Bush by this point had made one of the most fateful decisions of the entire war:
to halt the U.S. advance into Iraq and leave Hussein in power. Later in the 1990s,
many conservative Republicans would harshly criticize this decision, arguing that the
United States had lost an opportunity to rid Iraq of a dangerous dictator. Some of
these same Republicans would also play a key role in advising George W. Bush to
launch the 2003 invasion that accomplished that goal (Iraq War, p. 504).
Iraq and Kuwait suffered heavy damage during the seven-month period from Iraq’s
invasion in August 1990 until its retreat at the end of February 1991. The Iraqis turned
much of Kuwait into a disaster area, brutalizing the population, setting fire to more
than 600 oil wells, dumping thousands of barrels of oil into the Persian Gulf, and
carting off valuables worth millions of dollars. A UN survey team visited Iraq in March
and reported that coalition bombing had reduced the country to the “preindustrial
age.” More than 70,000 Iraqis had lost their homes, and the country’s electrical sys-
tem was destroyed, the UN team reported. No reliable estimates of Iraqi military and
civilian casualties during the war have been published, but some Western observers
estimate that as many as 50,000 Iraqis died during the air and ground campaigns.
The single most significant damage to coalition forces occurred on February 25,
when an Iraqi Scud hit a U.S. barracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, killing 28 U.S. sol-
diers. During the entire war, U.S. military personnel suffered 125 deaths, fewer than
had occurred in accidents during the run-up to war.
Following are excerpts from a televised speech by President George H. W. Bush on
January 16, 1991, announcing the beginning of an air war campaign against Iraq;
a televised address by Bush on February 23, 1991, setting a deadline for Iraq to
withdraw from Kuwait or face a major ground invasion; a radio address by Iraqi
president Saddam Hussein on February 26, 1991, announcing that he had ordered
the withdrawal of military forces from Kuwait; and a televised address by Bush on
February 27, 1991, announcing that “Kuwait is liberated.”DOCUMENT
Bush Announces the Start of the
Air War against Iraq
JANUARY16, 1991Just 2 hours ago, allied air forces began an attack on military targets in Iraq and
Kuwait. These attacks continue as I speak. Ground forces are not engaged.
This conflict started August 2d when the dictator of Iraq invaded a small and help-
less neighbor. Kuwait—a member of the Arab League and a member of the United
Nations—was crushed; its people, brutalized. Five months ago, Saddam Hussein
started this cruel war against Kuwait. Tonight, the battle has been joined.
This military action, taken in accord with United Nations resolutions and with the
consent of the United States Congress, follows months of constant and virtually endless
458 IRAQ AND THE GULF WARS