Arab countries participating in the U.S.-led coalition. The Iraqi strategy failed, how-
ever, because Israeli leaders gave in to pressure by the United States to stay out of the
conflict. Washington also sent Patriot air defense missiles to Israel, along with the
troops to operate them, in the first deployment of U.S. forces to Israel during wartime.
In any event, Iraqi missile attacks caused widespread panic in Israel but little damage
and few deaths.
The Ground War
Expectations in Washington and other capitals that the massive bombardment of Iraq
would force a retreat from Kuwait proved overly optimistic. A daily average of about
2,000 bombing runs by warplanes, plus hundreds of precision-guided cruise missile
strikes, destroyed much of Iraq’s military-related infrastructure, including electrical sta-
tions, bridges, antiaircraft positions, and government offices. In the two years after the
end of the Iran-Iraq War, Hussein had spent hundreds of millions of dollars rebuilding
the Iraqi military; thirty-eight days of coalition bombing destroyed much of that effort.
Iraq offered on February 15 to withdraw from Kuwait but with conditions that
the U.S.-led coalition found unacceptable. On February 22, Bush announced a dead-
line of noon Eastern Standard Time on the following day for Iraq to begin with-
drawing. When that deadline passed, he ordered a ground invasion, saying he had
done so “only after extensive consultations within our coalition partnership.”
The invasion began on the morning of February 24 (local time), when coalition
ground units—backed by air and naval forces operating primarily from the Persian
Gulf—began moving from Saudi Arabia in two directions. From the south, two U.S.
Marine Corps divisions and an army brigade, along with army units from several Arab
countries, surged across the border into Kuwait, headed for Kuwait City. From the
west, U.S. British, and French units swept into southern Iraq to cut off the line of
retreat of Iraqi forces in Kuwait.
The enormous coalition force outmatched defending Iraqi forces by every mea-
surement. A few Iraqi units resisted, but most retreated or surrendered in the face of
overwhelming force. The border area of Iraq and Kuwait quickly became gripped by
massive gridlock, with Iraqi tanks and personnel carriers blocked from retreating north-
ward into Iraq and pushed from the south by advancing coalition forces. Washington
had expressed concerns that Iraq might use chemical weapons against invading troops,
but such an attack never materialized.
On February 26, after little more than two days of fighting, Hussein announced
by radio that he had ordered the Iraqi army in Kuwait to withdraw, something Iraqi
soldiers had been desperately trying to do already. Hussein remained defiant, declar-
ing that Iraq had achieved a victory in what he called the “mother of all battles.” He
said Iraq had withdrawn because of “certain circumstances,” but continued to insist
that Kuwait remained part of Iraq.
Arab armies, along with U.S. marines, entered Kuwait City on February 27. Later
that day, Bush announced in a televised speech that “Kuwait is liberated” and that
Iraq had been defeated. “Seven months ago, America and the world drew a line in the
sand,” he said. “We declared that the aggression against Kuwait would not stand. And
tonight, America and the world have kept their word.” The fighting stopped at 8 A.M.
(local time) on February 28—100 hours after the ground invasion had begun.
IRAQ AND THE GULF WARS 457