This Day in History:
The Persian Gulf War Begins January 16, 1991 The UN midnight deadline for the
Iraqi withdrawal from Kuwait expired,
leading to the commencement of
Operation Desert Storm. Beginning at 4:30 p.m. EST,
aircraft from the U.S.-led
military coalition pounded
targets in and around Baghdad. During the next six weeks,
the allied force engaged in a
massive air war against Iraq’s
military and civil infrastructure. On February 24, a massive
coalition ground offensive began,
quickly overwhelming Iraq’s outdated
and poorly supplied armed forces. On February 28,
President George H.W.
Bush declared a cease-fire. 125 American and an
estimated 20,000 Iraqi soldiers
were killed in the Persian Gulf War.
