OPERATION DESERT STORM

DESERT STORM!!!  Sound like a cool name the tough kids would throw around just before a high school hallway fight. It also sounds like the name of a fighter pit-bull....so what is/was DESERT STORM? listen to this old story. The year is 1990, Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein is flexing his muscles in the sandunes of middle east. His army has invaded Kuwait and is unleashing terror on the Civilians as he is seen on news networks all over the world wielding a gilded AK47 while wearing his trademark ‘evil’ mustache and a grin to match. Women are being raped, children slaughtered and men butchered. The world is not going to watch silently, the UN is disturbed and of course the big boy uncle Sam (read The USA) is not going to let it slide. January 1991 and Coalition forces with the US marine and naval forces in the forefront launch an operation to flush out Saddam. The morning of January the 16^th 1991 saw General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, USA Commander-in-Chief U.S. Central Command utter these words "Soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines of the United States Central Command, this morning at 0300hrs, we launched Operation DESERT STORM, an offensive campaign that will enforce the United Nation's resolutions that Iraq must cease its rape and pillage of its weaker neighbor and withdraw its forces from Kuwait. My confidence in you is total. Our cause is just! Now you must be the thunder and lightning of Desert Storm. May God be with you, your loved ones at home, and our Country."  The coalition forces launched sea, land and air attacks pursuing Saddam to Baghdad. DESERT STORM began with a coordinated attack which included Tomahawk land attack missiles (TLAMs) launched from cruisers, destroyers and battleships in the Persian Gulf and Red Sea. The TLAM launches opened a carefully crafted joint strategic air campaign. The initial barrage of over 100 TLAMs took out heavily defended targets in the vicinity of Baghdad and made a critical contribution to eliminating Iraqi air defenses and command and control capabilities. US had half of its military boots on the Gulf for ‘operation desert storm’. 100 hours later, a cease fire was called, the Deserts storm had settled, the Gulf war was over, Saddam’s boys had their tails between their hind legs. The man himself lived to fight another day, literally. Saddam Hussein was to face the US marines again in 2003 and this time he was beaten to pulp. He and whatever was left of his ego was found curled up like a field rat in a bunker...the Desert storm finally caught up with Saddam.