On August 20, 1988, the armies of both sides on the Iran-Iraq border officially stopped fighting. The nearly eight-year Iran-Iraq war came to an end. In this war without a winner, both sides paid a huge price.
Especially for Iraq , the direct losses caused by the war reached 350 billion US dollars, and the foreign debt reached 70 billion US dollars. The large number of casualties caused the oil exploration industry to face a large-scale labor shortage, and the economic development of the entire country came to a standstill. state.
However, the poor economic situation did not stop Saddam from waging war. In order to revive the domestic economy, Saddam targeted neighboring countries Kuwait . As the saying goes, no one is innocent but the one who possesses the treasure is guilty. Kuwait has rich oil deposits, but its military strength is too weak. In Saddam's eyes, I can't beat Iran , but I can still bully you.
So on August 2, 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait on a large scale, the Gulf crisis broke out, and a few hours later, all of Kuwait fell into the hands of Saddam.
The aggressive action caused an uproar in the world. The United States took the opportunity to send more troops to the Gulf region, trying to use this crisis as a springboard to intervene in Middle East affairs, and then control the less obedient OPEC to protect its own Oil supremacy. But in order to make its image look less dirty, it put pressure on Iraq in a United Nations tone, asking Saddam to withdraw all troops as soon as possible, otherwise it would carry out armed intervention.
Regarding this new round of regional crisis, China, as one of the five permanent members of the Security Council, has always advocated resolving the problem through peaceful negotiations. Therefore, in order to prevent the situation from deteriorating, in early November of the same year, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China decided to dispatch a delegation headed by Foreign Minister Qian Qichen. The delegation visited Iraq to persuade Saddam to withdraw troops from Kuwait and strive for a peaceful solution to the Gulf crisis.
一“Swapping concepts to cover up ambitions”
On November 11, the Chinese delegation’s special plane landed at Saddam International Airport in Baghdad . This airport was a major infrastructure project in the Saddam era, with supporting facilities and scale. All are at the international first-class level. However, due to the United Nations sanctions against Iraq, the once busy airport now seems very deserted.
The next morning, the delegation prepared to meet with Saddam, but as we all know, Saddam’s whereabouts have always been top secret in Iraq. In order to successfully meet this moody head of state, our delegation must Carry out relevant activities in accordance with Iran's plan.
After a little preparation, everyone drove to Saddam's office. The motorcade circled around the city for a long time, and finally arrived at a heavily guarded military station.
In the station, Chinese personnel met Saddam. I saw him wearing the uniform of the Iraqi Baath Party, with sharp eyes. Although he did not show his teeth and claws as rumored, his gestures revealed an arrogant and arrogant attitude.
After both parties were polite, the conversation officially began. Foreign Minister Qian Qichen first expressed the intention of the trip, saying: "China and Iran have established diplomatic relations for more than 30 years, and the relationship between the two countries has always been in a stable state. China has always supported the just cause of the entire Arab region. Now that there is tension in the Gulf region, The Chinese government is very concerned about this and hopes that Mr. President will exercise restraint as much as possible and resolve disputes through peaceful means."
In response to China's initiative, Saddam nodded and said in a deliberately slow tone: "We also. We know that mutual dialogue is the best way to exchange opinions, and it is also the best way to reach consensus and maintain peace." Then the topic changed and he introduced to China the various issues that occurred between Iraq and Kuwait in May and August, such as "territory. disputes,” “foreign debt,” and “oil extraction,” to name a few.
After listening to Saddam's long speech, Qian Qichen realized the problem. These so-called disputes between the two countries were not so much disputes as they were lame excuses deliberately made up by Saddam in order to annex Kuwait.
Seeing that China did not respond to his "passionate speech", Saddam continued: In fact, Kuwait is part of the territory of Iraq, just like Hong Kong is the territory of China, and it is an internal matter of Iraq's internal affairs. Successive Iraqi leaders have never recognized the so-called border demarcation in legal form. After the Iran-Iraq war, Kuwait continued to encroach on Iraq's inherent territory and plunder our country's oil resources. Now Kuwait is relying on the United States to put pressure on us. The United States is trying to fully control the oil resources in the Middle East and threaten us with military means. Can't we attack Kuwait?
I have to say that Saddam is indeed a master of sophistry. He first sets out a "righteous" goal, and all means serve this goal. He can be said to be invincible.
However, Saddam regarded the Kuwait issue and the Hong Kong issue as the same, which undoubtedly angered the Chinese delegation present. Qian Qichen first refuted Saddam's ignorant remarks and told him seriously: The Hong Kong issue and the Kuwait issue are two different things.
Hong Kong has been Chinese territory since ancient times, but it was forcibly occupied by Britain through unequal treaties for more than a hundred years. China has been using peaceful means to negotiate with the United Kingdom and finally reached a relevant agreement. Kuwait clearly has diplomatic relations with you, and you both belong to the Arab League. How can the disputes between two sovereign countries be classified as domestic affairs? President Mr. Xiang made a principled mistake by confusing the issue between Iraq and Kuwait with the Hong Kong issue, which is disrespectful to China. In any case, Iraq's military occupation of Kuwait is unacceptable.
Foreign Minister Qian Qichen’s words clearly stated China’s position. The subtext is: We are here to advise you to withdraw troops from Kuwait as soon as possible to avoid the situation from escalating. If the Americans come in to help Kuwait by then, then you will want to withdraw again. It's too late.
Seeing that Foreign Minister Qian was so serious, Saddam felt a little frightened. The reason why he dared to invade Kuwait by force was because he was convinced that the Americans would not dare to intervene. After all, on the Vietnam battlefield twenty years ago, the country was known as the world's No. 1 country. The U.S. military suffered heavy losses in that "small land", and the rising anti-war voices in the country also caused the United States to suffer from war syndrome, and it was unwilling to easily hold high the banner of military intervention.
So, Saddam asked tentatively: "Does the United States really want to go to war?"
Regarding this issue, Foreign Minister Qian knew that his words could not be said to death, so he had to emphasize: The risk of war is gradually increasing, and the United Nations has not yet responded Relevant authorization has been made to send troops, but the United States and its NATO allies have organized coalition forces. Any accident may trigger a war. The initiative is still in your hands. The Chinese government will not propose a specific plan. What should we do? , how to do it depends on Mr. President’s ideas.
But for Saddam at this time, no matter what, he would not choose to withdraw troops from Kuwait. "Forgetting life at the sight of small profits" is the unique characteristic of a politician like him who is a gambler. After all, once I order the troops to withdraw from Kuwait, my commitment to the people and vested interests will be in vain. Not only will I not be able to lose my old face, but the legitimacy of the regime may also be questioned by the opposition, and then the opposition will question it. A new round of protests set off in the country. Therefore, Saddam can only tie the country to his own chariot, and suffer both prosperity and loss.
In this meeting with Saddam, Qian Qichen clearly explained our country's position and the seriousness of the development of the situation. The delegation stayed in Baghdad for two days and tried its best in diplomacy, but Saddam This person is extremely ill and cannot be cured.
2 The war broke out
As the saying goes, "It's hard to persuade a damned person with good words." Saddam's "stubbornness" became the key to open the door to hell.
On January 16, 1991, Bush signed a national security directive document to Schwarzkopf, commander of the U.S. Central Headquarters, ordering the U.S. military to go to war in Iraq.In the early morning of the next day, the US-led multinational air force launched an air strike against Iraq. At 2:39 a.m., nine Apache aircraft crossed the Iraqi army's defense line and destroyed two radar warning stations on the border. A gap was torn in the Internet. At the same time, several "Nighthawk" stealth fighter aircraft penetrated deeply into Iraq and successively destroyed many important strategic targets in Iraq.
After the first round of air strikes, the entire command system in Iraq was completely decoupled from the frontline troops. The frontline soldiers had no idea what was happening. Immediately afterwards, the US electronic warfare force carried out comprehensive electromagnetic pulse coverage of Iraq, and all radars monitored it. The device instantly turned into an iron brick that was "imperceptible to the eye." The launched missile could not find its target, and ultimately could only plunge into the sea like a headless fly.
Under such circumstances, in the first week of the war, the multinational forces destroyed the Iraqi army's command system with an 80% success rate, figured out the movements of the Iraqi ground forces, and firmly grasped the initiative in their own hands. .
Starting from the second week, multinational forces shifted the focus of air strikes to seizing air supremacy in the Kuwait theater. As a "military-first" country, Iraq has built a large number of underground defenses and hid all important equipment and military aircraft underground. However, at this time, the US Air Force has been equipped with advanced ground-penetrating bombs that can easily penetrate the Iraqi army's Underground defenses. In the face of precision bombing, a large number of Iraqi military aircraft were destroyed in bunkers before taking off. In order to prevent the air power from being completely annihilated, on January 26, Saddam ordered 80 second-generation and third-generation aircraft of the Air Force to cross the border and flee to Iran, in an attempt to save this "last spark." In response, multinational forces responded quickly, chasing and interdicting these "fugitive" fighter planes, and annihilated them all along the Iran-Iraq border.
On the 27th, the US military announced that the Iraqi Air Force had lost its combat effectiveness, and the multinational forces had completely gained control of the air.
In order to further reduce the combat effectiveness of the Iraqi army and prepare for the next land battle, multinational forces began to launch air strikes against the Iraqi army, destroying a large number of military vehicles and tanks , and killing and wounding countless people.
At the same time as the air strikes, multinational ground forces also began to attack the Iraqi defense line. Facing the strongest and most concentrated defense system of the Iraqi army, the US military used unmanned remote-controlled reconnaissance aircraft to analyze Iraq's defenses and find the weakest After a point, use in-line charges for directional blasting. Then the armored force passed through the opened channel. Although they encountered stubborn resistance from some Iraqi troops during the period, these resistance forces were quickly eliminated in the face of the powerful firepower of the US military!
More importantly, since previous air strikes destroyed the command system, the Iraqi military headquarters has been focusing on Kuwait and ignored the multinational forces attacking from the west. After breaking through the Iraqi army's first line of defense, The U.S. military did not forget the "old tradition" and resorted to MacArthur's "leap-frog tactics", deliberately bypassing the Iraqi army's solid fortification targets, handing over the elimination task to follow-up troops, and going directly deep into the hinterland of Kuwait.
The speed of the US military's advance greatly shocked Saddam's authorities. In order to avoid a complete defeat, Saddam ordered the troops to shrink their defense lines and retreat across the board, trying to fight a war of attrition with the Americans. However, a retreat without a command system is not a retreat, but a rout. A large number of Iraqi soldiers dropped their weapons and fled backwards. Some simply sat there and waved white flags to surrender to the US military. On February 25 alone, 30,000 Iraqi soldiers surrendered to the US military. Within a few days, the world's fourth most powerful country turned into a big joke.
Seeing that his defeat was certain, Saddam had no choice but to give in first. At 1:30 on the 26th, Saddam announced that Kuwait was no longer the 19th province of Iraq, ordered all troops to withdraw, and also ordered the Iraqi representative to the United Nations to unconditionally accept the Security Council resolution.
But the war has reached this point, and the Americans don't want to stop. There are still so many new weapons that are useless. This ready-made testing ground is not in vain.So at the behest of the United States, the multinational forces ignored Saddam's plea for peace and continued to launch a powerful offensive. As night falls, the U.S. military's advantages in technical equipment are fully reflected. Tanks and combat vehicles equipped with night vision equipment and various protective devices, with the help of the excellent fire control system , continue to penetrate the Iraqi A dilapidated defense line.
html On the 27th, the U.S. 18th Airborne Division advanced toward Basra, the second largest city in Iraq, to the east. On the morning of that day, the U.S. military occupied Iraq's most important military airport, Jasabah, and detoured from behind, cutting off the Iraqi army's northward escape route.
At 9 o'clock that night, Bush announced the "liberation" of all Kuwait and ordered the troops to stop the attack. However, before the order for the multinational forces to stop the offensive took effect at 8 a.m. on the 28th, the multinational forces conducted a final encirclement and suppression of the remaining Iraqi forces. In this 100-hour ground battle, the Iraqi army lost a total of more than 3,000 tanks, 29 divisions lost their combat capabilities, suffered more than 100,000 casualties, 86,000 people were captured, and direct economic losses reached 200 billion US dollars.
In comparison, the casualties of the multinational forces were almost negligible. Only 148 US troops were killed, 458 were wounded in battle, and only 35 tanks were lost. From this point of view, the United States and Iraq actually suffered an astonishing battle loss of one to one hundred. Although many Iraqi people have suffered unreasonable disasters, Saddam is a typical self-inflicted disaster!
And The outbreak of the Gulf War also surprised many countries that still relied on positional warfare and hand-to-hand combat as their main methods of combat. While I was breaking out in a cold sweat, I couldn't help but feel glad that I was not in Iraq.
Three Apocalypse Now
In fact, before the war broke out, both China and the Soviet Union advised Saddam not to have his own way, but as mentioned above, there is no way to stop a person from seeking death. Only when the coffin is in front of you can you understand your own destiny. Arrogance and ignorance.
The Gulf War can be said to have destroyed Saddam Hussein’s military layout for decades, turning the so-called fourth most powerful country in the world into a veritable “paper tiger.” However, the impact of this war goes far beyond that.
The astonishing battle damage ratio of the Gulf War shocked the world. You must know that before the war, Iraqi President Saddam declared that Americans would bleed into rivers to see the iron fist of the Republican Guard. Even the most optimistic estimate within the United States is that there will be 3,000-5,000 casualties on its own side. However, unexpectedly, advanced equipment and three-dimensional military strikes turned this war into a unilateral battle between the high-dimensional world and the low-dimensional world. "massacre".
As Major General Paris, commander of the 24th Infantry Division of the US Army, said: It took not just a hundred hours for the United States to win the Gulf War, but a full fifteen years. It was precisely the long and difficult road of reform that the U.S. military went through after the Vietnam War that led to the easy victory in the Gulf War.
There is no doubt that the Gulf War was a slap in the face of the United States to the whole world. It can be said that it directly started a new military reform around the world. The role of the navy and air force was continuously enlarged, and the land forces began to gradually move towards security and logistics. Especially for China, the Gulf War directly opened the prelude to our country's military reform. The era of large corps, large depth, and tank duels is gone forever. Individual combat effectiveness and beyond visual range combat have become the focus of our military reform. .
Also after the Gulf War, our army began to transform divisions into brigades, transforming the originally complex division-level combat units into combined brigades integrating air defense, air strikes, reconnaissance, and operations, so that each unit has independent combat capabilities and establishes "Flat networked" command structure and the development of new combat forces.
After more than thirty years of development, our country's military strength has now reached a new level. This is the crystallization of the hard work of generations of military workers. In this treacherous era, it is necessary to establish a strong army. , Only then can we truly gain a foothold in the world of nations and implement a great rejuvenation in the true sense.
