1990-91 Gulf War briefing General Norman Schwarzkopf part 2

Schwarzkopf was born Herbert Norman Schwarzkopf Jr,in Trenton,New Jersey to Herbert Norman Schwarzkopf,then the Superintendent of the New Jersey State Police.The family resided in Lawrenceville,New Jersey.In January1952 his birth certificate was amended to make his name"H. Norman Schwarzkopf".His connection with the Persian Gulf region began very early on.In 1946,when he was 12,he and the rest of his family joined their father,stationed in Tehran,Iran,where his father would go on to be instrumental in Operation Ajax.He attended the Community High School in Tehran,later the International School of Geneva,and attended and graduated from Valley Forge Military Academy.He is also a member of Mensa.After attending Valley Forge Military Academy,Schwarzkopf,an army brat,attended the United States Military Academy,where he graduated 43rd in his class in 1956with a Bachelor of Science Degree.He also attended the University of Southern California,where he received a Master's degree in mechanical engineering in 1964.His special field of study was guided missile engineering, a program that USC developed with the Army, which incorporated equally both aeronautical and mechanical engineering.Upon graduating from West Point he was commissioned a Second Lieutenant.He received advanced infantry and airborne training at Fort Benning,Georgia after graduating from West Point.He was a platoon leader and served as executive officer of the 2nd Airborne Battle Group, 187th Airborne Infantry Regiment at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.Next he was aide-de-camp to the Berlin Brigade in 1960and1961,a crucial time in the history of that divided city(the Berlin Wall was erected by East German and Soviet forces only a week after he left).In 1965,after completing his masters degree at USC,Schwarzkopf served at West Point as an instructor in the mechanical engineering department.
In 1988,he was promoted to General and was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the U.S.Central Command.The US Central Command,based at MacDill Air Force Base,near Tampa,Florida,is responsible for operations in the Horn of Africa,the Middle East and South Asia(Operations for the Horn of Africa will fall under the new Africa Command by fall 2008).In his capacity as commander,Schwarzkopf prepared a detailed plan for the defense of the oil fields of the Persian Gulf against a hypothetical invasion by Iraq,among other plans.The Iraq plan served as the basis of the USCENTCOM wargame of 1990.Within the same month,Iraq invaded Kuwait,and Schwarzkopf's plan had an immediate practical application,which was as the basis for Operation Desert Shield,the defense of Saudi Arabia.A few months later,his offensive operational plan,called Operation Desert Storm was the"left hook"strategy that went into Iraq behind the Iraqi forces occupying Kuwait and was widely credited with bringing the ground war to a close in just four days.He was personally very visible in the conduct of the war,giving frequent press conferences,and was dubbed"Stormin'Norman."After the war,Schwarzkopf was bestowed an honorary corporal in the French Foreign Legion,the first and only American to be so honored.

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[reliablethreat23]

stormin' norman!!!

[cherylz1]

the "BIG DOG" a very smart man... just like playing chess, fake going right then come hard with the left hook.." Checkmate"

[engliscwarrior]

Schwarzkopf's plan is pretty much the same as Montgomery's plan at El Alamein

[HDNighster1]

@Hperman09 After invasion with 3rd ID, 82nd, 101st 1st MEF, we had 1st AD and 1st CAV in Kuwait. Additional 30,000 troops which was not used, led to further deteriation of Baghdad.LTG McKiernan head of CLLC in Kuwait was quite upset.

[HDNighster1]

@Hperman09 Good thought man. Yes, agree, we didn't have enough troops. Rumsfeld didn't want large amt of troops;otherwise Americans would not support the invasion. 300,000 to 400,000 troops needed for occupation was known 10 yrs prior as researched by Central Command after Scwarzkoff left. It required 12 Army and 2 marine divisions. In late 1990's, the # dwindled to 8 Army and 2 marine divisions as added pressure from Wolfowitz and Rumsfeld. Gen Zinni narrowed it down.

[Hperman09]

@CosmoShidan Not like 3rd world countries like Cuba, Somalia, North Korea, and China. Iran is a 3rd world country. I mean Kuwait is for example has a very good economy. Iraq should have been like that if we did it in 1991.

[CosmoShidan]

@Hperman09 2nd world? You mean along the lines of living standards of the former Eastern Block?

[Hperman09]

@CosmoShidan Iran was also bordered with Iraq and backed Al-Qaeda insurgents who was blowing up civilians on daily basis in Iraq once Saddam was removed. In fact, Saddam manage to keep eyes checked in Iran and even rooted out Al-Qaeda in Iraq We botched it up with not enough troops on the ground and a plan to install a leader that could have prevent the insurgency.

Had we done this in 1991 where it's well planned and have the Coalition/UN support us, Iraq would been a 2nd world country.

[CosmoShidan]

@Hperman09 Interesting points! If Baghdad fell in '91, would the domino effect that has taken place this year occurred much sooner? On another note,  Bush Jr. should have learned from Korea!

[Hperman09]

@CosmoShidan We were on the point of adopting a plan how to control Iraq in '91 but since the Coalition and the UN voted not going into Badgdad, we abandoned it. The real problem in the 2003 Iraq war is that we didn't have enough troops, no economic, and political plan. Plus we botched up the war by went in half-heartly so with no enough troops and with the Iraqi Army disbanded was fillled in with insurgents. And fixing does take a long time like the aftermath of WW2 and Korea for example.

[CosmoShidan]

@Hperman09 Still, would that not be costly to have to put the infrastructure of Iraq back together as well as personnel and material? Also don't the other allied nations have their own domestic problems to contend with? Moreover, is there any other way to avoid a Sun Tzu-esque scenario like 2003?

[Hperman09]

@CosmoShidan Actually H.W. Bush Sr. requested to the UN to he be allowed to push through Baghdad and depose Saddam Hussein's regime from power. Only UK and Australia agreed but the rest of the coalition is not. That's what Norman said in 1997. We didn't have enough support. If the UN and our allies agreed to go with us and depose Saddam Hussein's regime from power and conduct an occupation in 1991 with more troops, the insurgency would have been avoided. In 2003 Iraq war, it's not the case.