Naval History and Heritage Command

Naval History and Heritage Command

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"From the moment OPERATION DESERT STORM commenced on January 16th, until the time the guns fell silent at midnight one week ago, this nation has watched its sons and daughters with pride; watched over them with prayer. As Commander in Chief, I can report to you: Our armed forces fought with honor and valor. As President, I can report to the nation: Aggression is defeated. The war is over." - President George Bush before Congress, 6 March 1991

"Already we sense that there is a growing disinclination in some places to give George Bush and his government and the military who were involved the credit due them for the prosecution and outcome of the war. Increasingly one reads of how mere "technology" defeated Saddam Hussein or how the administration must have stupidly and grossly (or knowingly and cynically) overestimated the size and strength of the Iraqi military forces or how the result was clearly foreordained since we didn't pick on someone our own size, etc.

"But there was nothing foreordained about what happened and many of those now implying that there was should go back quietly reconsider their own warnings throughout this episode as to how dangerous and unpredictable, if not downright disastrous, a military encounter would be, some even recommending that Saddam Hussein be given those Kuwaiti islands and oil fields he so coveted. No, it was not foreordained, and it was not a mere function of automatic pilot and vastly superior firepower either. The people who did it did it."

Editorial, The Washington Post, 1 March 1991

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Published: Mon Mar 02 10:02:11 EST 2015