Free Republic

January 16th, 1991 (20 years ago today) Desert Storm begins.

The Jan. 17, 1991, air attacks on Iraq that launched Operation Desert Storm two decades ago gave the world a spectacular look at the high-tech weaponry the United States had developed to thwart a Soviet invasion of Western Europe. The initial air strikes on Baghdad riveted a global television audience. On that first night of the air offensive, reporters with cameras poking from Baghdad hotel windows provided real-time video of Iraqi anti-aircraft guns firing streams of tracer rounds into a blue-black sky randomly lit by the bursts of American precision munitions hitting targets on the city's perimeter. Those cameras, however,...

An-F-15C fighter aircraft credited with two aerial victories over Iraq during Operation Desert Storm will be towed down GA Highway 247 to the Museum of Aviation on Friday, October 29 at approximately 9:00 a.m. The towing will affect 247 traffic for about an hour. On February 6, 1991, Captain Thomas Dietz shot down two Russian-built MiG 21s over Iraq using AIM-9 missiles. The aircraft was assigned to the 36th Tactical Fighter Wing, Bitburg AB, Germany at the time flying missions from a base in Saudi Arabia. F-15s are credited with downing 37 aircraft during aerial engagements over Iraq during the...

•The Iranians learned a great deal from the destruction of Iraq's Osirak reactor by the Israel Air Force in 1981. The Osirak reactor was the key element in the Iraqi nuclear program: a single target which, when it was destroyed, set that program back very substantially. The Iranians saw this and they dispersed their nuclear program. Much of it is deep underground. There is no single target which, if destroyed, would substantially set back the Iranian nuclear program •When I came to Washington as Israel's ambassador in 1982, the atmosphere was one of hostility and there was talk of imposing...

Speicher Search Details Announced Story Number: NNS090807-14 Release Date: 8/7/2009 4:11:00 PM From the Department of Defense WASHINGTON (NNS) -- The Navy announced Aug. 7 additional details regarding the recent discovery of the remains of Navy Capt. Michael "Scott" Speicher in Iraq. Speicher was shot down flying a combat mission in an F/A-18 Hornet over west-central Iraq Jan. 17, 1991, during Operation Desert Storm. Acting in part on information provided by an Iraqi citizen in early July, Multi National Force–West's (MNF-W) personnel recovery team went to a location in the desert which was believed to be the crash site of...

Defense: As the failure of engagement with Iran grows more apparent, the administration that has talked very softly may be getting the mother of all sticks ready. Guess we need high-tech Cold War weapons after all.Western intelligence sources have told London's Times that Iran has perfected the means to develop and detonate a nuclear bomb and is merely awaiting word from its supreme leader to produce its first one. Should the order be given, it would take just six months to enrich enough uranium and another six months to assemble the warhead. Time's up. Recently, and perhaps not coincidentally, Defense...

The remains of Navy Captain Scott Speicher, a pilot who has been missing since being shot down during the 1991 Gulf War, have been positively identified. The Pentagon has released a statement: The Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP) has positively identified remains recovered in Iraq as those of Captain Michael Scott Speicher. Captain Speicher was shot down flying a combat mission in an F/A-18 Hornet over west-central Iraq on January 17th, 1991 during Operation Desert Storm. "Our thoughts and prayers are with Captain Speicher's family for the ultimate sacrifice he made for his country," said Ray Mabus, Secretary of...

Defense Spending: The TARP bailout may hit $24 trillion, but the Senate says the F-22 is too expensive to build and maintain. So why are the Japanese so desperate to buy this "unnecessary" Cold War weapon?By a vote of 58-40, the Senate on Tuesday voted to remove $1.75 billion set aside in a defense bill to build seven more F-22 Raptors, adding to the 187 stealth technology fighters already in the pipeline. After some hope the production lines would be kept open, the Senate succumbed to arguments by the administration and others that the fighter was too expensive, too hard...

Katherine Jenerette says she has entered the Republican primary for the First District Congressional seat out of frustration with the GOP. "The Democrats have a home team advantage now," Jenerette says, "and Republicans need a congressman who can go toe-to-toe with them. We've had a Republican Congress for six years, and we can have more of the same or we can have someone in there that will make a difference. "I am not afraid to say what needs to be said and push legislation for family and values, fiscal responsibility, national security and subjects like immigration and border control. Republicans...

We have a three way Republican Primary in South Carolina’s First Congressional District. Henry Brown is an incumbent Congressman running for this fifth term. I really have no feelings toward Brown one way or the other. He isn’t one to show up in the media much. He received a rating of 96 from the American Conservative Union for 2007, not too shabby and he’s been involved in government for about 27 years, starting in the city council, moving up to state office and then Federal.He has two challengers in the primary. The first, Paul Norris, is the President of...

Henry Brown Gets a Second GOP Opponent The circling of the wolves continues as Henry Brown gets a second GOP challenger. Desert Storm veteran and former Brown aid Katherine Jenerette of Horry County has filed to unseat her old boss. Charleston businessman Paul Norris filed for the seat last week along with Brown. This three way race could mean good things for Democrat Linda Ketner, as Brown is forced to invest money in the primary race. Side note: Jenerette’s website still has a picture of her and Henry together (as well as a link to Brown’s Congressional website). The site...

HUNDREDS of Australian veterans took pills linked to the diverse and debilitating symptoms of Gulf War Syndrome. In a bitter twist, the pyridostigmine bromide pills were given to troops to protect them from nerve gases such as sarin. A spokesperson for the Defence Department confirmed PB pills were issued during the Gulf War as part of a "range of prophylactic measures", including vaccination against diseases prevalent in the region. The policy was reversed after a 1999 report flagged the possible risk the pills posed. A new study by clinician and researcher Beatrice Golomb, of the University of California in San...

Cannot Post due to copyright issues: http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2008/03/17/080317taco_talk_hertzberg

Honoring Our Vets January 17th 1991 The Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm Timeline   Iraq invades Kuwait, Aug. 2, 1990. Operation Desert Shield begins, Aug. 7. First U.S. forces (F-15 Eagle fighters from Langley Air Force Base, Va.) arrive in Saudi Arabia, Aug. 7. First Operation Desert Shield-related U.S. death, Aug. 12. President George Bush authorizes first call-up of Selected Reservists to active duty for 90 days, by executive order, Aug. 22. (Call-up widened in subsequent authorizations; period of service extended to 180 days on Nov. 12 by executive order.) Operation Desert Storm and air war phase begins, 3 a.m.,...

"I felt embarrassed. I'm over here accepting my disability in public and you are going to mock and harass me."

Would anyone like a free dinner at Golden Corral? Well, there is an easy way if you are an American military veteran. Golden Corral just announced this year’s Military Appreciation Monday will be November 12, 2007, from 5 to 9 pm. For the past 6 years, Golden Corral has been honoring the US Military with a free “thank you” dinner and beverage at any Golden Corral restaurant on Military Appreciation Monday (first Monday after Veteran’s Day), to honor any person who has ever served in the United States Military. In the past the only requirement to receive the free meal...

The Ron Paul Political Report October 15 1991 Volume V Number 10 Page 7 American Values? During the Iraq war, American troops were instructed to use specially equipped tanks to bulldoze the trenches that held Iraqi soldiers- Not a single American was hurt, so meager was the resistance. Thousands of Iraqis, teenagers coerced into the army by the dictator Hussein, were buried alive, while the unprecedented military tactic was hidden from the public through media censorship. Captain Benny Williams, who Led the charge was awarded the Silver Star for his role. Also hidden: the apparent fact that many of the...

Mclean, VA - Today on the steps of the State House in Columbia, SC, surrounded by numerous veterans, Senator Fred Thompson was joined by Major General James Livingston and Lieutenant Colonel Joe Repya to launch Veterans for Fred Thompson. Major General James Livingston, a 33 year veteran of the United States Marine Corps, will serve as the National Co-Chair of Veterans for Fred Thompson. On May 2, 1968, while serving as the Commanding Officer, Company E, 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines, he distinguished himself above and beyond the call of duty in action against enemy forces and earned the Congressional Medal...

KUWAIT CITY, Aug. 2, 2007 – Kuwaiti air force Col. Sulaiman M. al-Otaibi remembers all too well the “dark day” his country faced 17 years ago today, when 100,000 Iraqi troops stormed across the border here, leaving death and destruction in their wake. Memories of Aug. 2, 1990, are still fresh for him and his fellow Kuwaitis as they recall four of Saddam Hussein’s elite Republican Guard divisions and Iraqi army special forces units pushing into Kuwait City. They quickly overran Kuwait’s outnumbered forces, attacked the royal residence, Dasman Palace, and began a brutal six-month occupation. Six days later, Saddam...

Capt. Larry "Rat" Slade retired in Norfolk on Thursday after 22 years in the Navy. u.s. navy Slade spent 43 days as a prisoner of war during the Gulf War, above. NORFOLKCAPT. LARRY "RAT" SLADE served 22 years in the Navy, flying in the backseat of a Tomcat fighter over four combat zones, graduating from Top Gun school and winning the naval flight officer of the year award. But one moment of Slade's career, honored this week at a retirement ceremony, fails to fold neatly into a shadow box with a flag, ribbons and medals.On Jan. 21, 1991, a...