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File: 082696_d50028_149.txt
Page: 149
Total Pages: 274


                  Tanks                                  39%
                  Armored Personnel Carriers             32 %
                  Artillery                              48%
                  Combat Aircraft                        35 %
                  (includes aircraft in Iran)

      (New York Times, February 23, p. 16.)


         Eight hours into the attack, an advance ground and air team of the 101st Airborne Division is setting
      up camp and pumping gas at a location more than 50 miles into fraq.      (Los Angeles Times, February
      26, p. 15.)

         At least 22 female pilots from the 101st Airborne Division are part of what officials call the largest
      helicopter assault in history. (USA Today, February 26, p. SA.)

February 24
         Sunday --. In the biggest American-led assault since World War II, allied troops drive into Iraqi-
      occupied Kuwait, reaching the outskirts of Kuwait City before nightfall. To the west, powerful armored
      columns and a huge fleet of helicopters storm into Iraq.  Allied forces advance faster than expected,
      meeting only scattered resistance from the Iraqis.  (New York Times, February 25, p. Al.)
)
         More than 10,000 Iraqis are reported to have given up during the first 24 hours of the ground
      offensive, slowing the allied advance and creating logistical snarls that Defense Secretary Dick Cheney
      describes as "one of our biggest problems."  (Los Angeles Times, February 25, p. 1.)

         Marines and other forces approach Kuwait City from the south and southwest; Airborne elements
      are in the city's outskirts.  French forces form the far left of the allied flanking movement into Iraq.
      On their right is the 101st Airborne, followed by the 24th Mechanized Infantry Division.       Their
      reported objective is the city of Nasiriya, a major Iraqi city on the Euphrates River. New York Times,
      February 24, p. A12.)

         The 101st Airborne establishes a large staging and refuelIng area in Iraq, many miles behind Iraqi
      lines. The installation will fuel helicopters for assaults in the strategic Euphrates River valley to sever
      the main highway between Baghdad and Basra. (New York Times, February 25, p. Al.)

         Members of Kuwait's Government in exile move to Dhahran, the Saudi city closest to the battle
      lines, to conclude final preparations for a return to their country.  (New York Times, February 25, p.
      A14.)


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