Introduction: Setting the Scene
5
region would need considerable support from the Saudis. It also confirmed that
the greatest risk came from the serious shortage of sealift capability. The
exercise convinced General Schwarzkopf that he had to deploy ground combat
units first if the events scripted in the exercise ever occurred.
A s CENTCOM completed
its exercise and began circulating
its draft operations plan, events
i n the Middle East began to
mirror the I N T E R N A L L OOK 9 0
scenario. O n 18 J u l y 1 9 9 0 ,
Iraq's
president,
Saddam
Hussein, a c c u s e d K u w a i t o f
driving down the price of crude
oil and reasserted Iraq's claim to
o i l in a disputed border area
controlled by Kuwait. The
d i s c u s s i o n s between the two
n a t i o n s to resolve the matter
quickly failed. Meanwhile,
G e n e r a l Schwarzkopf and his
staff began preparing a response
to a possible Iraqi invasion. On
31 July and 1 August,
he
p r e s e n t e d deployment options
t o the Chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff, the Secretary of
General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, Commander, U.S.
Central Command. (U.S. Air Force photo by SSGT Wagner)
Defense, the President, and the
National Security Council.
At 2:00 A.M. on 2 August 1990, three divisions from Iraq's elite Republican
Guard (140,000 I raq soldiers) pushed across the Kuwait border. Within hours
i
they had taken control of Kuwait City and driven the royal family into exile in
Saudi Arabia. Kuwait's ambassador to the United States asked for military
a s s i s t a n c e . General Schwarzkopf met with Secretary of Defense Richard
Cheney, his key advisors, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff later
that morning. He laid out two options for using U.S. military force to respond
to the Iraqi threat: launch retaliatory air strikes against Iraq or deploy air and
g r o u n d forces according to OI'LAN 1002-90. The same day, the United
Nations Security Council passed Resolution #660, which condemned Iraq's
actions and demanded the unconditional and immediate withdrawal of Iraqi
troops from Kuwait.
D u r i n g a 4 August meeting at Camp David, Schwarzkopf presented
President George Bush with CENTCOM's plan to deploy a force to defend
Saudi Arabia against encroachment. Bush decided that if invited, the United
Previous Page
