About This Quiz
It may be one of the shortest wars the U.S. has been involved in, but that doesn't mean it was any less costly. What do you remember about Operation Desert Storm? Take the quiz to find out.The Persian Gulf War began on Jan. 17, 1991, with the offensive known as Operation Desert Storm. The buildup of troops in the Middle East in the previous months was dubbed Operation Desert Shield.
Desert Shield was the U.S. and coalition buildup of air and naval forces, and enforcing sanctions in the Middle East that lasted six months prior to Desert Storm.
Dick Cheney was secretary of defense for President George H.W. Bush during the Gulf War.
Advertisement
Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein ordered the invasion and occupation of neighboring Kuwait in early August 1990, sparking alarm in neighboring countries and the eventual U.S.-led offensive.
Iraq forces occupied Kuwait between August 1990 and January 1991, systematically committing heinous crimes against the Law of Armed Conflict as outlined in the Geneva and Hague Conventions.
Saddam Hussein refused, and three days later, Saudi Arabia's King Fahd met with Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney to request U.S. military assistance.
Advertisement
After 42 days of attacks by the allied coalition in the air and on the ground, U.S. President George H.W. Bush declared a cease-fire 42 days after the offensive began.
By January 1991, there were more than 750,000 coalition forces, including 540,000 U.S. personnel and forces from Britain, France, Germany, the Soviet Union, Japan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
Operation Desert Sabre shifted the focus of the coalition's air attacks toward Iraqi ground forces in Kuwait and southern Iraq, and within four days, coalition forces defeated the Iraqis and liberated Kuwait.
Advertisement
Absolutely not. Hussein surrendered and accepted new peace terms, agreeing only to recognize Kuwait’s sovereignty and get rid of all its weapons of mass destruction. But he remained in power.
An estimated 100,000 Iraqi troops died in the Gulf war; 383 American troops were killed.
In the aftermath of the war, Hussein's forces suppressed uprisings by Kurds in the North of Iraq and Shiites in the South.
Advertisement
Teleconferences saved many hours of travel time, because high-ranking officials could communicate and display charts through cameras and television screens.
Desert Storm marked the first coordinated Tomahawk and manned-aircraft strike in history. There were 297 Tomahawks fired during the Gulf War, 282 successfully. (Nine failed to leave the tube, and six fell into the water after leaving the tube).
Tomahawks were used to destroy surface-to-air missile sites, command and control centers and electrical power facilities.
Advertisement
The estimate from the Department of Defense was actually $61 billion
The attack was known as Operation Desert Fox and was in response to Saddam Hussein's refusal to cooperate with United Nations weapons inspectors.
Iraq owed $80 million in foreign debt from its 1980-88 war with Iran. Saddam Hussein demanded Saudi Arabia and Kuwait forgive $30 billion in Iraqi debt, which he saw as a result of protecting Kuwait from Shiite Iranian forces for eight years. He also accused Kuwait of stealing Iraqi oil.
Advertisement
True. Iraq's army had 1 million men in 1991, but only a third of those were skilled forces.
Ali Hassan al-Majid (aka Chemical Ali) was named governor of Kuwait.
Iraqi forces were charged with torturing civilians to death and the point of disfigurement. Iraqi troops also tortured prisoners of war.
Advertisement
Iraq set more than 600 oil fires that destroyed 85 percent of Kuwaiti oil wells. An estimated 1 billion barrels worth $2.8 billion were destroyed.
President Bush didn't send troops into Baghdad because he was abiding by the U.N. mandate. Once coalition forces expelled the Iraqi army from Kuwait by the end of February, President Bush halted all offensive operations.
News organizations around the world carried Bernie Shaw's live reporting on CNN the first night of the Gulf War.
Advertisement
Schwarzkopf commanded a coalition of 670,000 personnel from 28 countries, along with combined naval and air forces, with 425,000 troops from the United States.
Israel was not part of the Gulf War coalition, yet Saddam Hussein continued to launch Scud missiles into Israeli cities in hopes of drawing Israel into the conflict.
April 11 is when the United Nations declared an end to hostilities. Iraq signed the official cease-fire agreement on April 6, 1991.
Advertisement
Operation Desert Farewell was the mission sending home American forces.
More than 540,000 troops came home beginning on March 10, 1991, while many stayed behind to enforce the no-fly zones.
Thousands of troops paraded down Broadway.
Advertisement