Word: khafji
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...tragic exchange was one of the first engagements of the ground war, an opening volley in the 36-hour battle of Khafji. It also represents this war's first documented case of U.S. casualties from "friendly fire" -- a combat euphemism for troops' getting shot, shelled or bombed by their own side...
...Cobra and Apache helicopters and infantry weapons appeared to be quite as deadly as advertised against Iraqi armor. General Schwarzkopf would confirm only 24 Iraqi tanks definitely destroyed, but other counts for the border battles as a whole ran as high as 80 vehicles. Correspondents who were allowed into Khafji Thursday afternoon reported that the streets were littered with the burning hulks of Soviet-made armored personnel carriers, knocked out by American TOW missiles fired by Saudi and Qatari infantrymen. U.S. Marines lost three light armored vehicles (LAVs) in the fighting around Umm Hujul...
...battle also had some unpleasant surprises for the U.S. and its allies. Despite widespread reports of low morale among Iraqi frontline troops, those in Khafji fought tenaciously, prolonging the battle for hours after the Saudis announced they had retaken the town. One column of tanks approached the Saudi border with their guns pointing backward, which allied forces took as a sign that the troops manning them wanted to defect; instead the Iraqis swiveled their turrets around rapidly and opened fire. There was a bitter possibility that the very first Americans known to have died in combat in the gulf...
Perhaps the most prominent lesson of Khafji is also the simplest: the Iraqis, in General Schwarzkopf's words, "certainly have a lot of fight left in them." That is hardly surprising. Early predictions of quick and low-cost victory came mainly from U.S. politicians and Arab diplomats, while the professional military has been cautious in warning against any such assumptions. Nonetheless, the question arises as to whether the air campaign has been quite as successful, and proceeding as close to schedule, as is generally believed...
Showdown at Khafji...