Lets Take A Look At The Last Gulf War And Compare......

[Rob-TheStormChaser]

Gulf War Facts
The Coalition
The Allied coalition consisted of 34 countries, including Afghanistan, Argentina, Australia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Honduras, Italy, Kuwait, Morocco, The Netherlands, Niger, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, South Korea, Spain, Syria, Turkey, The United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The U.S. had more than 500,000 troops in the Persian Gulf War, while the non-U.S. coalition forces equaled roughly 160,000, or 24 percent, of all forces. Here are some details about the forces in the Gulf:

U.S. casualties: 148 battle deaths, 145 nonbattle deaths

Army: 98 battle; 105 nonbattle
Navy: 6 battle; 8 nonbattle
Marines: 24 battle; 26 nonbattle
Air Force: 20 battle; 6 nonbattle
Women killed: 15

U.S. wounded in action: 467

British casualties: 24, nine by U.S. fire

British wounded in action: 10

French casualties: 2

French wounded in action: 25 (estimated)

Allied Arab casualties: 39

Allied combat air sorties flown: More than 116,000

Coalition aircraft losses: 75 (63 U.S., 12 Allied)

Fixed wing: 37 combat, 15 noncombat (U.S. losses -- 28 combat, 12 noncombat; no U.S. losses in air-to-air engagements)
Helicopters: 5 combat, 18 noncombat (all U.S.)


Iraq
In June 1991, the U.S. estimated that more than 100,000 Iraqi soldiers died, 300,000 were wounded, 150,000 deserted and 60,000 were taken prisoner. Many human rights groups claimed a much higher number of Iraqis were killed in action. According to Baghdad, civilian casualties numbered more than 35,000. However, since the war, some scholars have concluded that the number of Iraqi soldiers who were killed was significantly less than initially reported.

Estimated Iraqi Losses: (Reported by U.S. Central Command, March 7, 1991)

36 fixed-wing aircraft in air-to-air engagements
6 helicopters in air-to-air engagements
68 fixed- and 13 rotary-wing aircraft destroyed on the ground
137 Iraqi aircraft flown to Iran
3,700 of 4,280 battle tanks
2,400 of 2,870 assorted other armored vehicles
2,600 of 3,110 assorted artillery pieces
19 naval ships sunk, 6 damaged
42 divisions made combat-ineffective

Enemy prisoners of war captured: U.S. forces released 71,204 to Saudi control.

The Cost
The U.S. Department of Defense has estimated the cost of the Gulf War at $61 billion; however, other sources say that number could be as high as $71 billion. The operation was financed by more than $53 billion pledged by countries around the world, most of which came from Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf States ($36 billion) and Germany and Japan ($16 billion). Some of the money pledged by countries such as Saudi Arabia was delivered in the form of in-kind services to troops, such as transportation and food.

How much will this cost? How long will this last? Time means everything.

[wx247]

Very informative post Rob. I am curious as to how many allies we have this time. The media makes it out to be very few, but here are the ones I know of:
Australia
Great Britain
Portugal
Spain
Denmark
Italy
Czech Republic
Greece
Slovakia

I am sure there are more...

Garrett

[cycloneye]

Yes Garrett there are more but as you said the media mentions those few that you mentioned there and Rob thanks for that very informative post that will help us compare that war from this upcoming one.

[Rob-TheStormChaser]

There are more......as far as I know of.



Only 4 of the 15 countries on the UN security council are holding out against efforts by France, Germany and Russia to seek a peaceful resolution for Iraq.

[streetsoldier]

A "peaceful solution" means that Saddam Hussein (or some Ba'ath Party surrogate) will be left to develop his NBC arsenal unopposed, to employ later on at will. And, with the newer missiles, Europe is also in the cross-hairs...why can't they see that?

[mf_dolphin]

They do see it...they also see that we are going to take care of Saddam for them and they are just getting ready to profit after the fact. Look who has supplied Saddam's military in the last 20 years. Soviet tanks and aircraft and French Mirage jets. Those aren't M-16 rifles you see either. hmmmmm They also are more dependent on Iraqi oil than we are.

The US has to shoulder some of the blame for Saddam as well. We helped put him and keep him in power when the bigger threat was Iran. Now it looks like we have to fix that mistake.

[Rob-TheStormChaser]

What else is new, eh? lol

[streetsoldier]

I know...after Gulf War I (LOL) my then-son-in-law brought home an "Iraqi" bayonet which, other than the tan color of the handle was identical to East German manufacture (I collect them, but you knew that!).

It should also be of some smal interest to note that in the northeastern provinces of Pakistan, one can buy a custom-made stainless steel AK-74, full-auto, made in small home forges for about $200 U.S., and they work flawlessly. These forges have been in continuous operation, within the same families, since the British occuipied India; and they have made Martini-Henry rifles, Lee-Enfields and Hotchkiss or Maxim machine guns before changing to the Russian variants for over 125 years.

[mf_dolphin]

Does it strike anyone else as funny that France has a say so in NATO military decisions since they withdrew from the military side of NATO years ago?