Comparing the Gulf War and the Iraqi War

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Gulf war and Iraqi war both had their profound impact on the United States armed forces as well as the society. Following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in August 1990, the United States launched the largest military operation since Vietnam. More than 500,000 U.S. troops arrived in Saudi Arabia to protect the interests of the United States and its allies in the Persian Gulf region. Operation Desert Strom and Operation Desert Shield were conducted for US to do so.

Just the same, in March 19 2003, the world held its breath as United States declared hostility on Iraqi regime controlled by Saddam Hussein and Operation Iraqi Freedom began. Now both of these wars were declared in the same region by the same country and against the same country. The question you must ask is, well what is the difference and how are the aspects of these wars similar and different. There are many questions to be answered and many aspects to be entertained when considering these two wars.

A central question about the war in Iraq is the likely cost in terms of casualties. On the eve of Operation Desert Storm, several military experts forecast U.S. losses in the range of several thousand, and the Pentagon expected even higher numbers killed. Big Decision makers such as Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Colin Powell, Secretary of Defense Richard Cheney, Secretary of State James Baker, Deputy National Security Adviser Robert Gates, Prime Minister of England Margaret Thatcher, National Security Council Director for Near East and South Asian Affairs Richard haass, President of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev all were outraged over Saddam’s actions and President of United States, Mr. Bush (Senior) who was well aware of the last war experience in Vietnam and not wanting that mistake reluctantly listened to Colin Powell’s briefing and then gave the fateful order to proceed to liberate Kuwait.

Even though the casualties were expected to be high, what became a surprise was that the casualties were way lower than expected. Actual American losses were just under 400 (of whom about 150 were killed by direct enemy action, the others being lost in accidents or friendly-fire episodes) and 400 wounded. In the case of the Iraqi war, there was a different story. The American soldiers were able to invade Iraq with little difficulty (138 casualties) and on May 1 2003, president Bush declares end of major comeback operations in Iraq, which was about 33 days of war duty for U.S. troops. Even though the main battle effort was done with, the U.S. troops had to stay to endure that the Iraqis can rebuild and become a growing democracy. Thus, on May 2, 2003 the U.S. occupation of Iraq began and the U.S. occupation is still continuing almost 1100 days after the official war ended. Due to the occupation and the increasing terrorist insurgent activities in Iraq, the U.S. troops began to take heavy casualties. The U.S casualties have been among the highest casualties that U.S troops took since Vietnam War. Roughly at least around 30 U.S troops are named dead every month and at the most 140 troops die (November 2004). U.S. troops reported dead range anywhere from 1-12 troops per month. The wounded soldiers are in ever growing numbers. Every Month there is at least 70 U.S. servicemen and at the most 1500 being wounded.