After a month long aerial campaign to soften up fortified Iraqi positions, US-Coalition forces launched their Kuwaiti offensive on 24 Feb 1991 with Pan-Arab and US Marines on right flank, US VII Corps in the center (inc. 1st Armored Division), and XVIII Corps (UK drove for Makhar-al-Busayyah, while the French drove for As-Salman airbase) on the left. Strategy was to flank the main Iraqi defenses in southern Kuwait, hoping to trap her forces in a left pincer movement. US 1st Armored Division - www.1ad.army.mil

US 1st Armored Division / I. Battalion, part of Allied Coalition Forces executing western pincer to cut Iraqi northern retreat via Kuwait City-Basra highway, also called "Highway of Death" from massive enemy casualties littering that roadway. Ceasefire was called on 28 Feb 1991. The Whirlwind War : The United States Army in Operations DESERT SHIELD and DESERT STORM - www.army.mil/cmh-pg/books/www/Wwindx.htm

Rollover : Map of Persian Gulf states, with oil fields and oil pipelines in red. Major oil drilling locales are in Kuwait, southwestern Iran, southeastern Iraq and northern Iraq. Conflicts in this region is as much to do about religious and ethnic differences, as well as control of natural resources.

US feigned amphibious assault on Kuwait's eastern beaches to tie down Iraqi forces before launching main attack. Feb 25th-26ths, eastern Coalition forces pincer into urban areas of Al-Kuwait and Al-Jahra. Western Coalition forces defeated Iraqi armor units and panned out to the northern Euphrates (Al Furat) river.

Feb 27th, western French forces setup blocking position at Al-Salman, central US-British drove towards Iraqi city of Al-Basra to cut off enemy retreat. Eastern Coalition forces entered Al-Kuwait city as US Marines took Kuwait international airport, Saudi-Kuwaiti forces conducted street-to-street fighting. It was reasoned that Arab forces fighting against other Arabs would give the offensive an Allied demeanor, rather than some western imperial power attempting to reinstate dominion over the region.

Scene of the Highway of Death - digitaljournalist.org/issue0212/pt04.html was documented between Al-Kuwait and Al-Basra cities. Retreating Iraqi soldiers, some hampered by truckloads of loot, were pounded by Coalition air power. By end of Feb 27th, Kuwait border was secured, major Kuwaiti cities were retaken, the 100-hour war was over as cease-fire talks commenced.

Almost immediately, political bickering emerged in the US. Left-wing groups charged the Bush Administration with war crimes since alleged civilians were killed during combat and that Iraqi forces were in the process of complying with UN mandate for withdraw back into Iraq.

Right-wing groups argued the opposite, that with US forces in the region, it was prudent to launch a full-scale invasion of Iraq to rid of Saddem once and for all (this was ultimately achieved in 2003 Iraq War). However, rebutting this opinion is that the UN mandate and Pan-Arab coalition were only interested in liberating Kuwait. There was no legal mandate to overthrow Iraqi regime, if the US did proceed, the entire coalition would have immediately collapsed, causing a power vacuum in the region.

Another 1991 Gulf War legacy is so-called Gulf War Syndrome : series of aliments inflicted upon returning US veterans from organ failure to respiratory complications. Some assert it was containment from enemy stockpile detonation resulting in release of chemical warfare agents. Modeling the Chemical Warfare Agent Release at the Khamisiyah Pit - www.gulflink.osd.mil/cia_092297/