0 00:00:14,910 --> 00:00:15,420 In one thousand nine, 1 00:00:15,421 --> 00:00:15,510 nine, 2 00:00:15,511 --> 00:00:15,600 nine, 3 00:00:15,601 --> 00:00:15,690 nine, 4 00:00:15,691 --> 00:00:15,780 nine, 5 00:00:15,781 --> 00:00:15,870 nine, 6 00:00:15,871 --> 00:00:15,960 nine, 7 00:00:15,961 --> 00:00:16,050 nine, 8 00:00:16,051 --> 00:00:16,860 nine one. 9 00:00:16,861 --> 00:00:23,730 The small Arab states of Kuwait was at the centre of the last major war of the twentieth century. 10 00:00:27,660 --> 00:00:31,170 Saddam Hussein's Iraq invaded Kuwait, 11 00:00:31,171 --> 00:00:34,230 putting nearly half the worlds oil within his reach. 12 00:00:35,160 --> 00:00:38,400 Virtually everyone agree he had to be stopped. 13 00:00:44,430 --> 00:00:48,750 Over one million troops faced each other across the battlefield. 14 00:00:48,751 --> 00:00:51,720 Revolutionary new technology like stealth bombers, 15 00:00:51,721 --> 00:00:55,590 cruise missiles and precision guided bombs would make this a battle, 16 00:00:55,591 --> 00:00:58,380 unlike anything anyone had seen before. 17 00:01:05,820 --> 00:01:10,560 I'll be getting to grips with some of the challenges faced by the men and women on the front line. 18 00:01:10,561 --> 00:01:12,480 in this new era of warfare. 19 00:01:14,250 --> 00:01:26,040 And I'll show how the commanders chose their tactics in a war dominated by catching a technology and ruthless political calculation with the seizure of Kuwait said, 20 00:01:26,041 --> 00:01:30,000 I was saying threatened to hold a whole world to ransom. 21 00:01:30,001 --> 00:01:34,410 He warned that the fight that would follow would be the mother of all battles. 22 00:01:34,411 --> 00:01:35,220 Everything. 23 00:01:35,221 --> 00:01:40,650 What now depend on the outcome of Operation Desert storm a battle for Kuwait. 24 00:01:55,110 --> 00:01:56,370 The? 25 00:02:05,520 --> 00:02:06,990 In the early hours of August, 26 00:02:06,991 --> 00:02:07,980 the second nine nine nine, 27 00:02:07,981 --> 00:02:08,070 nine, 28 00:02:08,071 --> 00:02:08,160 nine, 29 00:02:08,161 --> 00:02:08,250 nine, 30 00:02:08,251 --> 00:02:08,340 nine, 31 00:02:08,341 --> 00:02:08,430 nine, 32 00:02:08,431 --> 00:02:08,520 nine, 33 00:02:08,521 --> 00:02:11,340 nine Iraq's army shocked the world. 34 00:02:11,341 --> 00:02:12,780 By invading its neighbour, 35 00:02:12,781 --> 00:02:14,130 Kuwait. 36 00:02:14,131 --> 00:02:19,290 They smashed through the defenses on the border and headed straight down this road towards the capital. 37 00:02:19,291 --> 00:02:20,160 Kuwait City. 38 00:02:24,690 --> 00:02:29,220 Kuwait Tiny Army was unable to mount any serious resistance. 39 00:02:39,360 --> 00:02:42,870 Thousands of Iraqi troops were soon swarming through the campaign. 40 00:02:49,110 --> 00:02:51,090 That's around for thirty m. 41 00:02:51,091 --> 00:02:53,640 Just hours after the start of the invasion, 42 00:02:53,641 --> 00:02:57,120 Iraqi troops arrived here at the Parliament building. 43 00:02:57,121 --> 00:02:59,730 The guards were taken completely by surprise, 44 00:02:59,731 --> 00:03:00,810 and within minutes, 45 00:03:00,811 --> 00:03:02,850 Kuwait's Parliament had been captured. 46 00:03:05,790 --> 00:03:06,840 A ruler of Kuwait, 47 00:03:06,841 --> 00:03:07,800 the Amir, 48 00:03:07,801 --> 00:03:09,780 along with most of the royal princes, 49 00:03:09,781 --> 00:03:12,720 abandoned their palaces and fled. 50 00:03:12,721 --> 00:03:13,650 By the end of the day, 51 00:03:13,651 --> 00:03:17,820 the entire country of Kuwait was completely overrun, 52 00:03:17,821 --> 00:03:21,990 as thousands of Iraqi troops continue to pour across the border, 53 00:03:21,991 --> 00:03:25,410 and they were all obeying the orders of one man. 54 00:03:25,411 --> 00:03:26,550 Saddam Hussein. 55 00:03:34,050 --> 00:03:38,610 Saddam Hussein was the President of Iraq and a brutal dictator. 56 00:03:39,660 --> 00:03:46,050 For eleven years he had enforced of violence regime that murdered and tortured without hesitation. 57 00:03:49,380 --> 00:03:52,830 He built up the fourth largest army in the world, 58 00:03:52,831 --> 00:03:54,330 with over a million troops. 59 00:03:56,580 --> 00:03:59,070 But his regime was in serious trouble. 60 00:04:02,040 --> 00:04:04,980 Not least because an eight year war with his neighbour, 61 00:04:04,981 --> 00:04:05,910 Iran, 62 00:04:05,911 --> 00:04:08,130 and left him with a mountain of debt. 63 00:04:13,620 --> 00:04:16,260 Iraq was bankrupt, 64 00:04:16,261 --> 00:04:20,010 so then had to come up with a solution to his cash crisis, 65 00:04:20,011 --> 00:04:22,740 and it lay across the border here in Kuwait. 66 00:04:24,390 --> 00:04:26,100 This is Iraq, 67 00:04:26,101 --> 00:04:27,210 and here is cool. 68 00:04:27,211 --> 00:04:28,470 Wait, 69 00:04:28,471 --> 00:04:28,740 wait! 70 00:04:28,741 --> 00:04:31,440 It's almost floating on oil. 71 00:04:31,441 --> 00:04:32,670 Outside the capital. 72 00:04:32,671 --> 00:04:37,500 Kuwait City oil wells cover much of the country to the north. 73 00:04:37,501 --> 00:04:39,690 There are oil fields on the border with Iraq. 74 00:04:42,660 --> 00:04:43,800 Here in the center, 75 00:04:43,801 --> 00:04:47,280 the borgen oil field is the second largest in the world. 76 00:04:48,990 --> 00:04:49,740 Altogether, 77 00:04:49,741 --> 00:04:53,220 Kuwait held ten percent of the world's oil, 78 00:04:53,221 --> 00:04:57,270 and it was this vast wealth that the dam had captured, 79 00:04:57,271 --> 00:04:59,310 together with the Iraqi oil fields. 80 00:04:59,311 --> 00:05:01,230 that's a damn already owned. 81 00:05:01,231 --> 00:05:05,610 He now had control of over a fifth of the world's oil reserves. 82 00:05:11,340 --> 00:05:18,750 So damn gambled that western leaders that don't have the stomach for a Middle East war and would have to accept his occupation of Kuwait. 83 00:05:19,710 --> 00:05:21,810 But he was in for a rude shock. 84 00:05:22,800 --> 00:05:24,660 This will not stand. 85 00:05:24,661 --> 00:05:25,800 This will not stand. 86 00:05:25,801 --> 00:05:32,250 This aggression against what has happened is a total violation of international law. 87 00:05:32,251 --> 00:05:34,200 Please raise their hands. 88 00:05:34,201 --> 00:05:40,650 The United Nations condemned the invasion and cooled Amsterdam to withdraw his troops from Kuwait. 89 00:05:42,210 --> 00:05:43,920 But far from withdrawing, 90 00:05:43,921 --> 00:05:47,070 there were signs that he might be planning something even bigger. 91 00:05:48,390 --> 00:05:52,230 Thousands of Iraqi reinforcements were moving into Kuwait. 92 00:05:53,640 --> 00:05:56,850 Some set up defensive positions along the coastline. 93 00:05:59,610 --> 00:06:02,040 But most worrying for global leaders, 94 00:06:02,041 --> 00:06:10,020 it was a large number of troops and tanks driving right down through the country and messing on its southern border. 95 00:06:10,021 --> 00:06:10,980 The question was, 96 00:06:10,981 --> 00:06:12,090 would they stop there? 97 00:06:15,990 --> 00:06:21,870 Two hundred miles south of the border was the richest concentration of oil wells in the world. 98 00:06:23,280 --> 00:06:25,530 The oil fields of Saudi Arabia? 99 00:06:27,900 --> 00:06:30,000 The Saudi army was small. 100 00:06:30,001 --> 00:06:33,540 If Saddam chose to attack now there was nothing to stop him. 101 00:06:34,980 --> 00:06:37,920 If he sees Saudi Arabia's wells, 102 00:06:37,921 --> 00:06:40,890 he would control nearly half of the world's oil. 103 00:06:42,930 --> 00:06:48,480 President Bush Sr and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher were determined to stop it. 104 00:06:49,470 --> 00:06:57,300 They were convinced that the only way to protect Saudi Arabia and its oil was to put U S and British troops in on the ground. 105 00:06:58,320 --> 00:07:00,360 But there was a huge problem. 106 00:07:05,070 --> 00:07:08,520 Saudi Arabia is the spiritual home of Islam. 107 00:07:08,521 --> 00:07:11,250 It contains the cities of Mecca and Medina, 108 00:07:11,251 --> 00:07:13,560 the most holy sites in the Muslim world. 109 00:07:17,100 --> 00:07:21,660 Its royal family ran the country according to strict Islamic laws, 110 00:07:21,661 --> 00:07:27,300 any attempt to fly in tens of thousands of troops from the non Muslim armies of Britain and America. 111 00:07:27,301 --> 00:07:28,860 It was a political minefield. 112 00:07:36,540 --> 00:07:37,860 On August was sixth, 113 00:07:37,861 --> 00:07:38,100 nine, 114 00:07:38,101 --> 00:07:38,190 nine, 115 00:07:38,191 --> 00:07:38,280 nine, 116 00:07:38,281 --> 00:07:38,370 nine, 117 00:07:38,371 --> 00:07:38,460 nine, 118 00:07:38,461 --> 00:07:38,550 nine, 119 00:07:38,551 --> 00:07:38,640 nine, 120 00:07:38,641 --> 00:07:38,730 nine, 121 00:07:38,731 --> 00:07:38,820 nine, 122 00:07:38,821 --> 00:07:39,210 nine, 123 00:07:39,211 --> 00:07:42,780 just four days after Iraq invaded Kuwait, 124 00:07:42,781 --> 00:07:47,520 a top ranked White House team flew to Saudi Arabia to meet King fired. 125 00:07:48,840 --> 00:07:51,120 They offered to fly in thousands of U. 126 00:07:51,121 --> 00:07:53,220 S troops to defend the kingdom. 127 00:07:55,440 --> 00:08:01,290 King Father knew his meagre forces couldn't stop Saddam Hussein if he chose to invade. 128 00:08:01,291 --> 00:08:01,710 So, 129 00:08:01,711 --> 00:08:05,130 despite the risk of huge anger from devout Muslims, 130 00:08:05,131 --> 00:08:08,790 he immediately gave the Americans the invitation they want. 131 00:08:08,791 --> 00:08:08,940 It. 132 00:08:16,020 --> 00:08:17,280 Within hours, 133 00:08:17,281 --> 00:08:21,690 one of the biggest deployment of troops since World War II was underway. 134 00:08:32,400 --> 00:08:37,590 More than two hundred and fifty thousand American and British troops from bases in the? 135 00:08:37,591 --> 00:08:37,800 U. 136 00:08:37,801 --> 00:08:40,920 S and Europe headed for the deserts of the Middle East. 137 00:08:50,100 --> 00:08:57,930 The Americans and British were determined that their stand against Saddam Hussein should be seen as an international operation, 138 00:08:57,931 --> 00:09:01,500 and not as an American led attack on an Arab country. 139 00:09:06,300 --> 00:09:07,440 In the coming months, 140 00:09:07,441 --> 00:09:14,850 troops from over thirty countries would take their place alongside the Americans and British in the Saudi Arabian desert. 141 00:09:16,410 --> 00:09:23,280 It was an extraordinary coalition has even included several Arab states like Egypt and Syria, 142 00:09:23,281 --> 00:09:27,210 but it was the Americans that dominated the man in charge. 143 00:09:27,211 --> 00:09:29,640 It's called General Norman Schwarzkopf. 144 00:09:31,740 --> 00:09:35,220 He was a giant of a man with a keen intellect. 145 00:09:36,180 --> 00:09:44,220 He also had a fiery temper and he set the tone with one of his first public comments about Saddam Hussein. 146 00:09:44,221 --> 00:09:49,560 It bears it here has come across that border and come back here. 147 00:09:49,561 --> 00:09:50,580 We're going to get heads, 148 00:09:50,581 --> 00:09:52,200 but when you get here. 149 00:09:52,201 --> 00:09:54,360 so Scott was a tough chalk up. 150 00:09:54,361 --> 00:09:56,790 But he knew he faced a mammoth task. 151 00:10:09,000 --> 00:10:09,630 The? 152 00:10:17,190 --> 00:10:22,080 Many of the troops have been trained to go into battle of the green rolling hills of Europe. 153 00:10:22,081 --> 00:10:26,430 They arrived to find a scorched barren desert like this one. 154 00:10:26,431 --> 00:10:28,950 it was a place few of them had ever imagined. 155 00:10:28,951 --> 00:10:30,060 They'd have to fight over. 156 00:10:40,770 --> 00:10:42,720 The sun cloaked their engines, 157 00:10:42,721 --> 00:10:48,960 they've got in their food and no one was even sure of a stable enough to take the weight of the big American combat vehicles. 158 00:10:56,700 --> 00:11:02,250 But the biggest problem by far was making sure the Western troops did not offend their Muslim hosts. 159 00:11:03,690 --> 00:11:13,680 Even apparently innocent behavior like female American troops wearing short sleeves because huge offense in a country where women are expected to cover up completely. 160 00:11:16,380 --> 00:11:22,200 Troops were issued with instructions on how to behave appropriately in a devout Muslim country U. 161 00:11:22,201 --> 00:11:23,310 S Army chaplains, 162 00:11:23,311 --> 00:11:27,240 where even renamed the royal Officers' so as not to cause offence, 163 00:11:27,241 --> 00:11:30,060 but it remained a fragile coexistence. 164 00:11:37,440 --> 00:11:41,760 An Iraqi attack on Saudi Arabia remained a constant fear for the coalition. 165 00:11:43,830 --> 00:11:49,590 But it was the stories about the actions of Sudan's army inside Kuwait that outrage world opinion. 166 00:11:51,870 --> 00:11:54,450 They brought a reign of terror to Kuwait, 167 00:11:54,451 --> 00:11:57,360 including summary executions in the street. 168 00:12:12,840 --> 00:12:14,940 Sudan's men were looting shops, 169 00:12:14,941 --> 00:12:18,360 houses and factories across the city, 170 00:12:18,361 --> 00:12:21,450 torture and punishment beatings became commonplace. 171 00:12:21,451 --> 00:12:25,860 is the Iraqis tried to crush any sign of Kuwaiti resistance? 172 00:12:25,861 --> 00:12:26,940 Some resistance fighters? 173 00:12:26,941 --> 00:12:32,700 We have been shot dead in front of their own families as a warning to everybody else not to get involved. 174 00:12:38,130 --> 00:12:44,070 Western civilians living in Kuwait and Iraq had been rounded up and taken to Baghdad as hostages. 175 00:12:45,900 --> 00:12:48,510 Saddam appeared with some of them on television, 176 00:12:48,511 --> 00:12:51,690 in a clumsy attempt to show that they were being treated well. 177 00:12:55,020 --> 00:12:55,620 Oh, 178 00:12:55,621 --> 00:12:56,160 yes. 179 00:12:57,210 --> 00:12:59,190 As he entertained, 180 00:12:59,191 --> 00:12:59,490 says, 181 00:12:59,491 --> 00:13:00,510 Stuart gets his milk. 182 00:13:04,740 --> 00:13:05,550 Meanwhile, 183 00:13:05,551 --> 00:13:08,340 his grip and Kuwait was tightening. 184 00:13:09,870 --> 00:13:14,070 So they were saying to turn your weight into a defensive fortress. 185 00:13:14,071 --> 00:13:17,970 Hundreds of thousands of Iraqi troops were in Iran and Kuwait, 186 00:13:17,971 --> 00:13:21,180 many of them dug in down here on its southern border. 187 00:13:23,910 --> 00:13:30,690 They'd built very heavily defended positions with great sand ramparts close to the frontier with Saudi Arabia. 188 00:13:32,760 --> 00:13:35,460 Behind them was a second line of defense, 189 00:13:35,461 --> 00:13:36,720 with thousands of troops. 190 00:13:38,700 --> 00:13:43,710 And then about one hundred miles further back just inside Iraq was the dams, 191 00:13:43,711 --> 00:13:44,910 elite troops, 192 00:13:44,911 --> 00:13:47,730 the Republican Guards waiting in reserve. 193 00:13:52,680 --> 00:13:53,880 By Nov nine, 194 00:13:53,881 --> 00:13:53,970 nine, 195 00:13:53,971 --> 00:13:54,060 nine, 196 00:13:54,061 --> 00:13:54,150 nine, 197 00:13:54,151 --> 00:13:54,390 nine, 198 00:13:54,391 --> 00:13:54,480 nine, 199 00:13:54,481 --> 00:13:58,740 nine nine world leaders had run out of patience with Sudan. 200 00:13:58,741 --> 00:14:01,440 Although we haven't attacked Saudi Arabia, 201 00:14:01,441 --> 00:14:04,590 he showed no signs of withdrawing from Kuwait. 202 00:14:10,590 --> 00:14:11,160 So the U. 203 00:14:11,161 --> 00:14:16,680 N security council passed a new resolution that changed the coalition's mission, 204 00:14:16,681 --> 00:14:19,410 Traumatically twelve votes in favour. 205 00:14:20,370 --> 00:14:21,900 Two votes against. 206 00:14:22,830 --> 00:14:24,000 One abstention. 207 00:14:25,080 --> 00:14:28,500 No longer with the coalition just defend in Saudi Arabia. 208 00:14:29,790 --> 00:14:34,050 If sometimes troops have not withdrawn from Kuwait in six weeks, 209 00:14:34,051 --> 00:14:37,320 the coalition will attack and force the Iraqis out. 210 00:14:39,360 --> 00:14:41,880 The count down to war had begun. 211 00:14:45,720 --> 00:14:46,170 For the U. 212 00:14:46,171 --> 00:14:47,280 S military, 213 00:14:47,281 --> 00:14:52,320 it was a daunting prospect they were haunted by the memories of the United States, 214 00:14:52,321 --> 00:14:58,800 lost major company and knew that they could not afford to make the same mistakes again. 215 00:14:58,801 --> 00:15:01,740 If one American soldier has to go into battle, 216 00:15:01,741 --> 00:15:07,800 that soldier will have enough force behind him to win and then get out as soon as possible. 217 00:15:07,801 --> 00:15:09,030 This will not be. 218 00:15:09,960 --> 00:15:10,650 Another Vietnam. 219 00:15:14,370 --> 00:15:15,930 The smaller circle, 220 00:15:15,931 --> 00:15:20,430 but Saddam was determined that that was exactly what it would be. 221 00:15:20,431 --> 00:15:23,610 He calculated that if the Americans attacked, 222 00:15:23,611 --> 00:15:26,850 his best hope was to inflict massive casualties on the U. 223 00:15:26,851 --> 00:15:31,200 S troops so damn believed that after the Vietnam War, 224 00:15:31,201 --> 00:15:32,280 it was not something the? 225 00:15:32,281 --> 00:15:32,460 U. 226 00:15:32,461 --> 00:15:35,160 S public were tolerated at one thousand, 227 00:15:35,161 --> 00:15:36,030 nine hundred and ninety eight. 228 00:15:36,031 --> 00:15:40,710 He had the weapons to cause thousands of casualties in seconds. 229 00:15:47,670 --> 00:15:48,900 Just two years earlier, 230 00:15:48,901 --> 00:15:49,410 in March, 231 00:15:49,411 --> 00:15:49,680 nine thousand, 232 00:15:49,681 --> 00:15:50,730 nine hundred and ninety eight, 233 00:15:50,731 --> 00:15:54,630 the Iraqi army had attacked a Kurdish village in northern Iraq. 234 00:15:54,631 --> 00:15:58,170 Using a mixture of mustard gas and the nerve agent sarin. 235 00:16:00,780 --> 00:16:05,700 Five thousand people were killed and thousands more suffered terrible injuries. 236 00:16:11,850 --> 00:16:12,840 Throughout the coalition, 237 00:16:12,841 --> 00:16:16,800 every soldier lived in fear of an Iraqi chemical attack. 238 00:16:16,801 --> 00:16:17,580 Day after day. 239 00:16:17,581 --> 00:16:21,900 They practice the drills that would save their lives if nerve gas was used against them. 240 00:16:31,440 --> 00:16:34,950 To understand more about what this meant to the coalition troops, 241 00:16:34,951 --> 00:16:37,200 I joined the British army training exercise. 242 00:16:46,230 --> 00:16:51,660 My job was to help unload equipment until they instructor launched a gas attack drill. 243 00:16:57,720 --> 00:16:58,590 Got that. 244 00:17:10,020 --> 00:17:12,990 Nine seconds come on thinking about the drills. 245 00:17:15,480 --> 00:17:19,140 If a soldier couldn't get their mask on this quickly in a real attack, 246 00:17:19,141 --> 00:17:22,920 the gas could be lethal for a minute. 247 00:17:22,921 --> 00:17:28,050 I then had to carry on with my task exactly like the troops were in a combat situation. 248 00:17:40,560 --> 00:17:40,650 OK. 249 00:17:48,510 --> 00:17:48,990 He says. 250 00:17:57,270 --> 00:18:00,450 But gas model doesn't make it impossible to breathe properly. 251 00:18:00,451 --> 00:18:01,650 As I was finding out. 252 00:18:10,320 --> 00:18:10,530 Laughter. 253 00:18:13,260 --> 00:18:13,290 Ah. 254 00:18:17,790 --> 00:18:18,210 This time. 255 00:18:23,490 --> 00:18:24,060 Unmask? 256 00:18:39,510 --> 00:18:42,030 There's just nowhere in there at all. 257 00:18:45,780 --> 00:18:49,530 Fighting something like a battle under those conditions, 258 00:18:49,531 --> 00:18:52,800 it's absolutely unimaginable and that a lot of Mars is doing there. 259 00:18:52,801 --> 00:18:58,290 They're shuttled around the idea of spending hours and hours in this ghetto. 260 00:18:58,291 --> 00:19:01,140 Charging across hills is extraordinary. 261 00:19:09,930 --> 00:19:10,650 But in one thousand nine, 262 00:19:10,651 --> 00:19:10,740 nine, 263 00:19:10,741 --> 00:19:10,830 nine, 264 00:19:10,831 --> 00:19:10,920 nine, 265 00:19:10,921 --> 00:19:11,010 nine, 266 00:19:11,011 --> 00:19:11,100 nine, 267 00:19:11,101 --> 00:19:17,070 nine one soldiers feared they really would have to fight while under chemical attack. 268 00:19:19,560 --> 00:19:25,830 Some of them were already suffering heat exhaustion just from wearing gas masks in training. 269 00:19:28,200 --> 00:19:30,750 What's gone for knew that if it came to war, 270 00:19:30,751 --> 00:19:35,070 the greatest threat to his troops was Iraq's chemical weapons, 271 00:19:35,071 --> 00:19:39,600 and he also knew he would have to minimize American and coalition casualties. 272 00:19:40,650 --> 00:19:45,660 The key would be to keep his grand troops out of the battle for as long as possible. 273 00:19:50,790 --> 00:19:51,270 Brought up. 274 00:20:00,360 --> 00:20:11,250 Schwarzkopf's plan was to launch a colossal air attack on Iraq itself and all its forces on the ground to try and force sometimes who abandoned Kuwait. 275 00:20:11,251 --> 00:20:14,340 But if this didn't persuade Sudan to lead, 276 00:20:14,341 --> 00:20:17,760 coffin would have to take a far more risky step. 277 00:20:17,761 --> 00:20:22,320 You'd have to order his forces to fight their way into vehicle weight. 278 00:20:22,321 --> 00:20:27,240 and some of the experts predicted that this would cost thousands of American lives. 279 00:20:28,290 --> 00:20:33,690 His strategy would call upon the full might of the United States armed forces. 280 00:20:33,691 --> 00:20:47,910 More and more of the world's most sophisticated aircraft tanks and weapons were arriving in the Gulf and six American aircraft carriers with over four hundred planes would be positioned within striking distance of Iraq and Kuwait. 281 00:21:05,010 --> 00:21:08,070 One week before the UN deadline expired, 282 00:21:08,071 --> 00:21:17,910 seven hundred and fifty thousand coalition troops waited on the battlefield as the politicians made one last attempt to find a diplomatic solution. 283 00:21:18,960 --> 00:21:19,110 The? 284 00:21:19,111 --> 00:21:19,260 U. 285 00:21:19,261 --> 00:21:23,400 S Secretary of State James Baker met Iraq's Foreign Minister, 286 00:21:23,401 --> 00:21:25,320 Tariq Aziz in Geneva. 287 00:21:26,850 --> 00:21:31,890 Both men knew the Tens or even hundreds of thousands of lives were at stake. 288 00:21:33,450 --> 00:21:34,410 And James Baker, 289 00:21:34,411 --> 00:21:35,250 one the Iraq, 290 00:21:35,251 --> 00:21:38,070 is not to use chemical weapons, 291 00:21:38,071 --> 00:21:41,190 reminding them that America had nuclear bombs. 292 00:21:43,650 --> 00:21:46,860 But seven hours of talks ended in failure. 293 00:21:49,290 --> 00:21:54,960 If Iraq's should choose to continue its brutal occupation of Kuwait. 294 00:21:56,070 --> 00:22:00,030 Iraq will be choosing a military confrontation which it cannot win. 295 00:22:01,230 --> 00:22:03,870 And which will have devastating consequences. 296 00:22:05,790 --> 00:22:11,250 But Madame remained as defiant as ever and promised his people a great victory. 297 00:22:12,630 --> 00:22:16,980 He warned that the Americans depended too much on technology. 298 00:22:16,981 --> 00:22:21,990 He boasted that Iraq could rely on the bravery and experience of its soldiers. 299 00:22:21,991 --> 00:22:23,940 They are faith would defeat the enemy. 300 00:22:25,170 --> 00:22:26,940 At midnight on January, 301 00:22:26,941 --> 00:22:27,600 one thousand, 302 00:22:27,601 --> 00:22:27,900 nine thousand, 303 00:22:27,901 --> 00:22:29,160 nine hundred and ninety one, 304 00:22:29,161 --> 00:22:30,510 the U N deadline, 305 00:22:30,511 --> 00:22:33,030 expired across the world, 306 00:22:33,031 --> 00:22:35,430 people watched and waited. 307 00:22:35,431 --> 00:22:40,110 Everybody knew it was just a matter of time before the war began. 308 00:22:54,870 --> 00:22:59,010 Of coalition aircraft took to the skies and headed for their targets. 309 00:23:02,400 --> 00:23:04,650 Operation Desert Storm had begun. 310 00:23:06,450 --> 00:23:13,110 The British are air pilots in low flying Tornado aircraft carried bombs designed to crater Iraqi runways. 311 00:23:14,280 --> 00:23:17,400 The Americans first target was Iraq's capital. 312 00:23:18,570 --> 00:23:20,310 From the rooftops of Baghdad, 313 00:23:20,311 --> 00:23:23,760 three thousand antiaircraft guns fired into the night. 314 00:23:27,420 --> 00:23:29,430 Straight into this wall of fire, 315 00:23:29,431 --> 00:23:31,290 eight American bombers, 316 00:23:31,291 --> 00:23:35,040 they were so sophisticated that the Saudis have nicknamed the first. 317 00:23:39,570 --> 00:23:44,250 If one seventeen stealth bomber was designed to be invisible to radar. 318 00:23:46,080 --> 00:23:49,200 But this was its first test in major combat. 319 00:23:52,020 --> 00:23:55,320 Dell's first target was the main communications, 320 00:23:55,321 --> 00:23:56,700 telling it like that. 321 00:23:59,820 --> 00:24:01,560 At exactly three air, 322 00:24:01,561 --> 00:24:09,060 the pilot in the lead aircraft push the button and a two thousand pound laser guided bomb descended on its target. 323 00:24:18,660 --> 00:24:19,560 Across the city, 324 00:24:19,561 --> 00:24:25,350 the ground shook as fourteen more bombs from other steltz hit their targets. 325 00:24:25,351 --> 00:24:26,970 The aircraft turned for home. 326 00:24:28,830 --> 00:24:30,480 Cruise missiles launched from the U. 327 00:24:30,481 --> 00:24:36,330 S warships knocked out the power stations and plunged the city into darkness. 328 00:24:40,500 --> 00:24:47,970 The air campaign unleashed by the coalition against Sudan's Iraq was codenamed Instant Thunder. 329 00:24:47,971 --> 00:24:53,130 It was the most powerful and focused use of air power in the twentieth century. 330 00:24:54,360 --> 00:24:56,640 On the first night coalition aircraft, 331 00:24:56,641 --> 00:24:58,830 through over a thousand sources, 332 00:24:58,831 --> 00:25:00,390 they hit power stations, 333 00:25:00,391 --> 00:25:02,820 radar and communication networks, 334 00:25:02,821 --> 00:25:06,450 airfields and chemical weapons. 335 00:25:06,451 --> 00:25:17,880 The aim was first to gain control of the skies above Kuwait and Iraq and destroys the dam's ability to coordinate his forces and then to target the forces themselves. 336 00:25:24,450 --> 00:25:25,920 Guided him by laser, 337 00:25:25,921 --> 00:25:30,540 a bomb launch from planes like these could explode with him three meters of its target, 338 00:25:30,541 --> 00:25:32,850 even from a range of seven miles. 339 00:25:37,890 --> 00:25:47,310 The bombing campaign had been badly damaged Iraqi radar stations and gave a rocky pilots little chance to respond rather than fly, 340 00:25:47,311 --> 00:25:51,690 flying against the most sophisticated air force the world had ever seen. 341 00:25:51,691 --> 00:25:57,360 most of them offered to leave their aircraft inside hardened hangers and try and sit it out. 342 00:26:01,620 --> 00:26:04,200 Throughout that night and into the following day, 343 00:26:04,201 --> 00:26:09,210 American and coalition aircraft continued to attack Iraqi targets, 344 00:26:09,211 --> 00:26:11,790 including Saddam Hussein's palaces. 345 00:26:15,900 --> 00:26:18,750 Saddam Hussein was in fear for his life. 346 00:26:18,751 --> 00:26:22,860 He moved between safe houses to avoid the coalition attacks, 347 00:26:22,861 --> 00:26:25,020 but in public he would not be cowed. 348 00:26:25,021 --> 00:26:26,220 On Baghdad radio, 349 00:26:26,221 --> 00:26:36,840 we declare that the mother of all battles had begun and in secret he ordered his army to launch the weapon that he hoped would blow the coalition apart. 350 00:26:38,730 --> 00:26:43,290 Its target was a country over seven hundred miles from Kuwait. 351 00:26:54,510 --> 00:26:55,740 At two am on January, 352 00:26:55,741 --> 00:26:56,100 one thousand, 353 00:26:56,101 --> 00:26:56,460 eight hundred thousand, 354 00:26:56,461 --> 00:26:56,700 nine thousand, 355 00:26:56,701 --> 00:27:00,360 nine hundred and ninety one air raid sirens sounded across Israel. 356 00:27:05,970 --> 00:27:10,740 They warned of a Scud missile attack from Iraq heading for Tel Aviv, 357 00:27:10,741 --> 00:27:12,240 Israel's biggest city. 358 00:27:17,610 --> 00:27:18,480 Moments later, 359 00:27:18,481 --> 00:27:24,090 the first hit this factory near our housing estates in a residential suburb of the city, 360 00:27:24,091 --> 00:27:28,860 initial reports and the Israeli army suggested that Israel was under a chemical attack. 361 00:27:32,970 --> 00:27:37,500 In the confusion and panic people all over the city put on their gas masks, 362 00:27:37,501 --> 00:27:41,430 some even injected themselves with their antidotes to nerve gas. 363 00:27:43,260 --> 00:27:48,060 Saddam Hussein's attack on Israel was an act of ruthless calculation. 364 00:27:50,340 --> 00:27:52,320 He hoped Israel would retaliate. 365 00:27:53,610 --> 00:27:54,660 If it did, 366 00:27:54,661 --> 00:27:59,490 Israel would then appear to be on the same side as the Arab nations in the coalition. 367 00:28:01,590 --> 00:28:07,140 So there is hope was that the Arabs hatred of Israel would make this unthinkable for them, 368 00:28:07,141 --> 00:28:11,160 they would withdraw from the coalition and the coalition would collapse. 369 00:28:14,910 --> 00:28:15,960 From Washington, 370 00:28:15,961 --> 00:28:22,020 senior White House officials call the Israeli defense Minister urging him to show restraint. 371 00:28:23,790 --> 00:28:24,540 For hours, 372 00:28:24,541 --> 00:28:27,270 the whole world held its breath, 373 00:28:27,271 --> 00:28:29,700 waiting to see how the Israelis would respond. 374 00:28:31,980 --> 00:28:34,230 Eight scuds have been fired at Israel at nights, 375 00:28:34,231 --> 00:28:35,400 and by daybreak, 376 00:28:35,401 --> 00:28:41,220 residents were still on alert but reports of a chemical attack it turned out to be a false alarm. 377 00:28:41,221 --> 00:28:44,640 And remarkably nobody had been killed by any of the missiles. 378 00:28:47,490 --> 00:28:49,950 Under huge pressure from the White House, 379 00:28:49,951 --> 00:28:51,510 the Israeli Prime Minister, 380 00:28:51,511 --> 00:28:52,890 Yitzhak Shamir, 381 00:28:52,891 --> 00:28:54,930 agreed not to retaliate, 382 00:28:54,931 --> 00:28:56,610 at least for the time being. 383 00:28:58,410 --> 00:28:59,460 In return, 384 00:28:59,461 --> 00:29:08,010 the Americans promised to make the destruction of the Scud missile launchers inside Iraq their top military priority. 385 00:29:08,011 --> 00:29:09,990 A Scud hunt was on. 386 00:29:22,680 --> 00:29:26,340 Coalition aircraft began flying around the clock, 387 00:29:26,341 --> 00:29:30,060 searching thousands of square miles of empty desert, 388 00:29:30,061 --> 00:29:36,330 hoping to spot Iraq's estimated twenty mobile Scud launchers and then destroy them. 389 00:29:37,650 --> 00:29:40,110 For the American commander General Schwarzkopf, 390 00:29:40,111 --> 00:29:41,310 it was a tough challenge. 391 00:29:42,810 --> 00:29:47,340 Finding the mobile launchers is like finding a needle in a haystack you can well imagine. 392 00:29:49,530 --> 00:29:51,990 Scott has continued to hit Israel, 393 00:29:51,991 --> 00:29:55,470 and Washington ordered schwarzkopf to step up the search. 394 00:29:56,910 --> 00:29:58,380 By the twenty fourth of January, 395 00:29:58,381 --> 00:30:02,370 forty percent of the coalition's air sorties were diverging to Scott. 396 00:30:02,371 --> 00:30:10,260 Hunting and special forces like Britain's essayists were sent into Iraq to try and destroy the launchers from the ground. 397 00:30:15,330 --> 00:30:18,090 The scattered attacks on Israel went on, 398 00:30:18,091 --> 00:30:21,270 but still they failed to break up the coalition, 399 00:30:21,271 --> 00:30:22,260 as Saddam hope. 400 00:30:27,450 --> 00:30:30,990 In a further attempt to weaken public support for the war, 401 00:30:30,991 --> 00:30:32,040 British pilots, 402 00:30:32,041 --> 00:30:38,070 John Nicolay and John Peters shocked out on the first night were paraded on Iraqi television. 403 00:30:38,071 --> 00:30:41,970 they had been tortured and were forced to denounce the wall as well should be stopped. 404 00:30:41,971 --> 00:30:43,020 So you go home. 405 00:30:43,021 --> 00:30:44,430 I do not agree on this wall. 406 00:30:44,431 --> 00:30:44,820 With her. 407 00:30:47,910 --> 00:30:55,290 The pictures provoked condemnation across the world and only inflamed Western public opinion against Sudan. 408 00:30:56,550 --> 00:31:02,040 So then was unable to prevent the air campaign systematically destroying his army. 409 00:31:02,041 --> 00:31:04,800 So two weeks after the air will begin, 410 00:31:04,801 --> 00:31:10,950 he ordered an attack that but force the Americans into the risky ground combat they wanted to avoid. 411 00:31:24,180 --> 00:31:26,190 That's around eight thirty P m. 412 00:31:26,191 --> 00:31:28,650 Iraqi troops broke cover from their positions, 413 00:31:28,651 --> 00:31:32,430 hearing Kuwait and headed down there towards the Saudi border. 414 00:31:37,080 --> 00:31:40,770 Their movement was watched by an unmanned American spy plane, 415 00:31:40,771 --> 00:31:43,800 feeding pictures back to its operator. 416 00:31:43,801 --> 00:31:45,540 What do we have to wear a crow? 417 00:31:45,541 --> 00:31:46,350 Let's see what they are. 418 00:31:48,120 --> 00:31:48,540 Something. 419 00:31:52,230 --> 00:31:52,770 Oh, 420 00:31:52,771 --> 00:31:53,250 yeah. 421 00:32:00,690 --> 00:32:04,710 Twenty two hundred and fifty three hours they crossed. 422 00:32:04,711 --> 00:32:07,260 The Saudi Arabia. 423 00:32:07,261 --> 00:32:09,930 campfires going to be placed by the baby is going to be per se. 424 00:32:09,931 --> 00:32:11,250 it can be hard. 425 00:32:11,251 --> 00:32:14,910 The coalition had complete control of the skies over Kuwait, 426 00:32:14,911 --> 00:32:19,890 but not a single aircraft was close enough to stop the Iraqis for their air. 427 00:32:19,891 --> 00:32:21,660 This is ridiculous. 428 00:32:21,661 --> 00:32:23,730 BRIC and Mama couldn't ask for any better target. 429 00:32:26,790 --> 00:32:29,790 The Iraqis took the coalition by surprise, 430 00:32:29,791 --> 00:32:35,430 they met little resistance and sees the Saudi town of caffeine about ten miles down the road. 431 00:32:47,250 --> 00:32:48,360 Troops from America, 432 00:32:48,361 --> 00:32:53,430 Qatar and Saudi Arabia now had to fight their way into the city to regain control. 433 00:32:56,520 --> 00:32:57,870 With loss of dawn raid. 434 00:32:58,800 --> 00:32:59,640 They got that way. 435 00:33:08,880 --> 00:33:11,190 And when our support finally arrived, 436 00:33:11,191 --> 00:33:13,560 they had a decisive advantage. 437 00:33:13,561 --> 00:33:16,410 I certainly would not want to be and I read through them. 438 00:33:16,411 --> 00:33:18,780 there are swarming over that battle field, 439 00:33:18,781 --> 00:33:19,350 like math. 440 00:33:22,980 --> 00:33:25,050 After two days of fighting, 441 00:33:25,051 --> 00:33:27,690 coalition troops finally regained control. 442 00:33:30,030 --> 00:33:35,070 An estimated thirty eight Iraqis were killed and hundreds more captured, 443 00:33:35,071 --> 00:33:36,810 but the coalition has suffered too. 444 00:33:37,890 --> 00:33:40,140 In their first taste of ground combat, 445 00:33:40,141 --> 00:33:42,300 forty three coalition troops, 446 00:33:42,301 --> 00:33:44,730 including twenty five US marines, 447 00:33:44,731 --> 00:33:45,360 were killed. 448 00:33:46,380 --> 00:33:47,310 For some, 449 00:33:47,311 --> 00:33:49,590 it had been a sobering experience. 450 00:33:49,591 --> 00:33:51,750 I never expected that kind of fear, 451 00:33:51,751 --> 00:33:55,350 but you have to overcome it because if you don't know the comment. 452 00:33:56,850 --> 00:33:59,130 It's just like being defeated without. 453 00:34:00,150 --> 00:34:00,600 Actually. 454 00:34:01,650 --> 00:34:03,120 Being killed or anything like that. 455 00:34:10,680 --> 00:34:17,610 But with catchy it back in coalition control world attention turned once again to the air campaign, 456 00:34:17,611 --> 00:34:19,230 which was now in its fourth week. 457 00:34:27,720 --> 00:34:35,490 Television audiences across the world had become hooked on the extraordinary footage being beamed into their homes around the clock. 458 00:34:39,090 --> 00:34:41,670 It was all part of the public relations war. 459 00:34:43,230 --> 00:34:45,810 After their experiences in Vietnam, 460 00:34:45,811 --> 00:34:52,020 American commanders knew that unfavorable coverage like damage public support for the war. 461 00:34:52,021 --> 00:34:56,130 so they carefully managed what was actually seen by the watching world. 462 00:35:00,570 --> 00:35:03,000 Slush bucket that was an excellent splendor. 463 00:35:08,700 --> 00:35:09,960 The American general, 464 00:35:09,961 --> 00:35:12,390 who commands all the allied forces in the Gulf, 465 00:35:12,391 --> 00:35:17,700 has said that operation Desert Storm has been going according to plan. 466 00:35:17,701 --> 00:35:22,320 The aim was to portray the war as clinical and bloodless, 467 00:35:22,321 --> 00:35:24,420 with socalled smart bombs, 468 00:35:24,421 --> 00:35:26,310 making surgical strikes. 469 00:35:26,311 --> 00:35:31,080 I'm now going to show you a picture of the luckiest man in Iraq on this particular day. 470 00:35:31,081 --> 00:35:33,450 Keep your eye on the cross hairs. 471 00:35:35,040 --> 00:35:36,150 Right through the cross, 472 00:35:36,151 --> 00:35:36,570 hairs. 473 00:35:38,580 --> 00:35:40,350 And now in his rearview mirror. 474 00:35:47,760 --> 00:35:49,980 But the laughter was about to end. 475 00:35:52,200 --> 00:35:53,520 In the early hours of February, 476 00:35:53,521 --> 00:35:54,330 the thirteen thousand, 477 00:35:54,331 --> 00:35:54,570 nine thousand, 478 00:35:54,571 --> 00:36:04,140 nine hundred and ninety one to stealth bombers flew towards the Al Maria bunker in the suburbs of Baghdad on what was supposed to be a routine mission. 479 00:36:06,300 --> 00:36:08,430 Shortly after four thirty a M, 480 00:36:08,431 --> 00:36:10,350 they released two laser guidance. 481 00:36:14,370 --> 00:36:15,720 Exactly as planned, 482 00:36:15,721 --> 00:36:22,260 the bombs dropped down a ventilation shaft and exploded deep inside the bunker to maximize destruction. 483 00:36:22,261 --> 00:36:23,460 The trouble was, 484 00:36:23,461 --> 00:36:25,650 it was packed with over four hundred. 485 00:36:25,651 --> 00:36:28,560 Civilians are not a kind of good at it. 486 00:36:29,970 --> 00:36:30,180 Laughter. 487 00:36:35,310 --> 00:36:36,450 The? 488 00:36:41,250 --> 00:36:43,110 Hundreds have been killed, 489 00:36:43,111 --> 00:36:44,280 many of them children. 490 00:36:46,020 --> 00:36:49,350 Pictures of the disaster were broadcast around the world. 491 00:36:57,780 --> 00:36:58,680 How much he says? 492 00:37:00,150 --> 00:37:01,710 Most of this was good. 493 00:37:04,830 --> 00:37:06,330 It was a terrible mistake. 494 00:37:09,240 --> 00:37:15,030 Coalition air planners and believed that the Al Maria bunker was being used by Iraqi commanders, 495 00:37:15,031 --> 00:37:16,050 not civilians. 496 00:37:20,130 --> 00:37:28,080 These images of so many dead civilians and their distraught relatives shattered the myth that this was a bloodless war, 497 00:37:28,081 --> 00:37:34,830 and it forced schwarzkopf to curtail the bombing of Iraqi cities for fear of causing more civilian casualties. 498 00:37:44,670 --> 00:37:47,520 But the Iraqi army got no such reprieve. 499 00:37:50,460 --> 00:37:57,840 The air campaign and battered Iraqi targets for over a month and still so damn had not withdrawn his army from Kuwait. 500 00:37:59,820 --> 00:38:04,140 Schwarzkopf new coalition ground troops would soon have to drive them out. 501 00:38:04,141 --> 00:38:09,120 and in preparation he intensified the air strikes against the Iraqi front line. 502 00:38:17,790 --> 00:38:20,820 There was nothing smart about this bombardment, 503 00:38:20,821 --> 00:38:24,300 old fashioned planes like the giant be fifty tools that are flown over, 504 00:38:24,301 --> 00:38:32,430 Vietnam dropped old fashioned explosives in napalm on the Iraqi positions when a canister of napalm hit the ground. 505 00:38:32,431 --> 00:38:34,860 It explode in the mass of burning jelly, 506 00:38:34,861 --> 00:38:40,260 which incinerated anything it touched and suck the air out of everyone's lungs within fifty metres. 507 00:38:41,280 --> 00:38:47,220 A coalition airman through around the clock bombing missions attempting to destroy fifty percent of the Iraqi army, 508 00:38:47,221 --> 00:38:48,480 is trying to get rid of the ground. 509 00:38:48,481 --> 00:38:49,620 What's going on? 510 00:38:49,621 --> 00:38:52,770 So we really try to get a poet and on to cleared out the grounds. 511 00:38:56,580 --> 00:39:00,450 Peripheral wondered what about some of my vow to say so? 512 00:39:00,451 --> 00:39:01,440 It's just this on rail. 513 00:39:01,441 --> 00:39:02,400 The guy is going out here. 514 00:39:16,320 --> 00:39:20,670 In retaliation for the coalition's continuous aerial bombardment, 515 00:39:20,671 --> 00:39:24,180 so that machine unleashed a new kind of destruction. 516 00:39:27,630 --> 00:39:32,190 He ordered the Iraqi army to blow up the oil fields of Kuwait. 517 00:39:36,540 --> 00:39:40,320 It created scenes of apocalyptic devastation. 518 00:39:40,321 --> 00:39:43,020 It looks like what I envision held would look like. 519 00:39:43,021 --> 00:39:44,430 The country of Kuwait is burning. 520 00:39:47,190 --> 00:39:49,050 Hundreds of wells were blown up, 521 00:39:49,051 --> 00:39:53,070 sending a wall of flame and smoke thousands of feet into the air. 522 00:39:57,000 --> 00:39:58,620 The pipelines were ruptured, 523 00:39:58,621 --> 00:40:03,720 storage tanks exploded and huge lakes of oil pooled in the desert sands. 524 00:40:08,820 --> 00:40:14,550 Choking black clouds filled the air and they turned to night as the smoke blocked out the sun. 525 00:40:30,690 --> 00:40:38,130 This piece of environmental vandalism only increased the pressure on Schwarzkopf to launch the ground campaign. 526 00:40:38,131 --> 00:40:42,300 His plan was a masterpiece of strategic deception. 527 00:40:42,301 --> 00:40:47,190 The main attack would appear to come down here across Kuwait's southern border. 528 00:40:50,340 --> 00:40:55,710 Forty thousand American marines were thrust up into the Iraqi defenses, 529 00:40:55,711 --> 00:40:58,830 alongside them troops from other coalition countries, 530 00:40:58,831 --> 00:41:02,490 including large forces from Syria and Egypt. 531 00:41:02,491 --> 00:41:08,640 Their job was to make some of them think they were just the start of a much larger attack from here in the South. 532 00:41:09,720 --> 00:41:13,740 But what's cups main blow would come not from the south, 533 00:41:13,741 --> 00:41:14,730 but from the West. 534 00:41:16,440 --> 00:41:18,660 Under the cover of the air War, 535 00:41:18,661 --> 00:41:21,990 he had secretly shifted the bulk of his army, 536 00:41:21,991 --> 00:41:22,230 one thousand, 537 00:41:22,231 --> 00:41:32,790 nine thousand nine hundred tanks and nearly three hundred thousand men up to three hundred miles off to the West to launch a giant left book. 538 00:41:32,791 --> 00:41:47,160 His main heavy chunk force with Britain's men and tanks on their right flank were waiting for the signal to burst into Iraq and swing east Asia's the dam's Republican guard divisions dug in on the Kuwait Iraq border. 539 00:41:48,660 --> 00:41:58,470 Schwarzkopf's men had a double mission to liberate Kuwait and are so weaken the Republican Guard and the Iraqi army that they could never cause trouble in the area. 540 00:41:58,471 --> 00:41:58,950 Again. 541 00:41:59,970 --> 00:42:01,710 On the twenty fourth of February, 542 00:42:01,711 --> 00:42:02,070 nine thousand, 543 00:42:02,071 --> 00:42:03,330 nine hundred and ninety one, 544 00:42:03,331 --> 00:42:05,010 the ground attack began. 545 00:42:13,890 --> 00:42:14,790 Out in the Gulf, 546 00:42:14,791 --> 00:42:15,960 the big guns of the U. 547 00:42:15,961 --> 00:42:20,040 S warships began a massive artillery barrage on the Kuwaiti coastline. 548 00:42:33,390 --> 00:42:36,300 But the real attack would come from the ground troops. 549 00:42:40,020 --> 00:42:42,780 The? 550 00:42:49,260 --> 00:42:51,180 And the first to go in would be the U. 551 00:42:51,181 --> 00:42:52,440 S Marines. 552 00:42:52,441 --> 00:42:54,390 This is happen. 553 00:42:54,391 --> 00:42:55,950 You've got an American flag on his back. 554 00:42:55,951 --> 00:42:57,360 I would go right away. 555 00:42:58,920 --> 00:43:03,060 The Marines had to pull those gaps and huge banks of sand like this one, 556 00:43:03,061 --> 00:43:05,220 so the tanks and artillery could advance. 557 00:43:17,850 --> 00:43:19,740 As the first troops went in, 558 00:43:19,741 --> 00:43:21,420 none of them knew what would happen. 559 00:43:25,230 --> 00:43:28,050 The fear of a chemical attack was so great that the? 560 00:43:28,051 --> 00:43:28,230 U. 561 00:43:28,231 --> 00:43:28,830 S troops, 562 00:43:28,831 --> 00:43:31,620 more chemical protection suits and gas masks. 563 00:43:36,360 --> 00:43:37,170 In front of them, 564 00:43:37,171 --> 00:43:44,070 they expected vast minefields and tens of thousands of Iraqi troops and heavily defended entrenched positions. 565 00:43:47,880 --> 00:43:54,930 Coalition commanders expected the marines to be able to penetrate just a few miles into the heavy Iraqi defenses. 566 00:43:54,931 --> 00:43:59,010 But as many as one in three of the marines being killed or injured. 567 00:44:01,050 --> 00:44:03,330 But as the marines' crossed into Kuwait, 568 00:44:03,331 --> 00:44:06,480 they were amazed at what happens everywhere. 569 00:44:06,481 --> 00:44:08,040 Iraqi troops are their abandoned, 570 00:44:08,041 --> 00:44:15,270 their positions over raising the white flag and surrender most of them of conscripts and after the devastating five week, 571 00:44:15,271 --> 00:44:16,530 air bombardment. 572 00:44:16,531 --> 00:44:17,130 They were sleep, 573 00:44:17,131 --> 00:44:20,010 deprived shellshocked and dehydrated. 574 00:44:20,011 --> 00:44:21,630 They were in no position to fight. 575 00:44:36,420 --> 00:44:37,110 All right. 576 00:44:41,310 --> 00:44:42,300 I just don't get up. 577 00:44:47,220 --> 00:44:49,590 The Marines continued forward into Kuwait. 578 00:44:52,140 --> 00:44:53,730 There was little resistance, 579 00:44:53,731 --> 00:44:56,580 and nearly everywhere their progress was unopposed. 580 00:44:59,940 --> 00:45:02,700 Bananas are people their remaining on the enemy, 581 00:45:02,701 --> 00:45:03,360 because we're going to wipe. 582 00:45:03,361 --> 00:45:04,260 Imagine that matters. 583 00:45:08,280 --> 00:45:13,620 The Marines were scoring a major success in their thrust up here into Kuwait. 584 00:45:13,621 --> 00:45:21,180 All those too successful they and the Arab forces to the east and west of them were fast heading for Kuwait City. 585 00:45:22,290 --> 00:45:27,210 There was now a risk that some of the crack Iraqi units like the Republic of God, 586 00:45:27,211 --> 00:45:27,810 I'm here. 587 00:45:28,740 --> 00:45:32,190 Mike retreat before Schwarzkopf's army could destroy them. 588 00:45:33,270 --> 00:45:36,300 So he brought forward the timetable for his main attack. 589 00:45:37,440 --> 00:45:39,360 He ordered his big left hook, 590 00:45:39,361 --> 00:45:41,220 including Britain's Chang force, 591 00:45:41,221 --> 00:45:44,070 to go in fifteen hours ahead of schedule. 592 00:45:45,000 --> 00:45:47,220 The British would go to Kuwait and the U. 593 00:45:47,221 --> 00:45:49,860 S tanks would head for the Republican Guard. 594 00:46:00,870 --> 00:46:04,620 Ten hours into the groundwater at two thirty PM, 595 00:46:04,621 --> 00:46:10,110 British and American troops began a massive artillery barrage onto the Iraqi positions in front of them. 596 00:46:18,570 --> 00:46:21,930 One of their key weapons was the multiple launch rocket system. 597 00:46:37,710 --> 00:46:41,100 As each of the rocket's burst in the air above the Iraqis, 598 00:46:41,101 --> 00:46:44,880 it scattered six hundred and forty four bomblets over them. 599 00:46:44,881 --> 00:46:49,500 It was as if they were being showered by hand grenades and just over thirty minutes. 600 00:46:49,501 --> 00:46:53,490 More than half a million of these bomblets landed on the Iraqi troops. 601 00:47:00,630 --> 00:47:02,580 As the artillery died down, 602 00:47:02,581 --> 00:47:09,330 more than one hundred and fifty thousand coalition troops and over one thousand and five hundred tanks began their advance. 603 00:47:10,710 --> 00:47:13,830 So damn knew he couldn't keep to wait much longer, 604 00:47:13,831 --> 00:47:19,080 but he was still determined to show the Americans you had the capacity to hit them where it. 605 00:47:23,490 --> 00:47:27,990 He ordered his troops inside Kuwait to counterattack against the U. 606 00:47:27,991 --> 00:47:28,830 S Marines. 607 00:47:37,200 --> 00:47:38,250 But they couldn't match. 608 00:47:38,251 --> 00:47:38,910 the Americans. 609 00:47:38,911 --> 00:47:43,470 Find no hope that relentless drive towards Kuwait City. 610 00:47:46,980 --> 00:47:48,090 However, 611 00:47:48,091 --> 00:47:51,450 I'm still had one thus sting in his tail. 612 00:47:58,230 --> 00:48:04,890 Iraqi troops fired a Scud missile towards a coalition days in death from Saudi Arabia. 613 00:48:09,960 --> 00:48:13,410 The resulting explosion killed twenty eight Americans, 614 00:48:13,411 --> 00:48:14,850 and one hundred were left wounded. 615 00:48:16,230 --> 00:48:17,700 To go up there, 616 00:48:17,701 --> 00:48:20,910 it was their biggest single loss in the war so far. 617 00:48:28,590 --> 00:48:30,060 Despite this incident, 618 00:48:30,061 --> 00:48:34,020 the British and American troops had to keep up the speed of their advance. 619 00:48:34,021 --> 00:48:37,530 So damn was army was collapsing by the minute at every minute, 620 00:48:37,531 --> 00:48:43,680 counted if Schwarzkopf was to be able to destroy the bulk of Iraq's military equipment before it escaped. 621 00:48:49,530 --> 00:48:59,400 What scarfs main arm and thrust and swept across a hundred miles of Iraqi desert west of going and closed in on surnames and lead to Republican governor? 622 00:49:00,600 --> 00:49:05,880 I like the four PM on the two thousand and six the February they came face to face. 623 00:49:07,560 --> 00:49:12,150 The gunner and one of the lead vehicle spotted a line of Iraqi tanks on the horizon, 624 00:49:12,151 --> 00:49:12,270 the? 625 00:49:12,271 --> 00:49:12,330 U. 626 00:49:12,331 --> 00:49:17,160 S tank commander realized that he was heading straight for a major Republican guard position. 627 00:49:20,970 --> 00:49:25,650 The Ghana in the lead American tank quickly fired off a shot at one of the Iraqi tanks. 628 00:49:28,020 --> 00:49:28,800 Seconds later, 629 00:49:28,801 --> 00:49:33,120 the American commander watches the shell landed directly on the target. 630 00:49:33,121 --> 00:49:35,070 the Iraqi tank exploded, 631 00:49:35,071 --> 00:49:38,670 throwing a man out through the hatch engulfed in a ball of flame. 632 00:49:42,690 --> 00:49:43,740 Within seconds, 633 00:49:43,741 --> 00:49:48,090 the other American tanks had opened fire in just a few minutes. 634 00:49:48,091 --> 00:49:51,180 The Republican Guards position had been obliterated. 635 00:49:57,210 --> 00:50:00,360 The Iraqi towns had been utterly outgunned. 636 00:50:00,361 --> 00:50:03,030 The American tanks can score a hit on the move. 637 00:50:03,031 --> 00:50:05,880 From over two thousand metres away. 638 00:50:05,881 --> 00:50:08,220 Iraqi tanks were only accurate below seven thousand, 639 00:50:08,221 --> 00:50:09,480 five hundred meters, 640 00:50:09,481 --> 00:50:10,680 and they had to be station. 641 00:50:13,110 --> 00:50:14,400 Within a couple of hours, 642 00:50:14,401 --> 00:50:17,400 over fifty Iraqi armoured vehicles will destroy, 643 00:50:17,401 --> 00:50:19,110 with few American losses. 644 00:50:23,250 --> 00:50:24,000 Throughout the night, 645 00:50:24,001 --> 00:50:26,790 the Americans pursue the Republican Guard. 646 00:50:26,791 --> 00:50:27,540 By daybreak, 647 00:50:27,541 --> 00:50:29,640 they'd smashed an entire division, 648 00:50:29,641 --> 00:50:34,230 leaving over one hundred tanks and armoured vehicles smoking on the battlefield. 649 00:50:34,231 --> 00:50:37,980 The remaining Republican Guard divisions made a desperate retreat, 650 00:50:37,981 --> 00:50:40,470 and the Americans continue to hunt them down. 651 00:50:44,160 --> 00:50:48,540 It looked like the Americans now had the Republican Guard at their mercy. 652 00:50:50,520 --> 00:50:55,440 But something had happened inside Kuwait that would help to save them from destruction. 653 00:51:01,260 --> 00:51:06,690 Iraqi troops had been fleeing from Kuwait City in any vehicle they could get their hands on. 654 00:51:10,830 --> 00:51:13,770 American commanders were determined to stop them. 655 00:51:16,560 --> 00:51:20,130 It led to one of the most controversial episodes of the war. 656 00:51:21,990 --> 00:51:23,850 Using laser guided bombs, 657 00:51:23,851 --> 00:51:29,820 pilots attacked Iraqi vehicles along a stretch of this road leading north from Kuwait City. 658 00:51:29,821 --> 00:51:31,500 This created a roadblock, 659 00:51:31,501 --> 00:51:32,340 and behind it, 660 00:51:32,341 --> 00:51:36,690 hundreds of vehicles became trapped in a giant traffic jam. 661 00:51:36,691 --> 00:51:40,830 This made them totally vulnerable to the American aircraft overhead. 662 00:51:40,831 --> 00:51:43,500 Some of them were so desperate to escape. 663 00:51:43,501 --> 00:51:45,300 They drove off across the desert. 664 00:51:49,920 --> 00:51:53,940 Every available American aircraft was ordered into the attack, 665 00:51:53,941 --> 00:51:55,680 with devastating results. 666 00:52:02,970 --> 00:52:04,860 For the mile after mile, 667 00:52:04,861 --> 00:52:11,490 charred vehicles and human corpses littered the desert and choke the two main roads going towards a rock. 668 00:52:15,090 --> 00:52:18,270 An estimated two thousand vehicles were destroyed. 669 00:52:19,350 --> 00:52:23,370 Only very few of them with tanks or armored personnel carriers. 670 00:52:23,371 --> 00:52:28,590 most were civilian vehicles stolen by the Iraqi army as they fled Kuwait City. 671 00:52:29,820 --> 00:52:34,710 Nobody knows how many hundreds or thousands of Iraqis died in the attacks. 672 00:52:36,750 --> 00:52:45,900 The American leadership realised that pictures like these would soon be on television around the world and they feared it would look like a massacre. 673 00:52:45,901 --> 00:52:50,100 This would become a key factor in deciding when to end the war. 674 00:52:57,030 --> 00:52:58,770 Thirty six hours later, 675 00:52:58,771 --> 00:53:02,850 coalition troops led by units from Kuwait's own Army, 676 00:53:02,851 --> 00:53:04,200 arrived in Kuwait City. 677 00:53:18,150 --> 00:53:23,010 The street soon filled with vehicles as people celebrated the end of the Iraqi occupation. 678 00:53:25,830 --> 00:53:27,480 We're coming to it. 679 00:53:27,481 --> 00:53:29,880 Where can you wake up? 680 00:53:35,460 --> 00:53:36,300 Alongside them, 681 00:53:36,301 --> 00:53:44,340 when American troops greeted as heroes as liberators of a country that had been subjected to months of horror by the Iraqi regime. 682 00:53:46,110 --> 00:53:48,060 They don't have any civilization. 683 00:53:48,061 --> 00:53:50,580 they cannot buy guns only by torturing. 684 00:53:55,380 --> 00:53:57,870 They brought them over here in this place, 685 00:53:57,871 --> 00:54:02,580 and they just shut them and kill them and left them for five days. 686 00:54:03,630 --> 00:54:04,590 Just like a garbage. 687 00:54:09,210 --> 00:54:14,340 They want to put the names are down in my hands and they told me to remember it. 688 00:54:14,341 --> 00:54:15,450 Even you are the old man. 689 00:54:27,090 --> 00:54:28,860 With the liberation of Kuwait, 690 00:54:28,861 --> 00:54:32,280 the main political goal of the wall had been achieved, 691 00:54:32,281 --> 00:54:35,250 but the Republican Guard had not yet been destroyed. 692 00:54:35,251 --> 00:54:36,210 However, 693 00:54:36,211 --> 00:54:37,890 President Bush fear. 694 00:54:37,891 --> 00:54:44,550 but continuing the bombing retreating enemy might give the impression that America was behaving like a bullet. 695 00:54:44,551 --> 00:54:45,570 And so on. 696 00:54:45,571 --> 00:54:45,960 February, 697 00:54:45,961 --> 00:54:47,250 the twenty eight nine nine, 698 00:54:47,251 --> 00:54:47,340 nine, 699 00:54:47,341 --> 00:54:47,430 nine, 700 00:54:47,431 --> 00:54:47,520 nine, 701 00:54:47,521 --> 00:54:47,610 nine, 702 00:54:47,611 --> 00:54:47,700 nine, 703 00:54:47,701 --> 00:54:47,790 nine, 704 00:54:47,791 --> 00:54:50,520 nine one Bush declared a ceasefire. 705 00:54:53,010 --> 00:55:03,990 I am pleased to announce that exactly one hundred hours since ground operations commenced and six weeks since the start of Operation Desert Storm, 706 00:55:03,991 --> 00:55:12,780 all United States and coalition forces will suspend offensive combat operations. 707 00:55:12,781 --> 00:55:14,640 The Gulf War was over. 708 00:55:28,050 --> 00:55:29,190 Within weeks, 709 00:55:29,191 --> 00:55:39,660 tens of thousands of coalition troops began the long journey of all of grateful that the mass casualties they fear had never materialized. 710 00:55:50,070 --> 00:55:54,330 In total to one hundred and forty eight coalition troops were killed, 711 00:55:54,331 --> 00:55:57,660 far less than anyone had dared hope. 712 00:55:57,661 --> 00:56:00,270 Nobody knows how many Iraqis died. 713 00:56:00,271 --> 00:56:01,830 Though some estimates put the figure, 714 00:56:01,831 --> 00:56:03,660 it's over thirty thousand, 715 00:56:03,661 --> 00:56:06,570 including three thousand civilians. 716 00:56:06,571 --> 00:56:09,660 Despite the prewar affairs of the coalition, 717 00:56:09,661 --> 00:56:14,280 it had turned out to be one of the most one sided battles in modern history. 718 00:56:22,350 --> 00:56:23,130 What's come from? 719 00:56:23,131 --> 00:56:26,160 These men returned home to a hero's welcome. 720 00:56:48,690 --> 00:56:51,810 The allies could have chased her down all the way to Baghdad, 721 00:56:51,811 --> 00:56:53,580 but they had no authority from the U. 722 00:56:53,581 --> 00:56:56,880 N and no wish to become mired in Iraq. 723 00:56:56,881 --> 00:56:57,840 Instead, 724 00:56:57,841 --> 00:57:01,170 they hope that Sudan would not be too weak to be a threat. 725 00:57:03,270 --> 00:57:04,050 The? 726 00:57:06,870 --> 00:57:18,060 But Sudan's regime did not crumble as the Americans hoped he crushed to uprisings that followed the end of the war and remained in power for another twelve years. 727 00:57:21,030 --> 00:57:22,200 Several thousand U. 728 00:57:22,201 --> 00:57:26,730 S forces remained in Saudi Arabia to keep watch on Sudan's army. 729 00:57:30,060 --> 00:57:42,930 Osama bin Laden has claimed that it was this presence of U S troops in the Muslim Holy Land of Saudi Arabia that motivated him to launch a series of attacks against American interests. 730 00:57:42,931 --> 00:57:45,540 This culminated in the events of September, 731 00:57:45,541 --> 00:57:47,490 the eleventh two thousand and one. 732 00:57:51,000 --> 00:57:51,780 President Bush, 733 00:57:51,781 --> 00:58:00,720 his son George W Bush was now in the White House and then responds to provide the level of tax he declared a global war on terror. 734 00:58:00,721 --> 00:58:02,490 As part of this war, 735 00:58:02,491 --> 00:58:03,420 he launched a? 736 00:58:03,421 --> 00:58:03,690 U. 737 00:58:03,691 --> 00:58:07,890 S and British Led invasion of Iraq in two thousand and three, 738 00:58:07,891 --> 00:58:10,410 which ousted Saddam Hussein from power. 739 00:58:11,400 --> 00:58:15,810 Thousands of British and American troops remain in Iraq to this day, 740 00:58:15,811 --> 00:58:18,030 dealing with the consequences. 741 00:58:18,031 --> 00:58:20,760 No one knows when they will return home. 742 00:58:34,350 --> 00:58:39,870 You can find out more about the Gulf War of Nine thousand Nine hundred ninety one in Dan's video podcast, 743 00:58:39,871 --> 00:58:42,390 available online now at BBC, 744 00:58:42,391 --> 00:58:48,780 Don't code at UK slash history next night on BBC Two Jacques De hosting. 745 00:58:48,781 --> 00:58:50,040 Have I got news for you?