Iraq and Kuwait turn against each other
In the history of human wars, if there was ever a war that was fought in front of a television screen of hundreds of millions of viewers; if there was ever a war that was fought at a time and place known to all as if one were watching a scheduled soccer game; and if there was ever a war in which the winners and losers were known in advance, that war was the Gulf War. The Gulf War was caused by Iraq's annexation of its weak neighbor, Kuwait. Kuwait and Iraq are both brotherly Arab countries, and in the Middle Ages, both belonged to the Arab Empire. Later, during the Ottoman Empire, Kuwait was divided into districts in the province of Basra. With the fall of the Ottoman Empire, the territories under its jurisdiction were gradually divided up among the Western powers and turned into colonies and semi-colonies. In the 1930s. In the 1930s, King Faisal, who ruled Iraq, proposed a federation with Kuwait, which Kuwait rejected, and in 1961 Kuwait declared its independence from the British, which Iraq refused to recognize as part of its Basra province; in 1963 the Iraqi Ba'ath Party, which had come to power in Iraq, recognized Kuwait's independence and established diplomatic relations, although some of the borders remained undemarcated. In 1968, the two countries negotiated the border, but to no avail, and in 1973 and 1974 there were two armed conflicts over territorial disputes. Afterwards, the Iran-Iraq war temporarily overshadowed the conflict between Iran and Kuwait. During the Iran-Iraq war, Kuwait had been secretly assisting Iraq, and together with Saudi Arabia and other countries, it had provided Iraq with assistance amounting to more than $40 billion. Why did they turn against each other a few years later? The answer is easy to find when one looks at the situation of Iraq and Saddam after the end of the Iran-Iraq war. Although Kuwait is a small country with an area of only 17,000 square kilometers and a population of 1.9 million, it is one of the richest countries in the world. On the other hand, after the ceasefire between Iran and Iraq, everything must be reconstructed and Iraq is in dire need of funds. Since Iraq's million-strong army was unable to gnaw on Iran, Saddam secretly made up his mind to annex Kuwait, a small and wealthy country in the south. Kuwait's strategic position in the Gulf, especially the two strategic islands of Bubiyan and Warb, had long been coveted by Iraq, which could provide Iraq with an export base in the Gulf that was not threatened by Iran. Kuwait's rich oil resources and hundreds of billions of dollars in overseas investments have long been coveted by Saddam. Of course, Saddam's eyes were not only on Kuwait, but he also wanted to be the "Salahaddin" who was once the most powerful man in the history of the Arab empire. From the second half of July 1990 onwards, Saddam deliberately stirred up trouble by accusing the Gulf countries of over-exploiting oil and depressing the price of oil, thus causing huge economic losses to Iraq. Then, Saddam accused Kuwait by name of "stealing" US$2.4 billion of crude oil from Iraq by exploiting oil in the disputed Rumaila area, and he also asked Kuwait to cede the islands of Bubiyan and Wahab to Iraq. Then, 100,000 Iraqi troops marched southward to the Kuwaiti border, and the situation in the Gulf was as full of gunpowder as it was before the war between Iran and Iraq. The situation in the Gulf was as tense as it had been before the war between Iran and Iraq. Iraq was so aggressive that the Arab League countries quickly intervened. At a meeting of the League of Arab States in Cairo, the Arab countries tried to persuade Kuwait and Iraq to respect each other and settle their disputes peacefully. However, Iraq insisted on asking Kuwait to pay $2.4 billion in compensation and to hand over the Rumaila oil field. Iraq was really too bullying, and Kuwait was unwilling to retreat indefinitely. As a result, Iraqi Foreign Minister Aziz and Kuwaiti Emir Al-Sabah exchanged insults at the meeting, and the representatives of other countries were at a loss as to what to do and rushed to discourage them. Perhaps they were still enjoying themselves so much that Aziz suddenly stood up, picked up a glass of water and threw it at Sabah's head, who hastily turned his head away, thus avoiding a bloodbath. Sabah has always held a grudge against this cup smashing, and after the end of the Gulf War, Sabah swore to heaven that he would find Aziz to avenge this cup. The tense mediation work of the Arab countries is still going on, and Egyptian President Mubarak made a special visit to Iraq, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia at the end of July. He received a verbal promise from President Saddam: "Iraq will not attack Kuwait". The Saudis and Kuwaitis breathed a sigh of relief when they received this message, and on August 1, Ibrahim, the vice chairman of the Iraqi Revolutionary Command Council (IRCC), and Saad, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Kuwait, came to the eastern port city of Jeddah for a meeting brokered by King Fahd, which did not resolve their differences, but a statement issued afterward indicated that the two countries would meet again in Baghdad, the Iraqi capital, in the first half of August to further consult on ways to resolve their dispute. The Jeddah talks left the world with at least one message. The Jeddah talks at least left the world with the impression that Iraq was not ready to use force, but it was just a smokescreen for Saddam. At 2:00 a.m. on August 2, 1990, while the pitifully small Kuwaiti army was roaming in dreamland, 100,000 Iraqi troops invaded Kuwait in two separate waves, leaving the Kuwaiti army unprepared and defenseless. Eyewitnesses saw the leading Iraqi troops wearing Kuwaiti uniforms and tanks painted with KLA markings. The Kuwaiti border guards, believing them to be neighboring forces, did not stop them. The Iraqi spearhead drove unopposed along the coastal road and captured Kuwait City in one fell swoop. When the Iraqi tank units surrounded the Sabah Palace on the morning of the first light of day, the citizens of Kuwait thought that the KLA had increased the number of troops guarding the palace. It was only when the sound of artillery and smoke rose above the palace that they realized what had happened. The invasion of Iraqi troops caused a panic in Kuwait. Kuwaiti royalty ran away, rich businessmen ran away. Even some soldiers and officers crossed the border to Saudi Arabia. However, the bloodthirsty Kuwaiti people and army put up a strong resistance against the invaders, and Prince Fahd, the President of the Olympic Council of Asia and a member of the Kuwaiti royal family, was one of the outstanding representatives. When Fahd heard of Saddam's treacherous invasion of Kuwait, he was enraged and drove straight to the royal palace, where most of the hundreds of palace guards were already in a pool of blood when he arrived. Fahd joined in the defense of the palace without hesitation, and was eventually killed by Iraqi tank fire. The defenseless Kuwait was occupied by Iraq in less than nine hours. Saddam's choice of the early morning of August 2 for the invasion appeared to be a well-prepared one: in August, the Gulf was in the middle of the summer heat, and most of the pampered Kuwaiti officers were spending their summers abroad; the countries in the Gulf practiced the five-day workweek, with two days off on Thursdays and Fridays, and government officials and army officers went home to their homes for family reunions; August 2 was a Thursday, when the Kuwaiti army was at its lowest level of combat readiness; and Saddam used strategic deception in order to confuse Kuwait. Strategic deception was used by Saddam to confuse Kuwait, and he completed preparations for the invasion amid slogans against the United States and Israel, and Ibrahim's trip to Jeddah for talks was part of Saddam's deception.
Desert Shield
Iraq's brazen invasion of Kuwait created an international uproar and triggered the Gulf Crisis of the past six months. The Middle East is known as the "sea of oil", the United States as the leader of the West can not let Saddam control the West's oil faucet. August 2, the day, the U.S. government issued a statement strongly condemning Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, demanded that Iraq immediately withdraw its troops to restore the sovereignty and independence of Kuwait, and announced the freezing of all Iraqi and Kuwaiti assets in the United States. Two days later, the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff, together with the Department of Defense, adopted a plan of action codenamed "Desert Shield". The stated mission of the plan was to send air, sea and land forces into the Gulf region to prevent Iraq from invading Saudi Arabia and expanding the war, and at the same time, to require corresponding measures to force Iraq to withdraw its troops from Kuwait. On the evening of August 8, the first batch of U.S. airborne troops arrived in Saudi Arabia, and U.S. President George W. Bush made a televised speech announcing the plan of Desert Shield. President George W. Bush made a televised speech in which he unveiled the "Desert Shield" program. He announced that he was moving troops into Saudi Arabia at the "request" of the Saudis. President Bush announced that he would begin by deploying 600 combat bombers, 150,000 troops, and a task force of at least three aircraft carriers in the Gulf waters. More troops will be deployed as the situation develops. For a while, the Gulf was the center of the world's attention. Reports of the crisis in the Gulf flooded the world's radio, broadcasting and newspapers. The U.S. took the lead, and other Western allies were not far behind. Britain was the first to support Bush's tough stance on Iraq and announced that it would send troops to the Gulf. Soon British Tornado and Jaguar fighter bombers arrived in Saudi Arabia, several warships headed for the Gulf, and the British Desert Rats Brigade was also sent to Saudi Arabia from Europe. President Mitterrand of France declared France's strong condemnation of Saddam's aggression, and French troops also swarmed to the Gulf, with Jaguar fighter-bombers deployed to Saudi Arabia, the aircraft carrier HMS Clemenceau going to the Gulf from the French mainland, and French warships in Djibouti going to the Gulf. Several French warships from Djibouti also headed for the Gulf. Italy, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Denmark, Norway, Canada, Australia and New Zealand have all announced that they have sent warships or airplanes to the Gulf. Even Japan announced that it would send a medical team to the Gulf. Many Third World countries have also joined in this wave of sending troops. Among the Arab countries that have sent troops to the Gulf are Egypt, Syria and Morocco. Egypt's leadership in the Arab world surprised Saddam, who did not expect Egyptian guns to be aimed at him, as Iraq and Egypt were both members of the Arab Cooperation Council. King Fahd of Saudi Arabia was encouraged by Egypt's position, and Bush praised President Mubarak. In recognition of Egypt's performance, Bush forgave Egypt's $7 billion military debt in one fell swoop. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries also forgave Egypt's debt of $6 billion in appreciation, and the Saudis provided Egypt with $4 billion in grants and loans***. Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Argentina also sent troops to Saudi Arabia symbolically. By the end of Operation Desert Shield on January 15, 1991, the U.S. and its allies (***28 countries) had a total of nearly 700,000 troops in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf, including 430,000 from the United States. ***There were 3,600 tanks, including 2,000 from the United States. ****There are 3,260 airplanes, of which the United States has 2,800. *** There are 247 warships, of which the United States has more than 120, including six air carriers.
Multinational force two commanders
As the saying goes, "the times make the heroes," and this is true. Since the outbreak of the Gulf crisis, the world is watching the Gulf, the two commanders of the multinational force - U.S. Army Commander Schwarzkopf and the Arab coalition forces Commander Khalid instantly became the world's man of the hour, and the two of their hands and feet have become the subject of national journalists competing for coverage. Both men were highly competent military commanders in their own right, both in the military and in the civil service, and both in their own right. Schwarzkopf, the commander of U.S. forces in Saudi Arabia, was 56 years old at the time. He came from a military family and was admitted to the prestigious West Point Military Academy in 1952, graduating with honors four years later and beginning a long military career. As a senior officer in the U.S. Army, Schwarzkopf went through the growth and honing process that a U.S. professional officer must go through, i.e., the three levels of training and exercise, namely, academy training, troop-led training, and rotational posting in the organization. During his 38-year military career, he not only served as a commander of U.S. Army units and agencies at all levels, but also entered some senior military and local colleges and universities to further his education, and received a master's degree in aerospace engineering. No wonder after the Gulf War, some people said that this war is a master's degree command war, visible multinational forces commander of high education, which is also a modern high-tech war on the inevitable requirements of the commander. Schwarzkopf was promoted to major general in 1983 and general in 1988, one of the youngest four-star generals in the U.S. Army. He fought in the Vietnam War and the invasion of Grenada. His record of faithful and active participation in U.S. foreign wars and his abilities have established him as a leader in the U.S. military. His familiarity with all branches of the U.S. military made him a veteran in directing U.S. deployments and coordinating with multinational forces during the Gulf Crisis. Since assuming command of U.S. Central Command in 1988, Schwarzkopf has conducted extensive and targeted research on regional conflicts, large-scale conventional operations, low- and medium-intensity operations, desert operations, and special forces operations, as well as unique analyses of the military situation in the Middle East. Months before the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, he predicted that "regional conflict will be the most likely threat to oil supplies in the near future, and it will be Iraq that provokes it." The Gulf War was primarily a desert campaign, to which Schwarzkopf was no stranger. He had commanded the U.S. Army's 24th Mechanized Infantry Division training in the Mojave Desert in California, and often took his troops to the Egyptian desert for major joint military training with Egyptian forces. Khalid, the commander of the Arab Coalition Forces, was not as famous as the former, but his qualifications and talents were no less impressive. The multinational force came to Saudi Arabia at the invitation of the Saudi government. After the gathering, the Saudi government decided to set up a coalition command and appointed Prince Khalid, the commander of the defense and air forces, as the commander of the coalition. Theoretically, all multinational forces would be under Khalid's command. Khalid is the eldest son of Prince Sultan, the Second Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defense, and Minister of Aviation. He is a young and talented young man, and is considered to be one of the best of the third generation of the Saudi royal family. Khalid is a large, erudite man who has received comprehensive military training. He graduated from the Royal Military Academy in the UK in 1968, then went on to the US Army Air Defense School, where he studied air defense, electronics, air defense equipment maintenance, and other specialties before graduating from the US Army Command and Staff College in 1979. In addition to his military studies in the United States, he also obtained a doctorate in political science. As a result, he is one of the few officers in the Saudi army, and indeed in the Arab world, who has received military training and higher education in all branches of the U.S. and U.K. military. Prince Khalid was one of the founders of the Saudi Air Defense Forces (SADF), and through painstaking efforts he established a complete air defense system throughout the country. in 1985, when the SADF was separated from the Air Force and became an independent branch of the armed forces, he was given the title of Commander of the Air Defense Forces and was awarded the rank of Major General, and then promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General in 1990 at the age of just 42. Prince Khalid had an outstanding social status, rich military knowledge, good command of words, self-confidence and generosity, and had the demeanor of a great general. At the critical moment of the Gulf Crisis, he was the ideal candidate to be the commander of the coalition forces. As the saying goes, "one mountain cannot accommodate two tigers". The hundreds of thousands of multinational forces assembled in Saudi Arabia actually have two commanders, one of whom is Khalid, appointed by the Saudis as the coalition commander, and the other is Schwarzkopf, the U.S. commander. Who is actually in command of the hundreds of thousands of troops? It became a hot topic among journalists. Khalid argued that he was the coalition commander and that all the troops in Saudi Arabia should be under his command. Schwarzkopf, on the other hand, argued that fighting Iraq's million-strong army is not a child's play, and that Khalid is not capable of assuming such a big responsibility. The dispute over command was finally resolved through the mediation of George W. Bush and King Fahd: Schwarzkopf was to command the American, British and French forces, while Khalid was to command the Arab and Islamic forces. Khalid, as the commander of the coalition forces, knew that the arrogant Americans would not listen to him, but he wanted to be at least equal to Schwarzkopf for the sake of his country's honor, and to establish a command parallel to the American military command. Khalid ordered his aide-de-camp that every interview with Schwarzkopf had to take place in his office and that there was no room for negotiation. At Khalid's insistence, Schwarzkopf did come to Khalid's office every day to discuss * * * the same operations. One day in November, when the U.S. Army tried to conduct a heavily armed air exercise without informing Khalid, Khalid immediately ordered a ban on any armed flights the next day, and then called Schwarzkopf to inform him, who had no choice but to cancel the exercise. The U.S. Air Force later explained that they only wanted to test takeoff and landing procedures with heavily armed aircraft. A few days later, the U.S. Army requested permission to fly, and this time Khalid granted it. Although this delayed the maneuvers by five days, the most important thing was that it taught the Americans a lesson. Khalid had never worried about his security before, but Schwarzkopf was surrounded by heavily armed soldiers and plainclothes men in an effort to prevent terrorist activity in Iraq. He even used a convoy of escorts when he moved outside the Ministry of Defense. Not to be outdone, Khalid immediately set up a guard unit comparable to Schwarzkopf's, and sent several men abroad for training. When people saw Khalid's well-organized guard, they couldn't help exclaiming, "By Allah, it takes him ten men to walk from his office to the war room below - five in front and five behind, all carrying machine guns. What for?" Khalid did not think he wanted to do anything, but just had to show the Allied officers and the press the dignity of the Kingdom and that he was an equal commander with Schwarzkopf. The two commanders of the multinational force are fighting with each other, which in Chinese is called each for his own master, but in fact they have similar personalities, and throughout the Gulf Crisis and the Gulf War, the cooperation has been successful and enjoyable.
Hostage shield
In the face of the army gathered in the Gulf, Saddam is still obsessed, determined to confront the multinational force. 28 August, Saddam issued a presidential decree declaring Kuwait as the nineteenth governorate of Iraq, Saddam's intention is very clear, he wants to erase the country of Kuwait on the map forever. On 16 October, Iraq issued a new map of Kuwait that included the Kuwaiti islands of Bubiyan, Warb and the Rumaila oil fields as part of Iraq's Basra Province, and the rest of Kuwait as its nineteenth province. Saddam also appointed Ibrahim as the Governor of the "Kuwait Province". In response to the threat of the United States, Saddam responded to the Multinational Force's "Desert Shield" with the so-called "Hostage Shield". Saddam held nearly 10,000 Westerners in Iraq and Kuwait, including as many as 3,500 Americans. Saddam's actions infuriated the West, but there was nothing it could do. Iraq then demanded that embassies in Kuwait be closed and moved to Baghdad by August 24, claiming that Kuwait was already an Iraqi province and there was no need for embassies there. In mid-August, the Iraqi government gathered American and British nationals in Kuwait in Kuwait City. The Iraqi Speaker of Parliament threatened not to release them as long as there was a threat of war. Soon afterward, Iraq announced that the expatriates would be gathered at important Iraqi military installations, and that if the United States dared to attack Iraq, the expatriates would be used as martyrs. Later, Saddam released hostages one by one, keeping the West begging him for mercy. The "hostage shield" farce really worked. Saddam's "hostage shield" also stirred up discord among the anti-Iraqi allies, reduced the military pressure on Iraq and improved the unfavorable diplomatic situation. On October 23rd, Iraq released 400 hostages, including all 330 French hostages unconditionally, while releasing only 33 elderly and weak British and 14 Americans. Saddam's move immediately caused a small storm in the West. When news of the Iraqi hostage release reached Paris, the first official reaction of France was to declare that it was a unilateral decision by Iraq and that France had not made any deal with Iraq on the hostage issue. The spokesmen of the French Foreign Ministry and the Presidential Office have repeatedly stated that the release of the French hostages can in no way change the position of France on the Gulf issue. The French Prime Minister, Mr. Rocard, has repeatedly assured the National Assembly that France has no private dealings with Iraq. Foreign Minister Dumas had a telephone conversation with United States Secretary of State Baker, reassuring Washington that France would not break away from the international coalition that had imposed sanctions on Iraq. Though Saddam's plan was unsuccessful, France's repeated declarations have raised suspicions in the United States and Britain.
The final showdown
Millions of troops were pitted against each other in the Gulf, and one international mediation effort after another ended in failure.
On Nov. 29, 1990, the U.N. Security Council decided, "If Iraq does not withdraw from Kuwait by midnight on Jan. 15, 1991, member states may use all necessary means to compel Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait! Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait!" This was tantamount to handing over the imperial sword to the United States. The day after the Security Council made the resolution, Bush formally invited Iraq to hold high-level talks with the United States and made clear to Iraq the determination of the international community. On the same day, Saddam said that he would accept Bush's proposal, but he had one general condition, that is, he insisted on discussing all the problems in the Middle East, that is, the problems between Israel and the Arab countries, the Palestinian issue, and so on. The two sides also failed to agree on the schedules of Foreign Minister Aziz's visit to Washington and U.S. Secretary of State Baker's trip to Baghdad. Saddam demanded that Baker go to Baghdad on January 12, 1991, while Bush thought that this time was too close to the time limit of the United Nations ultimatum to Iraq, so he could not accept it. The two sides were at a standstill, with neither side able to come up with a satisfactory proposal. In the meantime, Algerian President Shadry, the President of the UN Security Council, key officials of the European community, and King Hussein of Jordan all engaged in diplomatic activities to try to persuade Saddam to give in, and on January 2, 1991, Michel Woetzel, the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the French National Assembly, and a close confidant of President Mitterrand, traveled to Baghdad on a personal basis. He met with Aziz and Saddam in Baghdad, but the result was unsatisfactory. On January 3, Bush again suggested that Aziz and Baker meet in Geneva between January 7 and 9, saying "this is the last attempt to achieve a peaceful resolution of the Gulf crisis". Saddam, in a dilemma, after discussing with his generals, said the next day that he accepted Bush's proposal and agreed that the representatives of the two sides would meet in Geneva on January 9 to coordinate the two sides' *** common interest in peace in the Gulf. Bush regarded Saddam's decision as a "positive step" for Iraq, and at the same time assured Saddam that Baghdad and all Iraqi military targets would not be attacked if he ordered all his forces to withdraw from Kuwait. Of course, Bush knew that both the international and domestic governments were very sensitive to the Gulf issue, and in order to further seek more allies, he hurriedly sent Baker to Paris and London on January 6 to circulate among the major European countries and to clarify the U.S. policy towards the Middle East. At home, Bush also cleared the way for his own action. The US House of Representatives and the Senate passed separate resolutions on January 12, allowing Bush to use force against Iraq if Saddam did not withdraw from occupied Kuwait by midnight of January 15, US Eastern Time, that is, by 5:00 p.m. Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) on January 16, and the United Nations demanded the unconditional withdrawal of Iraqi troops. As the United Nations deadline for an unconditional withdrawal of Iraqi troops, January 15, 1991, drew nearer, the world watched the situation in the Gulf with every fiber of its being tautly wound. Most observers believed that unless Saddam withdrew his troops, the U.S. would have to use force. On January 12, the same day that the U.S. Congress passed the decision to use force, U.S. Secretary of State Baker and Iraqi Foreign Minister Aziz held showdown talks in Geneva. During the talks, Baker placed a letter from Bush to Saddam in the middle of the table, but Aziz never picked it up. Towards the end of the meeting, Baker said, "Mr. Secretary, I've said everything I came here to say, and I don't see any reason to go any further". Aziz said, "I agree. I have nothing more to say." As they parted, Baker pointed to the letter lying on the table and said, "Surely you won't accept this letter?" Aziz calmly said, "Yes, I'm sure." January 16, 18:00, the U.S. capital of Washington, D.C., bright lights, calm as usual, domestic and foreign journalists have crowded into the White House press conference center, because the United Nations Security Council demanded that Iraq's final withdrawal of Kuwait's deadline has been more than 18 hours, President Bush has repeatedly declared that Iraq can not be "tolerated" and President Bush has repeatedly stated that he can no longer "tolerate" and "wait" on Iraq. Now, what is President Bush's new decision, whether he can declare war and when he will declare war? Journalists in the United States are concerned about this issue, which is in the spotlight of the world. However, a White House spokesman announced to reporters: "There will be no press release from the U.S. government tonight, so please go back to rest, ladies and gentlemen of the press! "From the tone of the spokesman, it is unlikely that the military operation against Iraq will start tonight or tomorrow. It seems that the stars in the sky can go to sleep in peace. In fact, this is the calm before the storm. After the failure of the Geneva talks, Bush has decided to transform Desert Shield into Desert Storm, which is scheduled for 3:00 a.m. Baghdad time on the 17th, giving Saddam a full day after the deadline to indicate his intention to withdraw his troops, but Saddam has not made any indication. Saddam gave no indication. Inevitably, a storm swept across the Gulf.
Desert Storm takes the stage
The pre-dawn raid on Baghdad on January 17th came so eerily and terrifyingly that there was not a single sound of fighter planes to be heard, but in an instant the dark night sky was illuminated by flames, and locust-like bombers and fighters suddenly appeared in the night sky over Baghdad, with bombs raining down like rain from the sky. Bombs rained down on Baghdad, the sound of rumbling was deafening, buildings began to shake, lights were suddenly extinguished, and the whole city was thick with smoke and fire. The air raid on Baghdad began with the shrill screams of air-raid sirens, the roar of bombs and a cascade of colorful anti-aircraft artillery shells. Apparently flying at extremely high altitudes, the MNF-I fighters arrived silently, and it was not until the bombs fell over Baghdad that the Iraqis realized they were under air attack. Two hours after the first round of Iraqi anti-aircraft fire, Baghdad Radio reported that warplanes were flying "wave after wave" over the city of some 4 million people. The morning after the air strikes, the streets of Baghdad were deserted, stores were closed, doors and windows shut and curtains drawn, but there was no major damage to homes. Many foreign journalists observed the attack from the luxurious Al-Arshad Hotel in downtown Baghdad. Foreigners and journalists in the hotel, located in the center of Baghdad, were escorted by hotel staff to an underground air-raid shelter after the air strike began. Journalists made inquiries with the public after dawn, but there were no reports of casualties among the public or indications that Iraqi President Saddam had been hit at the presidential residence, as had been rumored. According to the Iraqi news agency, Saddam was in another hidden location and he escaped the pre-dawn air strike. The agency quoted the Iraqi chargé d'affaires in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, as saying that Saddam was in good health. CNN correspondent Arnett said it appeared that some of the city's buildings had not been directly hit. He saw three surface-to-air missiles fire back, but they missed their targets. Important institutional buildings in Baghdad were directly hit, such as the Civil Defense building in the city center, the central government building in Baghdad, the Ministry of Defense building on the Tigris River, the headquarters of the ruling Socialist Ba'ath Party and the presidential palace across the river. In the first few hours after the attacks began, some journalists reported large fires in the distance, with CNN reporter Hormanli saying that an oil refinery had apparently been hit and that a blast of hot air had blown over the hotel. There were loud explosions in the area of the telecommunications building. Homanni described the scene as "some beautiful tracer bullets with red blasts and green blasts". Another reporter said, "We felt like we were in the center of hell." In Baghdad after the air strikes, Iraqi officials appeared to have disappeared, cables, telephone lines and water supplies had been cut off, and radio stations were so disrupted that the national anthem, which had once been played on the radio, was completely cut off halfway through. Much of the capital was dead silent. When some foreign journalists boarded buses to Jordan to escape the air strikes, the bus drivers took advantage of the situation and charged $3,000 for the 700-kilometer journey, in keeping with the Chinese saying: "When the cannon goes off, there are ten thousand taels of gold. The reporter did not see any military roadblocks or checkpoints along the way, and it was not until the border crossing that he saw the first Iraqi soldier in uniform. These are just some of the footage of the air strikes on Iraq. The Multinational Force's Desert Storm air campaign against Iraq was the largest air campaign since the end of World War II. Prior to the start of the air campaign, the United States-led multinational force made thorough preparations. In order to identify the bombing targets and keep track of the movements of the Iraqi army, more than a dozen United States reconnaissance satellites and communication satellites kept shuttling over the Gulf, and all kinds of image information were constantly transmitted to the ground command. On the eve of the air strike, the United States army activated its jamming machine to interfere with Iraqi airwaves, covering the entire territory of Iraq, thus causing the Iraqi communication system to malfunction and making it impossible for Saddam and other command organizations at all levels to carry out normal command. Prior to the deployment of the multinational force fighter-bombers, the United States jamming planes first flew over Iraq and scattered a large number of metal flakes, causing a snowflake to appear on the Iraqi radar and making it impossible to observe the multinational force planes at all. Then, the United States army began to launch Tomahawk cruise missiles at Iraq from the USS Missouri and USS Wisconsin warships, which were so accurate that the United States army boasted that they could be fired accurately from a distance of 1,000 kilometers. The U.S. military boasted that the missiles, fired from 1,000 kilometers away, would pass unerringly through the frame of a soccer goal. After the missiles were launched, hundreds of fighter-bombers from the Multinational Force (MNF) took off from Air Force airfields in central Saudi Arabia and bombed Iraq indiscriminately. According to Western news agencies, in the first 15 minutes after the air strikes began, MNF-I planes dropped 18,000 tons of bombs on strategic Iraqi targets, equivalent to the equivalent of the Hiroshima bomb dropped by the United States. According to the announcement made by the United States military spokesman on 18 January, the first day of the air strikes by the air force of the multinational force destroyed about 50 per cent of Iraq's military targets, including radar stations, air defence positions, air bases, surface-to-surface missile positions and command, communication and control centers, nuclear facilities, biological and chemical weapons centers, etc. The bombardment of Iraq by the air force of the multinational force was a great success. In the face of the heavy bombardment by the multinational force, the Iraqi air defence system was paralyzed, and the Iraqi air force, with the exception of a small number of planes that rose up to meet the battle, hid most of its planes in steel and concrete aircraft nests or moved them to airports in the northern mountainous areas, and some of the planes later flew to Iran. Almost none of the Iraqi planes that took to the air survived, but there is no news of Iraqi planes shooting down planes of the multinational force. The U.S.-led multinational force was ecstatic about its initial success. But it did not take long for the United States to realize that they had been overjoyed. The losses suffered by Iraq were far less serious than they had estimated. The pictures of Iraqi military targets clearly captured by American satellites turned out to be mostly fake. Iraqi Scud missile launchers were hidden in residential areas and other places where American troops could not easily find them, and most of the launchers that could be easily spotted were deliberately set up as false targets. The world was in an uproar as the news spread. Iraq's counterattack was weak, but it was still very much up to the fight.
Saddam's refusal to give in
Where did Saddam go after Operation Desert Storm began? The presidential palace was undoubtedly the first target of the multinational force's airstrikes on Baghdad. It is said that the U.S. "Tomahawk" cruise missiles to hit a building's men's restroom will not fall into the women's restroom next door, Saddam fled Baghdad, or has been bombed to death in the presidential palace? People guessed by their own imagination. In fact, Saddam was in the capital, Baghdad, and in his presidential palace, only that he was in an underground fortification. He could not see or feel what was happening above ground. He only realized that the war had begun when the intelligence services reported to him that the capital had been subjected to heavy air strikes. The underground fortification of the presidential palace can be regarded as one of Saddam's masterpieces, and it also shows that Saddam's intentions were well thought out. The underground fortification was built by a German company and cost more than 100 million dollars. The total area is 1,800 square meters, 18 meters above the ground. The walls, ceilings and foundations are 2 meters thick, the doors are made of 12 centimetres thick steel plates of great strength, and German-made elevators can bring people to the surface. The underground fortification is not only able to withstand temperatures of up to 3 degrees Celsius, it is also able to withstand temperatures of up to 3 degrees Celsius.