Some help!

[Raven2367]

I'm taking my English exams for finishing school soon and I've had to write a speech for the teachers to check my english language skills. Thats what makes it so IMPORTANT!! Heres what i wrote. Can any of you please tell me if its alright (not the grammar/language...the historical correctness). I know some of you guys here know a lot about these conflicts so... can you read it please and tell me whats wrong and wich imporant bits i forgot?? :-)

Thank You


Operation Desert Storm

Operation Desert Storm occured in 1991 and was the first so called Gulf war. It was a conflict between George W. Bush senior and Saddam Hussein, simmilar to the one we had earlier this year.
Heres how it all began:
Saddam Hussein accused Kuwait of overproducing oil and theft of oil from the Rumailia Oil Field.  This was on the 17th  July, 1990. Not even a month later, on the 2nd August, Saddam Hussein starts invading Kuwait and tells the US to stay out of it because its an ?Arab matter?. The Kuwaitian Defences Forces couldn't stand up against the masses of Iraqi troops because, they attacked with mechanized infantry, armor, and tank units, which Kuwait didn't have. The result of this was, that Kuwait fell into Iraqi hands in nearly no time. This invasion made the US start Operation Desert Shield which was to prevent the Iraqis getting into Saudi Arabia, the country next to Kuwait. On the 7th of August, the US started deploying their troops. The 82nd Airborne Division and several fighter squadrons where dispatched. United Nations Security Council condemned Iraq's invasion and annexation and oredered all Iraqi forces to leave Kuwait emediatley.
The US soon started to do more. On the 22nd of August President Bush called the reserve troops to duty. And three days later, on the 25th, the UN gives permission for a military interdiction against Iraq. After that everything turns averagely quiet for 2 months apart from a few diplomatic missions being stormed by Iraqi troops in Kuwait in September. In November things start getting interesting. On the 8th Bush orders more troops to give the US forces more ?offencive options?. 21 days later, on the 29th the UN authorizez military force if all Iraqi troops don't leave Kuwait by midnight on January 15th at midnight EST. It so happened that the Iraqis didn't leave Kuwait. A day later, after the congess had decided that US troops would be used in offensive operations, Marlin Fitzgerald mentioned ?Operation: Desert Storm? for the first time. He said ?the liberation of Kuwait has begun?. So on the 17th that month the US launched air strikes at Baghdad and Kuwait. At the end of the month the number of US soldiers in the Iraq exeeds 500.000. On the 6th of February King Hussein of Jordan decides to support the Iraq in the war. This made it a lot harder for the US troops. And as if it couldn't get worse, on the 13th, the worst tragedy of the war occured. A US bomber hit a Bunker Complex in Baghdad, containing several citizens. 300 civilists died in this attack.
On the 17th of February everything starts to get better: The Iraqi minister Tariq Aziz travels to Moscow to negotiate about the end of the war. The result of this was that President Bush sets another ultimatum for Iraq: He gave Iraq time till the 23rd to remove all of their troops from Kuwait. But of course Iraq didn't do this so on the 23rd the ground war started involving the US Marines, Army and even Arab forces. But another bad day for the US came on the 25th. One of Iraq's famous SCUD missiles hit a US camp in Saudi Arabia killing 27.
Then everything went pretty quickly. By the 26th Kuwaitian resistance forces declare that Kuwait City is back under control. On the 27th Bush orders his troops to cease fire by midnight and on the 3rd Iraq accepted this decision and therefore the war was over.

[Cobra6]

I think it is important to speak about the so called "Highway of Death". This was an imporatant turning point in the war and pictures of the devastation US Forces inflicted on the fleeing Iraqi's was to much for the average American to stomach. It shows how the press for the first time began dictating a war. The Coalition was ready to push for Baghdad and could have made a qucik rout of it, but the pictures of burning vehicles and soldiers on American TV pressured Bush Sr. to call a cease fire. If we would follow our generals advice we would be much better off. Look, Patton wanted to kick the Russians out of Germany, would have been alot cheaper in the long run than having a 4 deacde Cold War. If Bush would have listened to Norman Schwarzkopf we would not be in the mess we are in now.

[Raven2367]

Thanks a lot Cobra! Thats a very good point!!

I'll see how i can build that into the text :-)

[Cocobolo]

You're the man Cobra.
BTW Raven, the correct term would be "Kuwaiti", for a Kuwait local, instead of Kuwaitian.

[Whisper_44]

I think it is important to speak about the so called "Highway of Death". This was an imporatant turning point in the war and pictures of the devastation US Forces inflicted on the fleeing Iraqi's was to much for the average American to stomach. It shows how the press for the first time began dictating a war. The Coalition was ready to push for Baghdad and could have made a qucik rout of it, but the pictures of burning vehicles and soldiers on American TV pressured Bush Sr. to call a cease fire. If we would follow our generals advice we would be much better off. Look, Patton wanted to kick the Russians out of Germany, would have been alot cheaper in the long run than having a 4 deacde Cold War. If Bush would have listened to Norman Schwarzkopf we would not be in the mess we are in now.

Also to ad to that, because Schwarzkopf couldn't get any direction from the Sec Def or the President, when Iraq "surrendered" for lack of a better term, permission was given by US Command to the Iraqi's to fly their helicopters, just not in the restricted zone or anywhere near the US force, these same helicopters were used to effectively squash the  civil uprising from the Shiites', leaving Saddam in his position of power, some think that if they could have kept their momentum, things would be differnt. This lead to their apprehension in rebelling again during this last conflict.

lessons learned the hard way.......

[Cocobolo]

To me it seems as if there's a similar situation going on now within the leadership. Instead of listening to the pentagon and cabinet members who have actually been shot at and understand military concept in the long term, we seem to have been brought into a situation where there's no turning back,  a deteriorating situation in Iraq. A low intensity conflict prosecuted by militants foreign and Iraqi, a guerilla war.

Although this administration is loathe to use the term "guerilla war", that's what's going on now. Dating back to even before Mao-Tse Tung, (father of communist China who successfully employed guerilla warfare against the Japanese occupation force, eventually forcing their withdrawl) the premise of the guerilla is "death by a thousand cuts", their objective is to wear the enemy down by constant harrasment, forcing the enemy to expend endless resources, money, and manpower to fight an enemy who uses little resources and is far more mobile, who happens to have the advantage of fighting on their home soil.

The ulitmate success of the guerilla depends on the support of the people. One of the main priorities of the guerilla is to persuade/coherse/intimidate the populace into coopeation/support.  If this can be done, the occupying force will not succeed, because it will be seen as an enemy as opposed to being there to help them. As always, time is on their side. The longer they can hold out, the better their chances for success. Military operations like "Iron hammer" could lead to further alienation of the common iraqi, which actually helps the guerilla's cause more than it hurts them. It's a catch-22, but you know what they say... "Proper previous Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance" Don Rumsfeld's leaked memo shined some light on the mentality in the whitehouse; he said in the memo adressing pentagon officials that little to no long term planning was undertaken.

Only time will tell, but at least to me, the Bush whitehouse seems almost lost on this issue. Any mystery why Gen. Tommy Franks stepped out after the invasion was over? Conventional forces are great for combat but not great for policing. Politicians' slogans and catch phrases sound good, but won't help the guys on the ground. Just my 2 cents.