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I knew the response would be serious when the Turks agreed to close the pipeline.
Even President Hosni Mubarak saw the danger that, if not stopped right there, Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi army would have easily overrun Saudi Arabia and attempted to invade Egypt.
Hell, even Syria helped in the effort, probably for similar reasons.
Only Jordan tried to stay neutral against international pressure; I remember King Hussein saying something like "Sometimes it feels as though we were living in a dictatorship, a world dictatorship."
Uh... no.
Egypt certainly seized the opportunity to take down a regional rival a few notches, as well as to further advance its relationship with a major patron (the United States), there was no way Iraq was ever going to invade Egypt.
The Saudi oil fields were vulnerable to Iraqi incursion precisely because nothing but flat desert separates them from the border. That sort of terrain could not be more ideal to the rapid movement of troops and armor. But northwestern Saudi Arabia is a land of rugged mountains, the sort of place where a surviving rump Saudi regime could fight an asymmetric battle that would cause endless headaches if any attempt by Iraq had been made to go there.
More to the point, Saudi Arabia does not border Egypt. Jordan and Israel stand in the way. Surely you don't imagine that Iraq would be capable of launching some sort of Overlord-esque amphibious crossing of the Gulf of Aqaba and into Sinai? And you don't think that Israel might have something to say about that? (especially in light of the fact that Sinai is strictly limited as to troop placements, per the 1979 peace treaty)
At the time I went to Nuke school it was divided into three schools. First school was an A school with high level math and other courses rating related. It was to ween out those not smart enough for the rest of the course. Saw several drop because of grades or getting into trouble. They’re held to a higher standard so it’s pretty easy to get in trouble and kicked out. When someone says they were kicked out just for nodding off in class or being late to class it was never just that one event. It was just the last straw.
Second school was Nuke Power School. All materials, including notebooks, are stamped confidential and cannot be taken out of the building. All class work and studies must be done in the classroom. The pace of the courses are also sped up. The purpose was to put the students under intense pressure. I had a nervous breakdown which is what led to me dropping out. Others too a more “permanent” way out. Some acted like they wanted to kill themselves. One guy stood on the side of a busy highway and took a few steps forward to kiss the grill of a big rig.
The third school was a nuclear power plant. You’re given a set of lessons to learn and you go learn and it’s completely self pace. The downside is there’s a time limit to qualify. It’s to see if you’re ire a self starter who can work responsibly with little to know supervision. That time limit is what catches some of them. What it’s like now I can’t tell you. They closed the boot camp and nuclear school that was in Orlando. I’m guessing someone thought putting it in Orlando would help attract Nuke recruits. They ignored the local bars and nightclubs that got so many in trouble.
When I was at the MEPS station deciding which occupation to sign up for the guy assigned to help finish that process told me most people had trouble with the math portion of the Nuke program. Probably better I didn't sign up for that because although I took higher level math classes in high school I never felt that was my strongest subject. I probably wouldn't have made the cut, hard to tell.
I did go to basic training in Orlando starting in January of 1984 when it was cold as heck, and we only had shorts and a t-shirt on to do PT on the grinder in 18 degree weather. From there went to Pensacola for Cryptologic school at Corry Station. They did something similar to us, three different schools on that base we had to go through. The unclassified part, starting with typing for a week. If you passed you went on to learning to copy Morse code. If you passed that you went to the second and third parts of the training, which increased in security classification each time, eventually ending up with the Top Secret clearance. Expectations to get through the school on time was great. If you didn't finish by a certain date you were lucky if they gave you an extra week or two, after that you were either sent to school to become a boatswain's mate or simply kicked out of the Navy. Depended on how your contract was worded. There was an Air Force guy on base that couldn't take the pressure. Another flyboy told me this guy would go back to his room after class and literally bounce off the walls making ape sounds, among other things. The Air Force reassigned him to a different MOS. Most guys just seemed to relieve the stress by drinking way too much. There was a point where I was going to school 21 and 22 hours per day. That was no joke, and exhausting.
Looking back I'm glad I ended up on the delayed entry program. I signed on the dotted line March 2nd, 1983 during my senior year in high school. They wouldn't have room in my specialty school for one full year. I graduated basic training March 2nd, 1984 and flew in a small plane directly to Pensacola that day. The summer after I graduated high school gave me the opportunity to enjoy the life I'd never have again after leaving for the Navy in January. So much changed. People moving away, etc. Have to say though my Navy life for six years was pretty extraordinary.
When the Gulf War broke out, but especially after 9/11, I was wishing either the Army had allowed me to sign up to be a paratrooper as I wanted or the Marines had allowed to join to be in the infantry. Neither would due to my high scores on their little quizzes. If I had joined either one of those two branches I probably would have made a career out of it. After 9/11 I wanted to do my part going after the bad guys, just wasn't in position to do so. It still bothers me I had to sit on the sidelines while others fought for us.
30 years ago Iraq invaded Kuwait setting the stage for Desert Storm. At the time I was in Orlando about to be dropped out of Nuke School.
Aug 1990, I was in AIT. Shortly there after I visited exotic places like Khobar, Damman, and the desert north of Hafr Al-Batin. I'm still not sure what the real reason was for being there. "Mustached Man Bad"?
I recall reports on the news of the Revolutionairy Guard being elite and Iraq having the 4th largest military in the world....and a few snickers as to who had armed Saddam in the first place...but those were well to the side.
Who armed them? The Soviet Union. Not sure why that needs a "snicker". Iraq indeed had the 4th largest military in the world (some estimates saying 1,000,000 strong) in terms of manpower, but Russian cold war era tanks were no match to modern US tanks and a military of poorly trained and scared draftees was no match to a modern well trained, well equipped, well led, and motivated military force.
I have to totally disagree. It was a fairly successful coalition, the largest coalition since WWII of so many countries cooperating with the effort. US contributed to the bulk of the troops but in the end 34 countries participated. Egypt and Saudi forces participated and faught alongside US troops. The outcomes was not ambivalent in terms of the goals - Saddam was decisively removed from Kuwait.
Saddam remained in power, but their was no goal to remove him in the first place.
You went to war again in the same country a little over a decade later in what was essentially a continuation war provoked by the United States in order to 'finish the business' started in 1991. If that is the consequence, then of course the outcome of the 1991 war can only be seen as ambivalent. And of course that continuation war led to the destabilization of the entire region and significant political consequences for the U.S., domestically as well as in its relationships to various other nations.
And I believe that not a single drop of American blood should have been shed for the sake of some emirate 6000 miles from America's shores. America backed Iraq vs Iran in their very costly military adventure which emboldened Saddam. Saddam was never quite Washington's creature, but he was a creature they happily cultivated for quite some time. When he went a step too far they felt they had to rein him in. That sure sounds like the kind of military expedition the British Empire would have engaged in ca. 1875 but it doesn't exactly sound like America or what America thinks itself to be.
You went to war again in the same country a little over a decade later ....
Who exactly is "you" in your quote above? Dude this thing says you live in Virginia. LOL
Look, I appreciate your tirade of self-righteous outrage and finger-pointing (well, not really), but I am not here to debate or discuss the moral decision to go to war, or your US isolationist preference, but more of a factual approach. Your post should not have been directed at me.
As far as ambivalent, yes of course there was a direct line from the first to second war with Iraq, but the goals of the First Gulf War were accomplished, Saddam was removed from Kuwait (should he have been removed from the earth there and then perhaps is a matter of debate). Using your logic we can also say the First World War was "ambivalent" because of the direct line to the WWII, or WWII was "ambivalent" because it lead to various colonial and revolutionary wars in Vietnam, Korea, and indeed it created the modern Iraqi state.
Who armed them? The Soviet Union. Not sure why that needs a "snicker". Iraq indeed had the 4th largest military in the world (some estimates saying 1,000,000 strong) in terms of manpower, but Russian cold war era tanks were no match to modern US tanks and a military of poorly trained and scared draftees was no match to a modern well trained, well equipped, well led, and motivated military force.
Yeah, I recall a lot of the antis falsely claiming that nonsense about the US having armed Saddam.
His army was indeed equipped by the Soviets and his Air Force hardware was bought from France & the USSR.. The Germans built his chemical weapons factories and built his fortifications/bunkers. The US contributed very little. Basically, Saddam made Iraq a client state of the Soviet Union.
That's a vast oversimplification.
The US doesn't get that much oil from Iraq really, India and China get it all. During the Saddam years (2001 and before) the US imported about 20,000 barrels a month of oil from Iraq that's even with the import restrictions we had in place at that time. In 2019 it's averages about half that amount from Iraq, while it's production actually doubled.
It's far to say Saddam's aggression threatened other oil rich countires in the middle east.
I actually believe George H. W. Bush's motives were good ones. One nation invaded another nation that happened to be an ally of the USA. Jim Bakker, Bush's Secretary of State, had a special meeting with Iraqi Foreign Minister Aziz. He made it clear to Aziz that unless Iraq withdrew from Kuwait immediately, the USA would drive Iraq out of Kuwait. When Iraq failed to accept our ultimatum, we did exactly that. We could have continued on to Baghdad at that point, but chose not too.
Oil played into this, but I don't believe oil was the reason for the war as much as I believe it was the result of an act of aggression against a peaceful country that the USA did not want to tolerate.
I actually believe George H. W. Bush's motives were good ones. One nation invaded another nation that happened to be an ally of the USA. Jim Bakker, Bush's Secretary of State, had a special meeting with Iraqi Foreign Minister Aziz. He made it clear to Aziz that unless Iraq withdrew from Kuwait immediately, the USA would drive Iraq out of Kuwait. When Iraq failed to accept our ultimatum, we did exactly that. We could have continued on to Baghdad at that point, but chose not too.
Oil played into this, but I don't believe oil was the reason for the war as much as I believe it was the result of an act of aggression against a peaceful country that the USA did not want to tolerate.
I actually believe George H. W. Bush's motives were good ones. One nation invaded another nation that happened to be an ally of the USA. Jim Bakker, Bush's Secretary of State, had a special meeting with Iraqi Foreign Minister Aziz. He made it clear to Aziz that unless Iraq withdrew from Kuwait immediately, the USA would drive Iraq out of Kuwait. When Iraq failed to accept our ultimatum, we did exactly that. We could have continued on to Baghdad at that point, but chose not too.
Oil played into this, but I don't believe oil was the reason for the war as much as I believe it was the result of an act of aggression against a peaceful country that the USA did not want to tolerate.
Then why haven't we also invaded China and forced them to withdraw from Tibet, a separate country which they brutally occupied?
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