The Persian Gulf war was launched on January 6, 1991, after international
diplomatic efforts and sanctions had failed to force Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait, which
was ilegally invaded on August 2, 1990, by the january 15th deadline set by the united
nations. The 31-nation military moved against Iraq, commanded by U.S. general H.
Norman Schwarzkopf, included forces from the United States, Saudi Arabia, Egypt,
Britain, Syria, and France. Japan, Germany, and others aided the war effort financially.
The war, code-named Desert Storm, began as a massive air strike carried out on key Iraqi
military targets. The allies quickly gained air superiority; many Iraqi planes were flown to
Iraq because it was a neutral area and they stood a less chance of being shot down. Iraq
launched scud missle attacks on Israel in an effort to bring them into the war, and weaken
the side of the allies. The ground war started when Saddam Hussein ignored a February 23
U.S. deadline to begin moving out of Kuwait immediately, but it only lasted about 100
hours. Allied casualties totaled at 147 killed in action and 407 wounded. The Iraqi
casualties numbered to be 100,000 dead and 300,000 wounded. Allied military operations
were suspended at midnight on February 27. Iraq agreed on February 27-28 to accept the
United Nation's terms. the UN's decision to terminate the ground war was later criticized
because Saddan Hussein was still in power and could still supress post war revolts iraqis.
In 1992 the United States, France, and Britain estabished a "no fly" zone to end Iraqi air
attacks on Shiites in southern Iraq. Among the postwar priorities were the re-building of
Kuwait, the destruction of Iraq's chemical and nuclear weapons capabilities, and the
negotiation of a broad Middle East peace accord. The war was notable for the prominent
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