The History Book Club discussion
MILITARY - IRAQ/AFGHANISTAN
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DESERT STORM (IRAQ)
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Nathaniel Fick
Dexter Filkins
Douglas Macgregor
Richard N. Haass
Steven Zaloga
Andy McNabMore of a story up to Desert Storm
Andy McNabMore Gulf War oriented
I have only read a few books covering the First Gulf War. These are some of the better accounts that I have read covering 'Operation Desert Storm', they offer different perspectives to the conflict:
by Rick Atkinson
by Mohamed Heikal
by Deborah Amos
by U.S. News & World Report
Does anyone have a favourite book covering the First Gulf War? I found that I really enjoyed "Crusade" by Rick Atkinson and "Triumph without Victory". Any other books that could be recommended covering this conflict?
by Rick Atkinson
by U.S. News & World Report
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Here is a recent release covering one battle fought during "Desert Storm".
This book is by Douglas Macgregor
On 26 February 1991, cavalry troops of Cougar Squadron, the 2nd Squadron of the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment, charged out of a sandstorm during Operation Desert Storm and caught Iraq's Republican Guard Corps in the open desert along the North-South grid line of a military map referred to as the 73 Easting. Taken by surprise, the defending Iraqi armor brigade was swept away in salvos of American tank and missile fire in what became the U.S. Army's largest tank battle since World War II. Douglas Macgregor, the man who trained and led Cougar Squadron into battle, recounts two stories. One is the inspiring tale of the valiant American soldiers, sergeants, lieutenants, and captains who fought and won the battle. The other is a story of failed generalship, one that explains why Iraq's Republican Guard escaped, ensuring that Saddam Hussein's regime survived and America's war with Iraq dragged on. Certain to provoke debate, this is the latest book from the controversial and influential military veteran whose two previous books, Breaking the Phalanx and Transformation Under Fire, are credited with influencing thinking and organization inside America's ground forces and figure prominently in current discussions about military strategy and defense policies. Its fast-moving battle narrative, told from the vantage point of Macgregor's Abrams tank, and its detailed portraits of American soldiers, along with vivid descriptions of the devastating technology of mounted warfare, will captivate anyone with a taste for adventure as well as an interest in contemporary military history.
Douglas Macgregor
Hello all and welcome,I recently joined goodreads and Bentley has asked me to assist in the moderation of threads that pertain to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I have done extensive research on these subjects and I hope that I can contribute to everyone's understanding.
So, let's get started. I would suggest two very good books to help everyone lay a foundation for understanding Desert Storm first, and then we can move on to Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Ancient Iraq: Third Edition provides an excellent history of the oldest civilization on the face of the earth. This is really where everyone should start when trying to understand current events in Iraq.
Republic of Fear: The Inside Story of Saddam's Iraq details the iron grip that Saddam Hussein had on the people of Iraq and his ruthless rise to power.
If anyone can recommend other good background books, please post your contribution.
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Always book cover when available (it usually is), author's photo when available and always author's link
Republic of Fear: The Inside Story of Saddam's Iraq (this is one of the few cases where the book cover is not available) by Samir al-Khalil
There was no photo available of Samir al-Khalil
In terms of the other citation:
by Georges RouxThere was no photo available for Georges Roux.
Bentley wrote: "Richard, I have reposted the books using our required format to help out.Always book cover when available (it usually is), author's photo when available and always author's link
[book:Republic o..."
Got it. Will do in the future.
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A new release offering first-hand accounts of those involved in the Gulf War:
by Hugh McMannersPublishers blurb:
In 1988 Iraq was the region's dominant military power and ambitious to become leader of the Arab world. Saddam's war-experienced army were known to have used biological and chemical weapons in the past, and when 260,000 troops and 2,000 tanks crossed into Kuwait they met with little resistance. And yet Iraq's defeat at the hands of the coalition forces was the most devastatingly efficient in military history. It was the first war fought over a resource: oil. The UK committed 43,000 troops to this new 'high tech' war, and suffered few casualties. Yet on the Iraqi side, uncounted thousands of soldiers were killed, many poorly trained conscripts. Returning coalition soldiers have since found themselves dogged by health problems, likely caused by the new technologies that proved so effective in battle. Iraqi power was diminished, but Saddam Hussein was allowed to remain in power, laying the scene for the protracted suffering of the Iraq invasion over a decade later. Hugh McManners' original interviews for "Gulf War One" provide a compelling picture and explode many myths of how this war was carried out, and why. From military planners and politicians to ordinary soldiers and Gulf War Syndrome sufferers, both those serving and those caught up in the war tell its history in their own words.
Just started reading
by William L. Smallwood looks like an interesting book, got to love the warthog.
Here is a good book I have used for reference:(no image) The General’s War: The Inside Story of the Conflict in the Gulf by Michael R. Gordon and Bernard E. Trainor
From Publisher's Weekly:
Drawing on interviews with senior officials and newly declassified documents, Gordon and Trainor provide a behind-the-scenes look at the Gulf War's generalship. The dominant figure, then-chairman of the joint chiefs General Colin Powell, is spotlighted as a politico-military maestro overseeing the dawn of a new era in military technology. In their review of the short, violent, one-sided war, the authors uncover the problems of cooperation among coalition forces and reveal details of interservice tensions, as well as difficulties within the U.S. branches themselves. This meticulous reconstruction of American leadership in Desert Shield/Desert Storm presents the conflict as a laboratory for testing new weapons and doctrine and the services' capacity for cooperation in the field. It also serves as an object lesson in the failure of deterrence and the problem of war termination, with a discussion of President Bush's premature cease-fire order. Gordon is chief New York Times Pentagon correspondent; Trainor is military columnist for the Times.
Oh wow...how did I miss this thread! These all look like amazing books!
A number of good books there Michael and Bryan, thanks for the posts and information. I am sure that you'll find a few good books here Kristi :)
Hi all Ive finished
by William L. SmallwoodI highly recomend this book to all it was a fantastic read.
I love the look of the A-10, its like a modern day Stuka, ugly but good at what it was designed for!
I wasn't exactly sure which thread this should go under, so I'll put it in both that I thought apply...I just finished:
by
Evan WrightIt was a good book, brash and written more for the troops that civilians. In parts graphic and gorey, in others flabergasting, and in yet others hold-your-sides-laughing funny. It was pretty eye opening, especially as I have just started reading about this war. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about the foibles and frustrations of war that the sildiers see daily, and the victories they have in spite of them. Good book!
I also just found out (on Wikipedia) that one of the men in the book, First Lieutenant Nathaniel "Nate" Fick, also wrote a book (which I checked out of the library last week, unknowingly) called One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer now I'm going to have to read that one next!!
by Nathaniel Fick (no photo)
I read this account of a 'war dog' used during the first Gulf War in my book "War Dogs".One outstanding dog was Carlo, an explosives-sniffing Belgian Malinois handled by Air Force S.Sgt Christopher Batta in Kuwait. During their sixty-day tour together, Carlo alerted to 167 caches of explosives, some rigged to explode on contact. One booby trap consisted of a pack of cluster bombs hidden beneath a case of American MRE (Meals Ready-to-Eat) containers.
Sergeant Batta earned the Bronze Star on October 10, 1991, for his efforts and also learned through the Stars and Stripes about the regulation banning awards to animals. After the conclusion of the ceremony, Batta removed his medal and placed it on his dog, saying, ‘Carlo worked harder than me. He was always in front of me’.”
by Michael G. Lemish
by Center of Military History United States Army This is available as a download from the Center of Military History. I didn't get any pictures. Excellent short overview, doesn't really go below regimental level.
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Storm on the Horizon: Khafji-The Battle That Changed the Course of the Gulf War
by David J. MorrisSynopsis
"Storm on the Horizon" is the little-known story of the key land battle of Desert Storm: the Battle for Khafji -- and how that engagement has become part of military history. Combining some of the most powerful writing on war ever with a Marine's eyeview of combat, former Marine officer David J. Morris has brilliantly recreated this crucial battle that nearly changed the outcome of the Persian Gulf War. "Storm on the Horizon" is war writing at its finest.On January 29, 1991, Saddam Hussein launched his three best armored divisions across the Kuwaiti border and into the Islamic Holy Land of Saudi Arabia. Their mission: to disrupt the massive U.S.-led Coalition preparing to evict them from Kuwait, and to bloody the Americans on CNN. Caught without warning in the path of this juggernaut were scattered groups of lightly armed U.S. Marines and Special Forces soldiers. "Storm on the Horizon" is the gripping and compelling story of how these elite fighting men escaped the Iraqi onslaught and reversed the assault with an unprecedented combination of high-tech weaponry and American know-how. This is the story of the first battle of the smart-bomb age.
"Storm on the Horizon" drops you in the middle of the most intense battle of the Persian Gulf War. The Marines are trapped and outnumbered, their weapons no match against the Iraqi tanks bearing down on them. Their only lifeline to the rear is a barely functioning radio. Drawing upon extensive veteran interviews and previously classified reports, David J. Morris's vivid minute-by-minute narrative takes you through the battle from its beginning as a scattered collection of skirmishes to its fiery final act in the streets of the abandonedSaudi Arabian town of Khafji. Morris captures this ordeal through the eyes of the men who were there, giving readers a rare front-row seat to an incredible sequence of events. Max Morton, the pilot of a Cobra attack helicopter is forced to make an emergency landing in the heart of Khafji as the Iraqis are attacking. He and his crew narrowly escape after locating a tank of mystery fuel at a local oil refinery. Medic Kevin Callahan, member of a team of Marines caught behind enemy lines, watches helplessly as a female U.S. Army soldier and her male comrade are captured by Iraqi soldiers and spirited to Baghdad. Ronald Tull, suffering untold wounds, wakes up next to his burning light-armored vehicle thinking that it has been struck by an enemy tank round. Only later does he learn the full horror of the events that led up to the death of his seven buddies who were on board.
But "Storm on the Horizon" is far more than a battle saga. It is a thoughtful examination of a new generation of fighting men coming to terms with its own war, a journey into the minds of men under supreme stress, and a heartfelt account of the innocence lost in a heartbeat and mourned for a lifetime.
At once an unflinching chronicle of men at war and an appalling tableau, "Storm on the Horizon" looks into the savage heart of modern combat and raises troubling questions about the era of conflict that lies ahead.
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Stormjammers: The Extraordinary Story of Electronic Warfare Operations in the Gulf War
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When the U.S. went to war in Iraq during the first Gulf War, Robert Stanek was there. He lived and breathed combat from the opening days of the war to its end and beyond. In this book, this bestselling author chronicles the military life, his experiences in the war with vivid accounts of combat training before the war, reflections on life, family, duty, honor, and love, and remembrances of combat missions into the heart of Baghdad. Candid and fast-paced like the best combat memoirs, Stanek focuses on the men and women he flew with, telling their stories as well as his own and creating what is ultimately an inspiring and uplifting story of the human spirit challenged by the agony and terror of war. Based on the inspiring true story, this is the only book about electronic warfare operations in Iraq written by a military flyer who was there. Robert Stanek's experiences in the Gulf War changed his life and helped drive his successful career as a writer and entrepreneur. To date, he has written and had published over 50 books. His books are sold all over the world and have been translated into many languages. His distinguished accomplishments during the Gulf War earned him nine medals, including our nation's highest flying honor, the Distinguished Flying Cross.
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Desert Warrior: A Personal View of the Gulf War by the Joint Forces Commander
by Khaled bin SultanSynopsis
His Royal Highness General Khaled is the first member of the House of Saud to write a book. He was Commander of Joint Forces and Theater of Operations in the Gulf War against Iraq, in a "parallel command" with the American commander, General Norman Schwarzkopf. How their association worked - and occasionally didn't work - is one of the compelling themes of these memoirs. Never before has a true insider thrown such light on decision making within the royal family, on the dangers and challenges of an often hostile Middle East environment, on the complex Saudi-American relationship, and on what it was like to grow up as a prince at a time when the desert kingdom moved from poverty to unimaginable wealth. This is the candid, uncensored autobiography of a leading Saudi prince who, after graduating from Sandhurst in Britain and from Fort Leavenworth and Maxwell Air War College in the United States, rose to command Saudi Arabia's Air Defense Forces, and then won international renown in the war against Saddam Hussein.
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The Mother of All Battles: Saddam Hussein's Strategic Plans for the Persian Gulf War
by Kevin M. WoodsSynopsis
Events in this story of the "Mother of All Battles," as Saddam designated the 1991 war, are drawn from primary Iraqi sources, including government documents, video and audiotapes, maps, and photographs captured by U.S. forces in 2003 from the regime's archives and never intended for outsiders' eyes. The book is part of an official U.S. Joint Forces Command research project to examine contemporary warfare from the point of view of the adversary's archives and senior leader interviews. Its purpose is to stimulate thoughtful analyses of currently accepted lessons of the first Gulf War. While not a comprehensive history, the author's balanced Iraqi perspective of events between 1990 and 1991 takes full advantage of his unique access to material. The result is a completely unknown but fully documented view from the other side.
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by Robert H. Scales Jr.Synopsis
The official U.S. Army account, Certain Victory provides the clearest picture to date of the Army's performance during the Gulf War. In a colorful, readable style, it begins by chronicling the Army's remarkable regeneration in the two decades after Vietnam - the changes that were the foundation of the Desert Storm victory. Each chapter leads off with a compelling personal combat story that brings you right into battle alongside individual soldiers and puts the conflict into human perspective. Certain Victory is a quick read and free of military jargon, offering a balanced, comprehensive account of the largest armor battle since World War II.
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by Thomas HoulahanSynopsis
Gulf War explains why the war came about, how it was fought, and why itturned out the way it did. The book sets the record straight on a numberof popular misconceptions about the war. Features detailed and accurate accounts of every major ground action of the Gulf War.
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Arab Storm: Politics and Diplomacy Behind the Gulf War
by Alan MunroSynopsis
As Iraqi troops swarmed Kuwait in 1990, British Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Alan Munro played a vital role in putting, and holding, together a formidable coalition to evict them. He reveals here all the behind-the-scenes maneuvering that made this possible. With Western armies once more deployed in the Gulf, this new updated paperback edition of Munro's book provides a timely reminder of the pressures, pitfalls and potential of international diplomacy in the region.
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by Stephen Alan BourqueSynopsis
The Road to Safwan is a complete history of the 1st Infantry Division's cavalry unit fighting in Operation Desert Storm. Stephen A. Bourque and John W. Burdan III served in the 1st Infantry--Bourque in Division Headquarters, Burdan as the Operations Officer of the 1st Squadron, 4th Cavalry. Based on extensive interviews and primary sources, Bourque and Burdan provide the most in-depth coverage to date of a battalion-level unit in the 1991 war, showing how the unit deployed, went into combat, and adapted to changing circumstances. The authors describe how the officers and men moved from the routine of cold war training to leading the Big Red One in battle through the Iraqi defenses and against the Iraqi Republican Guard. The 1st Squadron, 4th Cavalry participated in the 1st Brigade attack on G-Day, the large tank battle for Objective Norfolk, the cutting of Basra Road, and the capture of Safwan Airfield, the site where General H. Norman Schwartzkopf conducted cease-fire negotiations with the Iraqis. The squadron's activities are placed squarely within the context of both division and corps activities, which illustrates the fog of war, the chain of command, and the uncertainty of information affecting command decisions. The Road to Safwan challenges the myth that technology won the 1991 Persian Gulf War. Contrary to popular view, it was a soldier's war not much different from previous conflicts in its general nature. What was different was the quality and intensity of the unit's training, which resulted, repeatedly, in successful engagements and objectives secured. It is the story of the people, not the machines, which ultimately led this squadron to the small town of Safwan.
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by David S. PiersonSynopsis
The U.S. used its armored might with devastating effect during the Gulf War with Iraq. Dave Pierson takes the reader through the build up to battle and the intensity of the fighting including having to destroy one of their own M1 tanks.
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by Edward J. MaroldaSynopsis
Though not so well known as the land and air campaigns, the campaign at sea in the 1991 Gulf War was vital in subduing Saddam Hussein's invasion forces and driving them out of Kuwait. U.S. Navy surface ships and submarines launched hundreds of cruise missile attacks against Iraqi targets throughout the war, and carriers sent air strikes deep into enemy territory. The battleships Missouri and Wisconsin bombarded hostile targets while U.S. sailors joined U.S. Army and Royal Navy helicopter crews in additional actions. SEAL missions, global sealift actions, mine countermeasures, and operations in support of the economic embargo were still more contributing factors to the complex joint warfare effort.
Details of these naval operations are thoroughly documented and analyzed in this authoritative study, conducted by the Naval Historical Center and published in limited numbers in 1999. It is based on previously classified action and lessons-learned reports, interviews with participants, and studies conducted by the Center for Naval Analyses and the Department of Defense. The book includes candid evaluations of leadership effectiveness, interservice relations, and methods of command and control. It also analyses the effectiveness of various weapons and sensors, including the Tomahawk land-attack missile, the EA-6B Prowler electronic warfare aircraft, the Aegis battle management system, and unmanned aerial vehicles. Winner of the Navy League's Theodore and Franklin D. Roosevelt Naval History Prize and favorably reviewed by military scholars and foreign affairs journals, this credible historical account captures the drama as well as the detail of a modern victory at sea.
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Gulf Conflict 1990-1991: Diplomacy and War in the New World Order
by Lawrence FreedmanSynopsis
The Gulf Conflict provides the most authoritative and comprehensive account to date of Iraq's occupation of Kuwait, its expulsion by a coalition of Western and Arab forces seven months later, and the aftermath of the war. Blending compelling narrative history with objective analysis, Lawrence Freedman and Efraim Karsh inquire into the fundamental issues underlying the dispute and probe the strategic calculations of all the participants.The Gulf Conflict provides the most authoritative and comprehensive account to date of Iraq's occupation of Kuwait, its expulsion by a coalition of Western and Arab forces seven months later, and the aftermath of the war. Blending compelling narrative history with objective analysis, Lawrence Freedman and Efraim Karsh inquire into the fundamental issues underlying the dispute and probe the strategic calculations of all the participants.
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by Majid KhadduriSynopsis
For most Americans, the war against Iraq lingers in memory as a vast morality play, a drama offering ready made heroes and villains: a glowering dictator in military uniform, hapless Kuwaiti refugees with tales of persecution, plucky pilots with high-tech wizardry, and a defiant American president, ringing Churchillian as he drew a line in the sand. But this characterization of the war is greatly oversimplified, a one-dimensional portrait, lacking in context and nuance. In War in the Gulf, 1990 91, eminent scholars Majid Khadduri and Edmund Ghareeb paint a very different picture, one that brings historical depth to the portrait, and displays the actions of many of the participants in a new and revealing light.
Khadduri and Ghareeb offer a far more accurate and complex portrait of the Iraq-Kuwait conflict, providing a wealth of background information not readily available before. They made a distinction between the differences between Iraq and Kuwait over frontiers, territory, and sovereignty and the method pursued by Iraqi leaders to resolve those differences. They explore, for instance, the history of relations between Iraq and Kuwait, revealing that Kuwait had once been a part of Basra (in southern Iraq) during the Ottoman rule, and only became a separate country while under British control (it was the British in fact who drew the much-disputed boundary line between Iraq and Kuwait). Khadduri and Ghareeb describe the many decades of struggle to resolve the boundary issue, examining the repeated attempts by other Arab states to mediate according to Islamic traditions of consultation and peaceful resolution within the faith. The authors also show how Saddam Husayn's war with Iran exacerbated the boundary tensions. Because of the decade-long war, Iraq badly needed oil revenue to repay wartime loans and to rebuild, but Kuwait persisted in pumping far beyond its OPEC quota, driving down prices, and costing Iraq billions of dollars of revenue. The book reveals how Kuwait spurned Arab attempts to mediate this clash over oil prices as well as the longstanding boundary dispute, frustrating efforts to resolve this crisis by peaceful means. In one particularly interesting section, the book examines the diplomatic talks during the early summer of 1990, both among various Arab nations (most notably, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Kuwait), and with Saddam Husayn and the United States (they show how messages from Washington and a visit by a congressional delegation lead by Senator Dole convinced the Iraqi leaders that they would be allowed to settle their problems with Kuwait without outside interference). Khadduri and Ghareeb carry us through to the present, exploring the war and its aftermath, from the uprisings against Baghdad, to the continuing U.N. sanctions, to the recent defections from Saddam's inner circle.
War in the Gulf is a balanced, eye-opening account of one of the central events of recent years. It corrects the Western views of most reporting, explaining the frame of mind of the participants as no one has done before and causing us to examine anew such questions as who was responsible for the conflict, and what might have happened if the United States had not intervened so rapidly.
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by Braxton R. Eisel (no photo)Synopsis:
This book is based upon a journal Jim Schreiner kept during his deployment to the Persian Gulf region for Operations DESERT SHIELD and DESERT STORM. Building upon that record and the recollections of other F-4G Wild Weasel aircrew, the authors show a slice of what life and war was like during that time. The pawns in the game, the ones that had to actually do the fighting and dying were the hundreds of thousands of men and women who left their homes and families to live for seemingly endless months in the vast, trackless desert while the world stage-play unfolded. To them, the war was deeply personal. At times, the war was scary; at other times, it was funny as hell. Usually, if you survive the former, it turns into the latter.
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by G.J. Michaels (no photo)Synopsis:
An exciting and disarmingly frank firsthand account of Marines in fast armored vehicles during Desert Storm.
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Otto J. LehrackSynopsis:
America's Battalion tells the experiences of one unit, the 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marines, during Operation Desert Storm—the first Gulf War. Building from interviews with the members of the batallion, Otto Lehrack examines the nature of warfare in the Persian Gulf. The terrain of the Arabian Peninsula and the disposition of the enemy dictated conventional warfare requiring battalion and regimental assaults coordinated at the division level, so interviewees are primarily the officers and senior non-commissioned officers concerned.
The 3rd of the 3rd, also known as "America's Battalion," had just returned from deployment in the summer of 1990 when they were required to immediately re-deploy to a strange land to face a battle-hardened enemy after Iraq invaded Kuwait. Theirs was only the second Marine battalion to arrive in Saudi Arabia. They participated in the first allied ground operation of the war, played a key role in the battle for the city of Khafji, and were the first to infiltrate the Iraqi wire and minefield barrier in order to provide flank security for the beginning of the allied offensive.
Facing an enemy that had used some of the most fearsome weapons of mass destruction—chemical and biological agents—against its former opponents and against its own people, the Marines had been prepared for the worst. Lehrack has documented this unit's remarkable performance through the accounts of those who participated in the historic events in the Persian Gulf and returned home to tell of them.
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by Tom Taylor (no photo)Synopsis:
Now in paperback, this edition offers a timely reminder of the 1991 conflict with Iraq. The 101st Airborne Division--The Screaming Eagles--played a crucial role in Desert Storm. This is their story, based on dozens of interviews and hundreds of army videos.
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by Richard T. Reynolds (no photo)Synopsis:
Colonel Reynolds presents a firsthand account of the struggle to design and implement the air campaign that proved instrumental in defeating Iraq in the Gulf War. Through documentary research and dialogue derived from interviews with key players such as Generals Dugan, Russ, Loh, and Horner, he traces the evolution of the air campaign plan known as Instant Thunder from its origins in the mind of Col John A. Warden III to the decision by General Schwarzkopf to employ airpower as his weapon of choice against Saddam Hussein. Heart of the Storm provides behind-the-scenes insights into how future decisions to use airpower will likely be made.
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by Richard G. Davis (no photo)Synopsis:
The strategic air campaign against Iraq engaged organizers from diverse disciplines with diverse views. That the storm, when it broke, lasted just forty-three days is a tribute not only to those who planned it, but also to those who executed it. The strategic air campaign, the focus of this volume, the second in the account of the United States Air Force's participation in the Persian Gulf War, began with a spectacular nighttime attack by Coalition aircraft against the capital city of Baghdad. This attack, seen by the world, occurred in concert with bomb and missile attacks against outlying command, control, and communications nodes and the electrical grid supporting them. The strategic air campaign also targeted Iraq's chemical and biological weapons production and the sites of nuclear reactors.
The strategic bombing campaign against Iraq's aircraft shelters, particularly successful, is recounted in this volume, as is the Coalition's effort to prevent the launching by Iraq of Scud missiles toward her Arab and Israeli neighbors. The author has done a thorough job of utilizing the documentation produced by the Air Stall; the Ninth Air Force, and the former Strategic and Tactical Air Commands to describe the evolution of the combined command structure in Saudi Arabia. He has also conducted numerous valuable interviews with key USAF personnel and obtained much detailed information about the interactions among the participants whose responsibility it was to organize the campaign to free Kuwait. He exhaustively analyzes events and issues that preceded the execution of the strategic air war -operationally, Instant Thunder- and the rationale behind the selection of core strategic target sets -enemy centers of gravity.
The author, Dr. Richard G. Davis, joined the USAF history program in 1980, transferring to the Air Staff History Branch in 1985 and to the Histories Division in 1990. He has published several articles on World War II strategic bombing and a military biography on one of the USAF's leading practitioners of strategic bombing, General Carl A. Spaatz. Davis became familiar with modern service programs and doctrine by covering the Program Objective Memorandum and issues surrounding the interservice agreements known as the "31 Initiatives" from 1985 to 1990.
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by Janet A. McDonnell (no photo)Synopsis:
Army engineer support to U.S. Central Command's joint maneuver force during the Persian Gulf War was massive and critical. Over 100 active and reserve component engineer units contributed significantly to the success of Operation DESERT SHIELD/DESERT STORM. These contributions are well documented in Supporting the Troops: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the Persian Gulf War. The Gulf War dramatically demonstrated the need to deploy engineers early so that they can determine the engineer requirements, communicate those requirements to the maneuver commanders, and take appropriate steps to bed down and sustain U.S. forces. The delayed flow of engineers and their equipment into Southwest Asia directly affected the ability of the maneuver units to sustain themselves and operate effectively.
We are now moving toward a smaller, quality Army with rapidly deployable forces. There are fewer engineer units than in 1990, and a larger proportion of the engineer force is in the reserve components. As the active component force continues to shrink, we must insure that the reserve component engineer forces are well trained and ready to deploy on short notice. During the Gulf War engineers provided the model for the Total Army concept, successfully blending Active Army, Army National Guard, Army Reserve, and Department of Defense civilian engineer capabilities. U.S. forces could not have succeeded in the Gulf without the assistance of the reserve components and civilians. The force structure of today's Active Army does not include a number of specialized engineer units needed to support a large-scale deployment. Nor do operational engineer units have all the special expertise that can be found in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. As Supporting the Troops vividly illustrates, the contributions of the Corps' military and civilian members were diverse and significant. Over 160 Corps civilians, who voluntarily deployed to Southwest Asia, provided procurement, design, construction, and real estate support. Corps members worked diligently, often in difficult conditions, to provide for the well-being and safety of tens of thousands of U.S. soldiers. They devised creative solutions to the problems they, encountered, whether implementing new policies or developing new project designs.
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by Alex Darwin (no photo)Synopsis:
The Edge of War: Kuwait’s Underground Resistance (Khafji 1990~1991) tells the little-known story of the brave men and women who joined the resistance and fought against the overwhelming might of the Iraqi military. Often relying on savvy rather than strength, Kuwait's resistance made a measurable difference in the battle for liberation, and this is their story.
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by Steve A. Yetiv (no photo)Synopsis:
Scholars of international relations tend to prefer one model or another in explaining the foreign policy behavior of governments. Steve Yetiv, however, advocates an approach that applies five familiar models: rational actor, cognitive, domestic politics, groupthink, and bureaucratic politics.
Drawing on the widest set of primary sources and interviews with key actors to date, he applies each of these models to the 1990-91 Persian Gulf crisis and to the U.S. decision to go to war with Iraq in 2003. Probing the strengths and shortcomings of each model in explaining how and why the United States decided to proceed with the Persian Gulf War, he shows that all models (with the exception of the government politics model) contribute in some way to our understanding of the event. No one model provides the best explanation, but when all five are used, a fuller and more complete understanding emerges.
In the case of the Gulf War, Yetiv demonstrates the limits of models that presume rational decision-making as well as the crucial importance of using various perspectives. Drawing partly on the Gulf War case, he also develops innovative theories about when groupthink can actually produce a positive outcome and about the conditions under which government politics will likely be avoided. He shows that the best explanations for government behavior ultimately integrate empirical insights yielded from both international and domestic theory, which scholars have often seen as analytically separate. With its use of the Persian Gulf crisis as a teachable case study and coverage of the more recent Iraq war, Explaining Foreign Policy will be of interest to students and scholars of foreign policy, international relations, and related fields.
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Success and Failure in Limited War: Information and Strategy in the Korean, Vietnam, Persian Gulf, and Iraq Wars
by Spencer D Bakich (no photo)Synopsis:
Common and destructive, limited wars are significant international events that pose a number of challenges to the states involved beyond simple victory or defeat. Chief among these challenges is the risk of escalation—be it in the scale, scope, cost, or duration of the conflict. In this book, Spencer D. Bakich investigates a crucial and heretofore ignored factor in determining the nature and direction of limited war: information institutions.
Traditional assessments of wartime strategy focus on the relationship between the military and civilians, but Bakich argues that we must take into account the information flow patterns among top policy makers and all national security organizations. By examining the fate of American military and diplomatic strategy in four limited wars, Bakich demonstrates how not only the availability and quality of information, but also the ways in which information is gathered, managed, analyzed, and used, shape a state’s ability to wield power effectively in dynamic and complex international systems.
Utilizing a range of primary and secondary source materials, Success and Failure in Limited War makes a timely case for the power of information in war, with crucial implications for international relations theory and statecraft.
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by Richard P. Hallion (no photo)Synopsis:
An incisive account of the Persian Gulf War, Storm Over Iraq shows how the success of Operation Desert Storm was the product of two decades of profound changes in the American approach to defense, military doctrine, and combat operations. The first detailed analysis of why the Gulf War could be fought the way it was, the book examines the planning and preparation for war. Richard P. Hallion argues that the ascendancy of precision air power in warfare—which fulfilled the promise that air power had held for more than seventy-five years—reflects the revolutionary adaptation of a war strategy that targets things rather than people, allowing one to control an opposing nation without destroying it.
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by Dilip Hiro (no photo)Synopsis:
In this perceptive account of the Gulf War, acclaimed writer Dilip Hiro reveals the complex political-economic motivation and diplomatic maneuvering that preceded the 42-day conflict. He argues that Saddam Hussein failed to draw the right lessons from the Iran-Iraq war and thus grievously miscalculated the international response to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. Containing maps, a chronology of events, extensive source-notes and all relevant Security Council resolutions, the book is a comprehensive and objective chronicle of the war and an important aid for understanding contemporary Middle Eastern affairs. Also includes 12 maps.
Jerome, I'm a bit confused about the title of the book in Post #48. Shouldn't that be the FIRST Gulf War? Desert Shield and Desert Storm were part of the first President Bush's war in Iraq. I always think of the SECOND Gulf War as the later one after 9/11 with the second President Bush. The invasion of Kuwait happened in the FIRST Gulf War. Otherwise, what would the FIRST Gulf War be?
Mod
The Gulf War (2 August 1990 – 28 February 1991), codenamed Operation Desert Shield (2 August 1990 - 17 January 1991), for operations leading to the buildup of troops and defense of Saudi Arabia and Operation Desert Storm (17 January 1991 – 28 February 1991) was a war waged by coalition forces from 34 nations led by the United States against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait.
The war is also known under other names, such as the Persian Gulf War, First Gulf War, Gulf War I, Kuwait War, First Iraq War, or Iraq War[16][17][18][a] before the term "Iraq War" became identified instead with the 2003 Iraq War (also referred to in the U.S. as "Operation Iraqi Freedom").[19] Kuwait's invasion by Iraqi troops that began 2 August 1990 was met with international condemnation, and brought immediate economic sanctions against Iraq by members of the U.N. Security Council. U.S. President George H. W. Bush deployed U.S. forces into Saudi Arabia, and urged other countries to send their own forces to the scene. An array of nations joined the Coalition, the largest military alliance since World War II. The great majority of the Coalition's military forces were from the U.S., with Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom and Egypt as leading contributors, in that order. Saudi Arabia paid around US$36 billion of the US$60 billion cost.[20]
The war was marked by the introduction of live news broadcasts from the front lines of the battle, principally by the U.S. network CNN.[21][22][23] The war has also earned the nickname Video Game War after the daily broadcast images on board the U.S. bombers during Operation Desert Storm.[24][25]
The initial conflict to expel Iraqi troops from Kuwait began with an aerial bombardment on 17 January 1991. This was followed by a ground assault on 24 February. This was a decisive victory for the Coalition forces, who liberated Kuwait and advanced into Iraqi territory. The Coalition ceased its advance, and declared a cease-fire 100 hours after the ground campaign started. Aerial and ground combat was confined to Iraq, Kuwait, and areas on Saudi Arabia's border. Iraq launched Scud missiles against Coalition military targets in Saudi Arabia and against Israel.
United Nations Security Council Resolution 687 passed in April 1991 established formal cease-fire terms. The controversies over enforcing this and subsequent resolutions would lead to the outbreak of another war 12 years later.
Now in response to Jimmy's question - I think the Library Journal explained things a bit better. From the author's perspective and Library Journal's explanations - the first Gulf War actually occurred according to the author's and other's perspectives in what is more properly known as the First Gulf War (the Iraq-Iran conflict of September 1980 to August 1988. Hope this helps but again it depends upon whether you are counting American operations in the Gulf "solely". The author is not.
Here is the excerpt from the Library Journal and Book News:
Library Journal
The roots of the conflict between Iraq and Kuwait stem from incidents in July 1897 and were exacerbated in June 1961: Both sets of circumstances involved Kuwait securing protection from Britain against the Iraqi government, which was seeking annexation. Following the conclusion of what is more properly known as the First Gulf War (the Iraq-Iran conflict of September 1980 to August 1988, which Hiro analyzed in The Longest War , LJ 2/1/91), a wide variety of domestic, regional, and international events and circumstances led Iraqi president Saddam Hussein into a major miscalculation: the third attempted annexation of Kuwait. Hiro's treatment of the 1990 Desert Shield and Desert Storm operations (collectively called the Second Gulf War) is exhaustive. The maps and illustrative diagrams are useful and easily read. Despite this work's proximity in time to the Second Gulf War, Desert Shield to Desert Storm may well turn out to be the definitive work on this event.-- David P. Snider, Casa Grande P.L., Ariz.
Booknews
In this perceptive, detailed, and balanced account which should become the standard source on the second Gulf War (the first was, of course, the Iran-Iraq War), Hiro explicates the complex political-economic motivation and diplomatic maneuvering that preceded the 42-day conflict as well as the historical causes and consequences of the war. Includes maps, a chronology of events, extensive source-notes, and the text of all relevant UN Security Council resolutions. Paper edition unseen), $18.95. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
Now about the book cited by Jerome in message 48:
Just as a warning - this book appears to be quite polarizing and depending upon your perspective will either offend or do the exact complete opposite. I do not feel that there is any middle ground with this author's interpretation - the reviews either appear to be in one camp or the other.
The History Book Club
Books mentioned in this topic
The Gulf War: George H. W. Bush and American Grand Strategy in the Post-Cold War Era (other topics)Desert Storm Air War: The Aerial Campaign Against Saddam's Iraq in the 1991 Gulf War (other topics)
Strategic Air Power in Desert Storm (other topics)
Stormin' Norman: An American Hero (other topics)
Dial 911 Marines: Adventures of a Tank Company in Desert Shield and Desert Storm (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Spencer D. Bakich (other topics)Jim Corrigan (other topics)
John Andreas Olsen (other topics)
Kurt Andersen (other topics)
Joe Freitus (other topics)
More...
Please feel free to add any and all discussion information related to this topic area in this thread.
Bentley