Word: aerials
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Schwarzkopf reasoned that if his subordinates doubted it could be done, Saddam's generals would be quite certain that such a move was impossible and, lacking any aerial reconnaissance to indicate it was actually under way, would leave "this big, open flank" largely undefended. He was right...
Bereft of satellites or even aerial reconnaissance, Saddam's commanders could not see what was going on behind allied lines. Thus Schwarzkopf was able to hoodwink Baghdad into concentrating its forces in the wrong places until the very end. Six of Iraq's 42 divisions were massed along the Kuwaiti coast, guarding against a seaborne invasion. U.S. Marines repeatedly practiced amphibious landings, as conspicuously as possible, and as zero hour approached, an armada of 31 ships swung into position to put them ashore near Kuwait City. The battleships Missouri and Wisconsin took turns, an hour at a time, firing their...
...measures, the allied air campaign is easy to quantify. In the five weeks since the war began, U.S. and coalition aircraft have flown more than 94,000 sorties and dropped 120 million lbs. of explosives on targets in Kuwait and Iraq. But how successful has this awesome display of aerial firepower been in weakening Saddam Hussein's military machine? It all depends on who is answering the question...
...assaults would be to draw the Iraqis out from their fortifications and into a war of maneuver. Iraqis are not considered good at such fighting, and, more important, they would be doing it without vital air cover. Frontal attacks, where they occurred, would be preceded by heavy aerial bombardment and would be aimed at piercing holes in the lines, which the Iraqis would have to try to seal off by counterattack. That would require them to come out into the open and expose themselves to pitiless bombing and strafing...
...supposed to start this way. The standard scenario called for the long-awaited, and dreaded, ground war to begin in mid-to-late February with an all-out U.S. and allied aerial, artillery and missile barrage on the Iraqi army's fortifications in Kuwait, followed quickly by a massive tank and infantry assault. So how come the ground war began in the last days of January with an Iraqi attack? On a penny-ante scale, with about 1,500 men and 80-odd tanks and other armored vehicles initially engaged? Aimed at a Saudi Arabian ghost town...