http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/gulf.war/facts/gulfwar/
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.
Coalition crumbling?
The Gulf War coalition of nations disagrees on future policy toward Iraq
(CNN) -- The coalition that rallied the United Nations and fought the Gulf War is definitely showing signs of cracking. The most high-profile coalition member to defect is France, which has turned highly critical of the economic sanctions placed on Iraq.
France has openly opposed the continuation of sanctions and recently challenged the embargo by allowing flights from France to land at Baghdad's newly reopened Saddam International Airport without seeking authorization from the U.N. sanctions committee. France, along with Russia, which has allowed similar flights, says nations wishing to send humanitarian supplies to Iraq should only have to notify the committee instead of receiving its approval.
After the Russian and French flights, several Arab nations followed suit. In November, a Baghdad trade fair drew 12 foreign trade ministers and some 18,000 business people representing 45 countries. Last August, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez became the first head of state to visit Iraq since the war and meet Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
China also has voiced opposition to the continuation of the sanctions. Neither China nor Russia was a member of the Gulf War coalition that fought the war but both did not oppose the U.N. resolutions concerning the conflict.
Arab nations, except for Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, tend to favor either easing or ending the sanctions on Baghdad. Most Arab nations, except for Jordan, either backed the Gulf War or did not oppose it. In October, Iraqi officials traveled to Egypt and attended their first Arab League meeting in a decade.
In 1999, the League condemned the December 1998 U.S. and British air strikes on Iraq that were prompted by Baghdad's reported failure to cooperate with U.N. weapons inspectors and the League backed the lifting of the sanctions. But League members also called on Iraq to implement U.N. resolutions on weapons inspections and refrain from making any "provocative actions" toward its neighbors.
The United States and Great Britain continue to press for the sanctions to remain in place until Iraq is certified as complying with U.N. resolutions that say the sanctions cannot be lifted until U.N. inspectors report Iraq has surrendered all weapons of mass destruction. Iraq says it has already done so and insists the sanctions be lifted.
U.N. weapons inspections ended abruptly in December 1998, just before the United States and Britain launched air strikes to punish Baghdad for failing to cooperate with U.N. weapons searches. Attempts to resume inspections have repeatedly stalled. Talks between U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Iraq to discuss the sanctions and a new weapons inspections team were scheduled to begin in January 2001 but were postponed until February at the earliest.
The Coalition was falling apart Long Before GWB took Office...
Hog