Desert Storm

            In 1979 Saddam Hussien became president and took control of Iraq, which immediately set the tone for his rule. The killing of his cabinet 21 members showed the tone. Saddam wanted to make his country of Iraq whole again, so in 1990 he decided to invade Kuwait. In less than 4 hours during the invasion, he had taken Kuwait and controlled 24% of the worlds oil supplies. The possibility seemed as if his next target was to be Saudi Arabia because of the major oil in the country. .
             The war begins as the United States enters scene after a call for protection by Saudi Arabia. President George Bush and the United States had set a deadline for January 15, 1991. On this date all Iraq forces were to be out of Kuwait. Saddam then decides to ignore the deadline. The ignored decision by Saddam then triggered Desert Shield, which is the build up of troops in the region. This eventually leads to Desert Storm or an all out attack to free Kuwait. .
             On January 17, 1991, Desert Storm began with a coordinated attack, which included tomahawk land attack missiles that were launched from cruisers, destroyers and battleships in the Persian Gulf and Red Sea. The tomahawk land attack missile launches created a cautiously crafted joint strategic air campaign. The initial barrage of over 100 tomahawk land attack missiles took out heavily defended targets in the vicinity of Baghdad. This made a critical contribution to eliminating Iraqi air defenses and command and control capabilities.
             In all, two hundred and eighty eight tomahawk land attack missiles were launched as part of the linked air campaign. The launches were conducted from both the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf from nine different cruisers, five destroyers, two battleships, and two nuclear powered attack submarines. The chief shooter was the destroyer USS Fife that in total had fired 58 missiles.
             The cooperative air campaign was successful beyond the fondest expectations.