and will probably take more than a 100 old ages to to the full retrieve. The larger concern for the killing crews was what harm would come from the more than 650 Kuwaiti oil Wellss that were firing when the war ended. An extra 100 Wellss had been damaged and were leaking oil into the land and fouling H2O supplies. By August 1991, merely 200 Wellss had been suc- cessfully capped. However, with 27 fire-fighting squads, a sum of 10 thousand workers from 34 states, were able to set out the last fire in November 1991. In the terminal, the fires entirely had consumed about 3 % of Kuwait & # 8217 ; s oil militias. The harm to Iraq through monolithic aerial onslaughts was really dearly-won, especial- ly to industry and public-service corporations. In April 1991, newsmans sing the defeated coun- attempt said that economic adversity was widespread. The United States had des- troyed electrical and telephone systems. All six of the workss that produced Cl for H2O purification were put out of production by bombing. Both the main road and rail systems were severely damaged. About 40 major Bridgess across the Tigris and Euphrates rivers would hold to be replaced, and an- other 10 Bridgess were in demand of major fix. Many countries bombed by Allied forces were non safe to come in after the war, particularly chemical production workss

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