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lau~~cI~'d t'(~('. 1 s~ A UflI'J£Cd Di "i ~ i Or', L!.'Ij I Sd A t~flLc) r~&d Di ~~: ~ £0: izi "~n.~u~c of. 0j
deception plan ~nd the way it w'jj;',:ed, &e didn' t even have 0 ~orry abo'jt a barrier,
we just wL'flt right around t~)C enemy and were behind him in no ~im-:- dt all, and the
2nd Armored Cavalry Division The 2~th ~ech Divigion was also launcied out here in
the far west I ought to talk about the 101st1 bec~use this is an important point.
Once the 101st had their torward operating base established here, they then
went ahead and launched into the Tigris and Euphrates Valleys. There are a lot of
people who are still saying that the object of the United States of America was to
cap~ure Ira~ and cause the downfall of the entire country of Iraq. Ladies a.ad
gentlemen, when we were here, we were 150 miles away from Baghdad, and there was
nobody between us and i3aghdad. If it had been our intention to take Iraq, if it had
been our intention to destroy the country, if it had been our intention to overrun
the country, we could have done it unopposed, for all intents and purposes, from this
position at that time. That was not our intention, we have never said it was our
intention. Our intention was truly to eject the Iraqis out of Kuwait and~destroy the
military power that had come in here.
So this was the situation at the end of ~ebruary 24th in the afternoon.
(Chart)
The next two days went exactly like we thought they would go. The Saudis
continued to make great progress up on the eastern flank, keeping the press\i~e off
the Yarines on the flank here. The special forces went out and started operating
small boat operations out in this area to help clear mines, but also to threaten the
flanks here, and to continua to mare t.ner;~ thInk that we were, in fact, going to
conduct amphibious operations. The Saudi and Arab forces that came in and took these
two initial objectives turned to come in on the flank heading towards Kuwait~City,
located right in this area here. The British UK passed through and continued to
attack up this flank. Of course, the VII Corps came in and attacked in this
direction shown here. The 24th infantry Division made an unbelievable move all the
way across into the Tigris and Euphrates Valley, and proceeded in blocking this
avenue of e9ress out, which ~as the only avenue of egress left because we continued
to make sure that the bridges stayed down. So there was no way out once the 24th was
in this area, and the 101st continued to operate in here. The French, having
succeeded in achieving all their objectives, then set up a flanking pOSitlOfl, a flank
guard position here, to make sure there were no forces that could come in and get us
from the flank.
By this tirrze we had destroyed, or rendered completely ineffective over 21 Iraqi
divisions
(Chart)
Of course, that then brings us to today. &here we are today, is we ncr have a
solid wall across the north of the l~th Airborne Corps consisting of the units shown
right here, attacking straight to the east. ~e have a solid wall hcre, again of th~
VII Corps also attacking straighff to the east. The forces that they are. fighting
right now arr the forces of the Republican Ct:~rd.
~~a&.n, today we had a very significant d~y. The Ara~' forces cc.,xino froni lrtb
the west and the east closed in a.~d noved into Kuwait City w~ere t)~ey are nc~ in the
process of securing Kuwait City entirely, and ensuring that it1s absolutely secure.
The 1st t4arlne Division continJes to iold Kuwaiti International Airport Tne 2nd
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