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The M. M. National Gulf Veterans
Office Phone : 0845 257 4853 (0845 257 GULF)
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The Gulf Conflicts
The Association was set up in 1996 to support veterans of the first Gulf War, which took place in 1990-91. We are also now seeing increasing numbers of members from the second Gulf War, 2003 onwards.
The Gulf War
The Gulf War, or Operation Desert Storm, took place between August 2nd 1990 and March 3rd 1991. It was triggered by the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.
Countries directly involved in the conflict were : Kuwait, USA, Saudi Arabia, Great Britain, France, The Netherlands, Egypt, Syria, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, UAE, Canada, Belgium and Italy.
Iraqi forces invaded Kuwait on August 2nd 1990 ; within days, the USA along with the UN demanded Iraq's immediate withdrawal ; troop deployments and the forming of the world-wide coalition were begun within a week. By January 1991, more than half a million troops were deployed throughout the Gulf region. Allied bombing of Iraq and Iraqi forces in Kuwait began on January 16th, and the ground offensive was launched on February 23rd. By February 26th, Kuwit City was under allied control and the Iraqi forces were retreating. On February 27th, a ceasefire was ordered by President Bush, and on March 3rd Iraq accepted the terms of the ceasefire and the fighting ended.
Although clear casualty figures are hard to come by, they are estimated at :
Iraqi : at least 20,000 military and 2,300 civilian dead, although estimates go as high as 100,000 dead
US : 148 killed in action, 458 wounded ; 121 dead through non-combat incidents
Allies : approx. 40 to 70 dead
Gulf War 2
The Second Gulf War, or "Operation Iraqi Freedom" (US), "Operation Telic" (UK), began on March 19th 2003. It was officially declared over on May 1st 2003, but the occupation and guerrilla war continues to date.Countries directly involved in the conflict were : USA, Great Britain, Australia, Poland, PUK.
Early in the morning of March 19th 2003, US bombers and cruise missiles struck at "leadership targets" in and around Baghdad. The following day, US and British ground forces advanced into Southern Iraq. By mid April, the coalition declared the war to be effectively over ; however, the violence continued all around Iraq. Saddam Hussein was not captured until December 2004. As of early March 2006, ambushes, attacks by insurgents and suicide bombings are still continuing.
To date, US statistics show around 2,200 casualties in the ongoing conflict resulting from Gulf War 2
References :
http://www.historyguy.com/GulfWar.html
http://www.historyguy.com/GulfWar2.html