0:00:02 > 0:00:09Contains scenes which some viewers may find disturbing.
0:00:15 > 0:00:19In 1991, the small Arab state of Kuwait
0:00:19 > 0:00:23was at the centre of the last major war of the 20th century.
0:00:27 > 0:00:31Saddam Hussein's Iraq had invaded Kuwait,
0:00:31 > 0:00:34putting nearly half the world's oil within his reach.
0:00:35 > 0:00:38Virtually everyone agreed he had to be stopped.
0:00:44 > 0:00:49Over 1 million troops faced each other across the battlefield.
0:00:49 > 0:00:52Revolutionary new technology like stealth bombers,
0:00:52 > 0:00:55cruise missiles and precision guided bombs would make this
0:00:55 > 0:00:58a battle unlike anything anyone had seen before.
0:01:06 > 0:01:08I'll be getting to grips with some of the challenges faced
0:01:08 > 0:01:13by the men and women on the front line in this new era of warfare.
0:01:14 > 0:01:18And I'll show how the commanders chose their tactics in a war
0:01:18 > 0:01:24dominated by cutting-edge technology and ruthless political calculation.
0:01:24 > 0:01:26With his seizure of Kuwait,
0:01:26 > 0:01:30Saddam Hussein threatened to hold the whole world to ransom.
0:01:30 > 0:01:32He warned that the fight that would follow would be
0:01:32 > 0:01:34"the mother of all battles".
0:01:34 > 0:01:39Everything would now depend on the outcome of Operation Desert Storm.
0:01:39 > 0:01:41A battle for Kuwait.
0:02:04 > 0:02:08In the early hours of August the 2nd, 1990,
0:02:08 > 0:02:14Iraq's army shocked the world by invading its neighbour, Kuwait.
0:02:14 > 0:02:16They smashed through the defences on the border
0:02:16 > 0:02:20and headed straight down this road towards the capital, Kuwait City.
0:02:25 > 0:02:30Kuwait's tiny army was unable to mount any serious resistance.
0:02:39 > 0:02:43Thousands of Iraqi troops were soon swarming through the capital.
0:02:49 > 0:02:53At around 4.30am, just hours after the start of the invasion,
0:02:53 > 0:02:57Iraqi troops arrived here at the Parliament Building.
0:02:57 > 0:03:01The guards were taken completely by surprise and, within minutes,
0:03:01 > 0:03:03Kuwait's Parliament had been captured.
0:03:06 > 0:03:08The ruler of Kuwait, the Amir,
0:03:08 > 0:03:13along with most of the royal princes, abandoned their palaces and fled.
0:03:13 > 0:03:18By the end of the day, the entire country of Kuwait was completely overrun
0:03:18 > 0:03:22as thousands of Iraqi troops continued to pour across the border.
0:03:22 > 0:03:27And they were all obeying the orders of one man - Saddam Hussein.
0:03:34 > 0:03:39Saddam Hussein was the President of Iraq and a brutal dictator.
0:03:39 > 0:03:43For 11 years, he had enforced a violent regime
0:03:43 > 0:03:47that murdered and tortured without hesitation.
0:03:50 > 0:03:55He'd built up the fourth largest army in the world with over a million troops.
0:03:56 > 0:03:59But his regime was in serious trouble.
0:04:01 > 0:04:09Not least because an eight-year war with his neighbour Iran had left him with a mountain of debt.
0:04:13 > 0:04:16Iraq was bankrupt.
0:04:16 > 0:04:20Saddam had to come up with a solution to his cash crisis
0:04:20 > 0:04:24and it lay across the border, here in Kuwait.
0:04:24 > 0:04:28This is Iraq and here is Kuwait.
0:04:28 > 0:04:31Kuwait is almost floating on oil.
0:04:31 > 0:04:36Outside the capital, Kuwait City, oil wells cover much of the country.
0:04:36 > 0:04:40To the north, there are oil fields on the border with Iraq.
0:04:42 > 0:04:45Here in the centre, the Burgan Oil Field
0:04:45 > 0:04:49is the second largest in the world.
0:04:49 > 0:04:53Altogether, Kuwait held 10% of the world's oil,
0:04:53 > 0:04:57and it was this vast wealth that Saddam had captured.
0:04:57 > 0:05:01Together with the Iraqi oil fields that Saddam already owned,
0:05:01 > 0:05:06he now had control of over a fifth of the world's oil reserves.
0:05:11 > 0:05:15Saddam gambled that Western leaders did not have the stomach
0:05:15 > 0:05:19for a Middle East war and would have to accept his occupation of Kuwait.
0:05:19 > 0:05:22But he was in for a rude shock.
0:05:22 > 0:05:24This will not stand.
0:05:24 > 0:05:28This will not stand, this aggression against Kuwait.
0:05:28 > 0:05:32What has happened is a total violation of international law.
0:05:32 > 0:05:34Please raise their hand.
0:05:34 > 0:05:42The United Nations condemned the invasion and called on Saddam to withdraw his troops from Kuwait.
0:05:42 > 0:05:48But far from withdrawing, there were signs that he might be planning something even bigger.
0:05:48 > 0:05:53Thousands of Iraqi reinforcements were moving into Kuwait.
0:05:53 > 0:05:57Some set up defensive positions along the coastline.
0:05:59 > 0:06:02But most worrying for global leaders
0:06:02 > 0:06:04was the large number of troops and tanks
0:06:04 > 0:06:10driving down through the country and massing on its southern border.
0:06:10 > 0:06:12The question was, would they stop there?
0:06:16 > 0:06:18200 miles south of the border
0:06:18 > 0:06:23was the richest concentration of oil wells in the world -
0:06:23 > 0:06:26the oil fields of Saudi Arabia.
0:06:27 > 0:06:30The Saudi army was small -
0:06:30 > 0:06:35if Saddam chose to attack now, there was nothing to stop him.
0:06:35 > 0:06:38If he seized Saudi Arabia's wells,
0:06:38 > 0:06:42he would control nearly half the world's oil.
0:06:42 > 0:06:49President Bush Senior, and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, were determined to stop him.
0:06:49 > 0:06:54They were convinced that the only way to protect Saudi Arabia and its oil
0:06:54 > 0:06:58was to put US and British troops in on the ground.
0:06:58 > 0:07:01But there was a huge problem.
0:07:05 > 0:07:08Saudi Arabia is the spiritual home of Islam.
0:07:08 > 0:07:14It contains the cities of Mecca and Medina, the most holy sites in the Muslim world.
0:07:17 > 0:07:22Its royal family ran the country according to strict Islamic laws.
0:07:22 > 0:07:24Any attempt to fly in tens of thousands of troops
0:07:24 > 0:07:26from the non-Muslim armies
0:07:26 > 0:07:30of Britain and America was a political minefield.
0:07:36 > 0:07:43On August 6th, 1990, just four days after Iraq had invaded Kuwait,
0:07:43 > 0:07:48a top-rank White House team flew to Saudi Arabia to meet King Fahd.
0:07:48 > 0:07:55They offered to fly in thousands of US troops to defend the kingdom.
0:07:55 > 0:08:01King Fahd knew his meagre forces couldn't stop Saddam Hussein if he chose to invade,
0:08:01 > 0:08:05and so, despite the risk of huge anger from devout Muslims,
0:08:05 > 0:08:09he immediately gave the Americans the invitation they wanted.
0:08:16 > 0:08:19Within hours, one of the biggest deployments of troops
0:08:19 > 0:08:22since World War II was underway.
0:08:32 > 0:08:36More than 250,000 American and British troops
0:08:36 > 0:08:39from bases in the US and Europe
0:08:39 > 0:08:41headed for the deserts of the Middle East.
0:08:50 > 0:08:53The Americans and British were determined that their stand
0:08:53 > 0:08:58against Saddam Hussein should be seen as an international operation,
0:08:58 > 0:09:02and not as an American-led attack on an Arab country.
0:09:06 > 0:09:10In the coming months, troops from over 30 countries would take their place
0:09:10 > 0:09:15alongside the Americans and British in the Saudi Arabian desert.
0:09:16 > 0:09:23It was an extraordinary coalition, that even included several Arab states, like Egypt and Syria.
0:09:23 > 0:09:26But it was the Americans that dominated.
0:09:26 > 0:09:30The man in charge was called General Norman Schwarzkopf.
0:09:32 > 0:09:36He was a giant of a man with a keen intellect.
0:09:36 > 0:09:40He also had a fiery temper and he set the tone
0:09:40 > 0:09:44with one of his first public comments about Saddam Hussein.
0:09:44 > 0:09:48But if he dares, he dares come across that border and come down here,
0:09:48 > 0:09:52I'm completely confident that we're gonna kick his butt when he gets here.
0:09:52 > 0:09:57Schwarzkopf was a tough talker, but he knew he faced a mammoth task.
0:10:16 > 0:10:19Many of the troops had been trained to go into battle
0:10:19 > 0:10:22on the green, rolling hills of Europe.
0:10:22 > 0:10:26They arrived to find a scorched, barren desert like this one.
0:10:26 > 0:10:29It was a place few of them had ever imagined
0:10:29 > 0:10:30they'd have to fight over.
0:10:40 > 0:10:44The sand clogged their engines. It got in their food.
0:10:44 > 0:10:46And no one was even sure it was stable enough
0:10:46 > 0:10:49to take the weight of the big American combat vehicles.
0:10:56 > 0:11:00But the biggest problem by far was making sure the Western troops
0:11:00 > 0:11:02did not offend their Muslim hosts.
0:11:04 > 0:11:07Even apparently innocent behaviour like female American troops
0:11:07 > 0:11:11wearing short sleeves could cause huge offence in a country
0:11:11 > 0:11:14where women are expected to cover up completely.
0:11:16 > 0:11:22Troops were issued with instructions on how to behave appropriately in a devout Muslim country.
0:11:22 > 0:11:26US Army chaplains were even renamed "morale officers"
0:11:26 > 0:11:27so as not to cause offence.
0:11:27 > 0:11:31But it remained a fragile co-existence.
0:11:37 > 0:11:42An Iraqi attack on Saudi Arabia remained a constant fear for the coalition.
0:11:42 > 0:11:50But it was the stories about the actions of Saddam's army inside Kuwait that outraged world opinion.
0:11:52 > 0:11:54They brought a reign of terror to Kuwait,
0:11:54 > 0:11:58including summary executions in the street.
0:12:13 > 0:12:18Saddam's men were looting shops, houses and factories across the city.
0:12:18 > 0:12:22Torture and punishment beatings became commonplace, as the Iraqis
0:12:22 > 0:12:26tried to crush any sign of Kuwaiti resistance.
0:12:26 > 0:12:30Some resistance fighters were even shot dead in front of their own families
0:12:30 > 0:12:33as a warning to everybody else not to get involved.
0:12:38 > 0:12:41Western civilians living in Kuwait and Iraq had been rounded up
0:12:41 > 0:12:44and taken to Baghdad as hostages.
0:12:46 > 0:12:49Saddam appeared with some of them on television in a clumsy attempt
0:12:49 > 0:12:51to show that they were being treated well.
0:12:51 > 0:12:53- TRANSLATOR: You are British?- British.
0:12:55 > 0:12:56At the moment, yes.
0:12:56 > 0:12:59SPEAKS IN ARABIC
0:12:59 > 0:13:02- TRANSLATOR: Does Stewart get his milk?- Yes, he does.
0:13:04 > 0:13:08'Meanwhile, his grip on Kuwait was tightening.'
0:13:10 > 0:13:14Saddam Hussein had turned Kuwait into a defensive fortress.
0:13:14 > 0:13:18Hundreds of thousands of Iraqi troops were in and around Kuwait,
0:13:18 > 0:13:21many of them dug in down here on its southern border.
0:13:24 > 0:13:29They built very heavily defended positions with great sand ramparts
0:13:29 > 0:13:31close to the frontier with Saudi Arabia.
0:13:32 > 0:13:38Behind them was a second line of defence with thousands of troops.
0:13:38 > 0:13:42And then, about a hundred miles further back, just inside Iraq,
0:13:42 > 0:13:48were Saddam's elite troops, the Republican Guards, waiting in reserve.
0:13:52 > 0:13:59By November 1990, world leaders had run out of patience with Saddam.
0:13:59 > 0:14:05Although he hadn't attacked Saudi Arabia, he showed no signs of withdrawing from Kuwait.
0:14:11 > 0:14:14So the UN Security Council passed a new resolution
0:14:14 > 0:14:18that changed the coalition's mission dramatically.
0:14:18 > 0:14:20Twelve votes in favour,
0:14:20 > 0:14:22two votes against,
0:14:22 > 0:14:24one abstention.
0:14:24 > 0:14:30No longer would the coalition just defend Saudi Arabia.
0:14:30 > 0:14:34If Saddam's troops had not withdrawn from Kuwait in six weeks,
0:14:34 > 0:14:38the coalition will attack and force the Iraqis out.
0:14:39 > 0:14:43The countdown to war had begun.
0:14:45 > 0:14:49For the US military, it was a daunting prospect.
0:14:49 > 0:14:54They were haunted by the memories of the United States' last major conflict
0:14:54 > 0:14:59and knew that they could not afford to make the same mistakes again.
0:14:59 > 0:15:03If one American soldier has to go into battle, that soldier will have
0:15:03 > 0:15:08enough force behind him to win and then get out as soon as possible.
0:15:08 > 0:15:11This will not be another Vietnam.
0:15:16 > 0:15:20But Saddam was determined that that was exactly what it would be.
0:15:20 > 0:15:23He calculated that if the Americans attacked,
0:15:23 > 0:15:28his best hope was to inflict massive casualties on the US troops.
0:15:28 > 0:15:34Saddam believed that, after the Vietnam War, it was not something the US public would tolerate.
0:15:34 > 0:15:41And in 1990, he had the weapons to cause thousands of casualties in seconds.
0:15:47 > 0:15:52Just two years earlier, in March 1988, the Iraqi Army had attacked
0:15:52 > 0:15:55a Kurdish village in Northern Iraq
0:15:55 > 0:15:59using a mixture of mustard gas and the nerve agent sarin.
0:16:01 > 0:16:025,000 people were killed,
0:16:02 > 0:16:05and thousands more suffered terrible injuries.
0:16:11 > 0:16:17Throughout the coalition, every soldier lived in fear of an Iraqi chemical attack.
0:16:17 > 0:16:22Day after day, they practised the drills that would save their lives if nerve gas was used against them.
0:16:31 > 0:16:35To understand more about what this meant to the coalition troops,
0:16:35 > 0:16:38I joined a British Army training exercise.
0:16:46 > 0:16:49My job was to help unload equipment
0:16:49 > 0:16:52until the instructor launched a gas attack drill.
0:16:58 > 0:16:59Gas! Gas!
0:17:07 > 0:17:08Get up!
0:17:10 > 0:17:13Nine seconds, come on. Think about the drills.
0:17:13 > 0:17:15OK, let's go. Well done.
0:17:15 > 0:17:19If a soldier couldn't get their mask on this quickly in a real attack,
0:17:19 > 0:17:21the gas could be lethal.
0:17:21 > 0:17:23Two minutes, let's go!
0:17:23 > 0:17:25I then had to carry on with my task
0:17:25 > 0:17:28exactly like the troops would in a combat situation.
0:17:28 > 0:17:31Come on, work hard! Well done.
0:17:32 > 0:17:34Come on! Come on!
0:17:57 > 0:18:00'But gas masks make it impossible to breathe properly,
0:18:00 > 0:18:02'as I was finding out.'
0:18:03 > 0:18:04I can't actually speak.
0:18:04 > 0:18:06I'm not getting enough air in here.
0:18:07 > 0:18:09Two minutes!
0:18:12 > 0:18:16HE PANTS
0:18:18 > 0:18:22Excellent. Good. Well done. Stop!
0:18:22 > 0:18:23Stand still.
0:18:23 > 0:18:24Unmask.
0:18:29 > 0:18:30Good. Well done.
0:18:39 > 0:18:43- PANTING:- There's just... no air in there at all.
0:18:43 > 0:18:46And...the idea of...
0:18:46 > 0:18:49fighting something like a battle under those conditions...
0:18:49 > 0:18:51is absolutely unimaginable in that.
0:18:51 > 0:18:54A lot harder than what I was just doing there, those shuttle runs.
0:18:54 > 0:18:58The idea of spending hours on hours in this get-up,
0:18:58 > 0:19:01charging across hills, is extraordinary.
0:19:01 > 0:19:05HE PANTS
0:19:10 > 0:19:15But in 1991, soldiers feared they really would have to fight
0:19:15 > 0:19:17while under chemical attack.
0:19:19 > 0:19:23Some of them were already suffering heat exhaustion
0:19:23 > 0:19:26just from wearing gas masks in training.
0:19:28 > 0:19:31Schwarzkopf knew that, if it came to war,
0:19:31 > 0:19:35the greatest threat to his troops was Iraq's chemical weapons,
0:19:35 > 0:19:40and he also knew he would have to minimise American and coalition casualties.
0:19:40 > 0:19:46The key would be to keep his ground troops out of the battle for as long as possible.
0:19:46 > 0:19:52INAUDIBLE
0:20:00 > 0:20:04Schwarzkopf's plan was to launch a colossal air attack
0:20:04 > 0:20:08on Iraq itself and on its forces on the ground,
0:20:08 > 0:20:11to try and force Saddam to abandon Kuwait.
0:20:11 > 0:20:14But if this didn't persuade Saddam to leave,
0:20:14 > 0:20:18Schwarzkopf knew that he would have to take a far more risky step -
0:20:18 > 0:20:22he'd have to order his forces to fight their way into Kuwait.
0:20:22 > 0:20:28And some of the experts predicted that this would cost thousands of American lives.
0:20:28 > 0:20:33His strategy would call upon the full might of the United States armed forces.
0:20:33 > 0:20:40More and more of the world's most sophisticated aircraft, tanks and weapons were arriving in the Gulf,
0:20:40 > 0:20:44and six American aircraft carriers, with over four hundred planes,
0:20:44 > 0:20:48would be positioned within striking distance of Iraq and Kuwait.
0:21:04 > 0:21:12One week before the UN deadline expired, 750,000 coalition troops
0:21:12 > 0:21:19waited on the battlefield as the politicians made one last attempt to find a diplomatic solution.
0:21:19 > 0:21:26The US Secretary of State, James Baker, met Iraq's Foreign Minister, Tariq Aziz, in Geneva.
0:21:26 > 0:21:33Both men knew that tens or even hundreds of thousands of lives were at stake.
0:21:33 > 0:21:38And James Baker warned the Iraqis not to use chemical weapons,
0:21:38 > 0:21:41reminding them that America had nuclear bombs.
0:21:43 > 0:21:48But seven hours of talks ended in failure.
0:21:49 > 0:21:56If Iraq should choose to continue its brutal occupation of Kuwait,
0:21:56 > 0:22:01Iraq will be choosing a military confrontation which it cannot win
0:22:01 > 0:22:04and which will have devastating consequences.
0:22:06 > 0:22:13But Saddam remained as defiant as ever and promised his people a great victory.
0:22:13 > 0:22:17He warned that the Americans depended too much on technology.
0:22:17 > 0:22:22He boasted that Iraq could rely on the bravery and experience of its soldiers.
0:22:22 > 0:22:25Their faith would defeat the enemy.
0:22:25 > 0:22:32At midnight on January the 15th, 1991, the UN deadline expired.
0:22:32 > 0:22:35Across the world, people watched and waited.
0:22:35 > 0:22:41Everybody knew it was just a matter of time before the war began.
0:22:51 > 0:22:54In the early hours of January the 17th, 1991,
0:22:54 > 0:23:00hundreds of coalition aircraft took to the skies and headed for their targets.
0:23:03 > 0:23:05Operation Desert Storm had begun.
0:23:07 > 0:23:14British RAF pilots in low-flying Tornado aircraft carried bombs designed to crater Iraqi runways.
0:23:14 > 0:23:18The Americans' first target was Iraq's capital.
0:23:18 > 0:23:24From the rooftops of Baghdad, 3,000 anti-aircraft guns fired into the night.
0:23:27 > 0:23:31Flying straight into this wall of fire were eight American bombers.
0:23:31 > 0:23:36They were so sophisticated that the Saudis had nicknamed them "ghosts".
0:23:39 > 0:23:46The F1-17 Stealth Bomber was designed to be invisible to radar,
0:23:46 > 0:23:50but this was its first test in major combat.
0:23:52 > 0:23:58The Stealth's first target was the main communications tower in Baghdad.
0:24:00 > 0:24:05At exactly 3am, the pilot in the lead aircraft pushed the button
0:24:05 > 0:24:10and a 2,000 pound, laser-guided bomb descended on its target.
0:24:19 > 0:24:25Across the city, the ground shook as 14 more bombs from other Stealths hit their targets.
0:24:25 > 0:24:27The aircraft turned for home.
0:24:29 > 0:24:32Cruise Missiles launched from US warships
0:24:32 > 0:24:37knocked out the power stations and plunged the city into darkness.
0:24:40 > 0:24:45The air campaign unleashed by the coalition against Saddam's Iraq
0:24:45 > 0:24:48was codenamed Instant Thunder.
0:24:48 > 0:24:54It was the most powerful and focused use of air power in the 20th century.
0:24:54 > 0:24:59On the first night, coalition aircraft flew over a thousand sorties.
0:24:59 > 0:25:02They hit power stations, radar and communication networks,
0:25:02 > 0:25:05airfields and chemical weapons facilities.
0:25:06 > 0:25:11The aim was first to gain control of the skies above Kuwait and Iraq
0:25:11 > 0:25:15and destroy Saddam's ability to coordinate his forces,
0:25:15 > 0:25:18and then to target the forces themselves.
0:25:24 > 0:25:27Guided in by laser, a bomb launched from planes like these
0:25:27 > 0:25:30could explode within three metres of its target,
0:25:30 > 0:25:33even from a range of seven miles.
0:25:37 > 0:25:42The bombing campaign had badly damaged Iraqi radar stations,
0:25:42 > 0:25:46and gave Iraq pilots little chance to respond.
0:25:46 > 0:25:50Rather than fly blind against the most sophisticated air force
0:25:50 > 0:25:53the world had ever seen, most of them opted
0:25:53 > 0:25:56to leave their aircraft inside hardened hangars
0:25:56 > 0:25:57and try and sit it out.
0:26:01 > 0:26:04Throughout that night and into the following day,
0:26:04 > 0:26:09American and coalition aircraft continued to attack Iraqi targets,
0:26:09 > 0:26:12including Saddam Hussein's palaces.
0:26:15 > 0:26:19Saddam Hussein was in fear for his life.
0:26:19 > 0:26:23He moved between safe houses to avoid the coalition attacks,
0:26:23 > 0:26:25but in public, he would not be cowed.
0:26:25 > 0:26:27On Baghdad radio, he declared that
0:26:27 > 0:26:29"the mother of all battles" had begun.
0:26:29 > 0:26:33And in secret, he ordered his army to launch the weapon
0:26:33 > 0:26:37that he hoped would blow the coalition apart.
0:26:39 > 0:26:43Its target was a country over 700 miles from Kuwait.
0:26:54 > 0:27:00At 2am on January the 18th, 1991, air raid sirens sounded across Israel.
0:27:06 > 0:27:13They warned of a Scud Missile attack from Iraq heading for Tel Aviv, Israel's biggest city.
0:27:18 > 0:27:20Moments later, the first Scud hit this factory
0:27:20 > 0:27:24near a housing estate in a residential suburb of the city.
0:27:24 > 0:27:29Initial reports from the Israeli Army suggested that Israel was under chemical attack.
0:27:33 > 0:27:38In the confusion and panic, people all over the city put on their gas masks.
0:27:38 > 0:27:42Some even injected themselves with the antidote to nerve gas.
0:27:43 > 0:27:50Saddam Hussein's attack on Israel was an act of ruthless calculation.
0:27:50 > 0:27:53He hoped Israel would retaliate.
0:27:53 > 0:28:01If it did, Israel would then appear to be on the same side as the Arab nations in the coalition.
0:28:01 > 0:28:07Saddam's hope was that the Arabs' hatred of Israel would make this unthinkable for them.
0:28:07 > 0:28:11They'd withdraw from the coalition and the coalition would collapse.
0:28:15 > 0:28:18From Washington, senior White House officials called
0:28:18 > 0:28:22the Israeli Defence Minister, urging him to show restraint.
0:28:24 > 0:28:30For hours, the whole world held its breath, waiting to see how the Israelis would respond.
0:28:32 > 0:28:38Eight Scuds had been fired at Israel that night, and by daybreak, residents were still on alert.
0:28:38 > 0:28:41But reports of a chemical attack had turned out to be a false alarm,
0:28:41 > 0:28:45and, remarkably, nobody had been killed by any of the missiles.
0:28:47 > 0:28:50Under huge pressure from the White House,
0:28:50 > 0:28:54the Israeli Prime Minister, Yitzhak Shamir,
0:28:54 > 0:28:58agreed not to retaliate, at least for the time being.
0:28:58 > 0:29:02In return, the Americans promised to make the destruction
0:29:02 > 0:29:08of the Scud Missile launchers inside Iraq their top military priority.
0:29:08 > 0:29:10The Scud hunt was on.
0:29:22 > 0:29:26Coalition aircraft began flying around the clock,
0:29:26 > 0:29:30searching thousands of square miles of empty desert,
0:29:30 > 0:29:34hoping to spot Iraq's estimated 20 mobile Scud launchers
0:29:34 > 0:29:37and then destroy them.
0:29:38 > 0:29:40For the American commander, General Schwartzkopf,
0:29:40 > 0:29:41it was a tough challenge.
0:29:42 > 0:29:46Finding the mobile launchers is like finding a needle in a haystack,
0:29:46 > 0:29:47as you can well imagine.
0:29:49 > 0:29:51Scuds continued to hit Israel,
0:29:51 > 0:29:55and Washington ordered Schwartzkopf to step up the search.
0:29:57 > 0:30:01By January the 24th, 40% of the coalition's air sorties
0:30:01 > 0:30:03were diverted to Scud hunting,
0:30:03 > 0:30:08and special forces like Britain's SAS were sent into Iraq
0:30:08 > 0:30:11to try and destroy the launchers from the ground.
0:30:15 > 0:30:22The Scud attacks on Israel went on, but still they failed to break up the coalition as Saddam hoped.
0:30:27 > 0:30:31In a further attempt to weaken public support for the war,
0:30:31 > 0:30:37British pilots John Nichol and John Peters, shot down on the first night, were paraded on Iraqi television.
0:30:37 > 0:30:40They had been tortured and were forced to denounce the war.
0:30:40 > 0:30:45This war should be stopped, so we can go home. I do not agree on this war with Iraq.
0:30:47 > 0:30:51The pictures provoked condemnation across the world,
0:30:51 > 0:30:56and only inflamed Western public opinion against Saddam.
0:30:56 > 0:31:01Saddam was unable to prevent the air campaign systematically destroying his army.
0:31:01 > 0:31:04So, two weeks after the air war began,
0:31:04 > 0:31:08he ordered an attack that would force the Americans
0:31:08 > 0:31:11into the risky ground combat they wanted to avoid.
0:31:24 > 0:31:29At around 8.30pm, Iraqi troops broke cover from their positions here in Kuwait,
0:31:29 > 0:31:33and headed down there towards the Saudi border.
0:31:37 > 0:31:43Their movement was watched by an unmanned American spy plane feeding pictures back to its operator.
0:31:43 > 0:31:45What do we have?
0:31:45 > 0:31:48Let's see what they are.
0:31:48 > 0:31:49Hey, this is something.
0:31:52 > 0:31:55Here we go.
0:31:55 > 0:31:57Closer. Closer...
0:31:58 > 0:32:01And, er...
0:32:01 > 0:32:052200 and 53 hours, they have crossed the border.
0:32:05 > 0:32:07They are in Saudi Arabia.
0:32:07 > 0:32:09King Fahd's gonna be pissed. Fahd baby's gonna be pissed.
0:32:09 > 0:32:11He's gonna be hot.
0:32:11 > 0:32:15The coalition had complete control of the skies over Kuwait,
0:32:15 > 0:32:19but not a single aircraft was close enough to stop the Iraqis.
0:32:19 > 0:32:21Where's our air? This is ridiculous.
0:32:21 > 0:32:25Frickin' bomber couldn't ask for a better target than that.
0:32:27 > 0:32:30The Iraqis took the coalition by surprise.
0:32:30 > 0:32:36They met little resistance and seized the Saudi town of Khafji about ten miles down the road.
0:32:47 > 0:32:50Troops from America, Qatar and Saudi Arabia
0:32:50 > 0:32:53now had to fight their way into the city to regain control.
0:32:55 > 0:33:00Missile launcher downrange - take that bad boy out.
0:33:08 > 0:33:14When air support finally arrived, they had a decisive advantage.
0:33:14 > 0:33:17I certainly would not want to be an Iraqi troop there.
0:33:17 > 0:33:20Aircraft are swarming over that battlefield like gnats.
0:33:23 > 0:33:28After two days of fighting, coalition troops finally regained control.
0:33:30 > 0:33:38An estimated 38 Iraqis were killed and hundreds more captured, but the coalition had suffered too.
0:33:38 > 0:33:42In their first taste of ground combat, 43 coalition troops,
0:33:42 > 0:33:46including 25 US Marines, were killed.
0:33:46 > 0:33:49For some, it had been a sobering experience.
0:33:49 > 0:33:54I never expected that kind of fear, but you have to overcome it,
0:33:54 > 0:33:57because if you don't overcome it, it's...
0:33:57 > 0:34:01it's just like being defeated without actually
0:34:01 > 0:34:03being killed or anything like that.
0:34:11 > 0:34:14But with Khafji back in coalition control,
0:34:14 > 0:34:17world attention turned once again to the air campaign,
0:34:17 > 0:34:19which was now in its fourth week.
0:34:28 > 0:34:31Television audiences across the world had become hooked
0:34:31 > 0:34:33on the extraordinary footage
0:34:33 > 0:34:36being beamed into their homes around the clock.
0:34:39 > 0:34:42It was all part of the public relations war.
0:34:43 > 0:34:47After their experiences in Vietnam, American commanders knew that
0:34:47 > 0:34:52unfavourable coverage might damage public support for the war.
0:34:52 > 0:34:56So they carefully managed what was actually seen by the watching world.
0:35:00 > 0:35:02- Splash.- Good.
0:35:02 > 0:35:03That was an excellent splash.
0:35:09 > 0:35:12The American general who commands all the Allied forces in the Gulf
0:35:12 > 0:35:17has said that Operation Desert Storm has been going according to plan.
0:35:17 > 0:35:22The aim was to portray the war as clinical and bloodless,
0:35:22 > 0:35:26with so-called smart bombs making surgical strikes.
0:35:26 > 0:35:29I'm now going to show you a picture of the luckiest man in Iraq
0:35:29 > 0:35:33on this particular day. Keep your eye on the crosshairs.
0:35:35 > 0:35:36Right through the crosshairs.
0:35:38 > 0:35:41And now, in his rear-view mirror...
0:35:41 > 0:35:42LAUGHTER
0:35:48 > 0:35:50But the laughter was about to end.
0:35:52 > 0:35:56In the early hours of February the 13th, 1991,
0:35:56 > 0:35:59two Stealth bombers flew towards the Amiriyah bunker
0:35:59 > 0:36:02in the suburbs of Baghdad,
0:36:02 > 0:36:05on what was supposed to be a routine mission.
0:36:05 > 0:36:11Shortly after 4.30am, they released two laser-guided bombs.
0:36:14 > 0:36:18Exactly as planned, the bombs dropped down a ventilation shaft
0:36:18 > 0:36:22and exploded deep inside the bunker to maximise destruction.
0:36:22 > 0:36:27The trouble was, it was packed with over 400 civilians.
0:36:27 > 0:36:29Americans are criminals!
0:36:29 > 0:36:33For what?! Why?!
0:36:33 > 0:36:37For what the war? For what the war?!
0:36:42 > 0:36:45Hundreds had been killed, many of them children.
0:36:45 > 0:36:49Pictures of the disaster were broadcast around the world.
0:36:52 > 0:36:55I lost my wife and my children.
0:36:55 > 0:36:56Is that fair?
0:36:56 > 0:37:02Nobody, nobody say something to stop this massacre.
0:37:05 > 0:37:07It was a terrible mistake.
0:37:09 > 0:37:13Coalition air planners had believed that the Amiriyah bunker
0:37:13 > 0:37:16was being used by Iraqi commanders, not civilians.
0:37:20 > 0:37:25These images of so many dead civilians and their distraught relatives shattered the myth
0:37:25 > 0:37:29that this was a bloodless war and it forced Schwarzkopf
0:37:29 > 0:37:35to curtail the bombing of Iraqi cities, for fear of causing more civilian casualties.
0:37:44 > 0:37:48But the Iraqi Army got no such reprieve.
0:37:50 > 0:37:55The air campaign had battered Iraqi targets for over a month,
0:37:55 > 0:37:59and still, Saddam had not withdrawn his army from Kuwait.
0:37:59 > 0:38:04Schwarzkopf knew coalition ground troops would soon have to drive them out
0:38:04 > 0:38:09and, in preparation, he intensified the air strikes against the Iraqi front line.
0:38:17 > 0:38:21There was nothing "smart" about this bombardment.
0:38:21 > 0:38:25Old-fashioned planes, like the giant B52s that had flown over Vietnam,
0:38:25 > 0:38:30dropped old-fashioned explosives and napalm on the Iraqi positions.
0:38:30 > 0:38:35When a canister of napalm hit the ground, it exploded in a mass of burning jelly,
0:38:35 > 0:38:37which incinerated anything it touched
0:38:37 > 0:38:41and sucked the air out of everyone's lungs within 50 metres.
0:38:41 > 0:38:44Coalition airmen flew around-the-clock bombing missions,
0:38:44 > 0:38:47attempting to destroy 50% of the Iraqi armour.
0:38:47 > 0:38:50We're trying to get ready for the ground troops going in,
0:38:50 > 0:38:53we're trying to hit them hard to clear it up for the ground troops.
0:38:56 > 0:38:59We sent out three or four hundred, five hundred bombs today.
0:38:59 > 0:39:03Some of them weigh 1,000 pounds apiece, so it's...it's just unreal.
0:39:15 > 0:39:21In retaliation for the coalition's continuous aerial bombardment,
0:39:21 > 0:39:25Saddam Hussein unleashed a new kind of destruction.
0:39:27 > 0:39:32He ordered the Iraqi Army to blow up the oil fields of Kuwait.
0:39:36 > 0:39:40It created scenes of apocalyptic devastation.
0:39:40 > 0:39:43It looks like what I envision hell would look like.
0:39:43 > 0:39:46The country of Kuwait is burning.
0:39:47 > 0:39:53Hundreds of wells were blown up, sending a wall of flame and smoke thousands of feet into the air.
0:39:57 > 0:40:04Pipelines were ruptured, storage tanks exploded, and huge lakes of oil pooled in the desert sand.
0:40:09 > 0:40:15Choking black clouds filled the air and day turned to night as the smoke blocked out the sun.
0:40:30 > 0:40:33This piece of environmental vandalism
0:40:33 > 0:40:36only increased the pressure on Schwarzkopf
0:40:36 > 0:40:38to launch the ground campaign.
0:40:38 > 0:40:42His plan was a masterpiece of strategic deception.
0:40:42 > 0:40:45The main attack would appear to come down here -
0:40:45 > 0:40:48across Kuwait's southern border.
0:40:50 > 0:40:5540,000 American Marines would thrust up into the Iraqi defences.
0:40:55 > 0:41:02Alongside them, troops from other coalition countries, including large forces from Syria and Egypt.
0:41:02 > 0:41:09Their job was to make Saddam think they were just the start of a much larger attack from here in the south.
0:41:09 > 0:41:16But Schwarzkopf's main blow would come not from the south, but from the west.
0:41:16 > 0:41:19Under the cover of the air war,
0:41:19 > 0:41:22he had secretly shifted the bulk of his army -
0:41:22 > 0:41:301,500 tanks and nearly 300,000 men up to 300 miles off to the west -
0:41:30 > 0:41:33to launch a giant left hook.
0:41:33 > 0:41:35His main heavy tank force,
0:41:35 > 0:41:38with Britain's men and tanks on their right flank,
0:41:38 > 0:41:42were waiting for the signal to burst into Iraq and swing east
0:41:42 > 0:41:45into Saddam's Republican Guard divisions,
0:41:45 > 0:41:48dug in on the Kuwait-Iraq border.
0:41:48 > 0:41:51Schwarzkopf's men had a double mission -
0:41:51 > 0:41:56to liberate Kuwait and to so weaken the Republican Guard and the Iraqi Army
0:41:56 > 0:42:00that they could never cause trouble in the area again.
0:42:00 > 0:42:06On the 24th of February, 1991, the ground attack began.
0:42:13 > 0:42:16Out in the Gulf, the big guns of the US warships
0:42:16 > 0:42:20began a massive artillery barrage onto the Kuwaiti coastline.
0:42:33 > 0:42:37But the real attack would come from the ground troops.
0:42:49 > 0:42:52And the first to go in would be the US marines.
0:42:52 > 0:42:54This is it, have fun.
0:42:54 > 0:42:57Got an American flag in this pack we're gonna raise in Kuwait.
0:42:59 > 0:43:03The Marines had to bulldoze gaps in huge banks of sand, like this one,
0:43:03 > 0:43:05so the tanks and artillery could advance.
0:43:18 > 0:43:22As the first troops went in, none of them knew what would happen.
0:43:25 > 0:43:28The fear of a chemical attack was so great
0:43:28 > 0:43:32that the US troops wore chemical protection suits and gas masks.
0:43:36 > 0:43:39In front of them, they expected vast minefields
0:43:39 > 0:43:45and tens of thousands of Iraqi troops in heavily defended, entrenched positions.
0:43:48 > 0:43:51Coalition commanders expected the marines to be able
0:43:51 > 0:43:54to penetrate just a few miles into the heavy Iraqi defences
0:43:54 > 0:43:59with as many as one in three of the marines being killed or injured.
0:44:01 > 0:44:05But as the marines crossed into Kuwait, they were amazed at what happened.
0:44:05 > 0:44:12Everywhere, Iraqi troops had either abandoned their positions or were raising the white flag in surrender.
0:44:12 > 0:44:16Most of them were conscripts and, after the devastating five-week air bombardment,
0:44:16 > 0:44:20they were sleep deprived, shell-shocked and dehydrated -
0:44:20 > 0:44:23they were in no position to fight.
0:44:23 > 0:44:26MAN SOBS
0:44:26 > 0:44:28It's OK, it's OK.
0:44:28 > 0:44:31HE SPEAKS IN ARABIC
0:44:32 > 0:44:38It's OK, it's OK, it's OK. You're all right.
0:44:41 > 0:44:43Hey, let's go, get up here!
0:44:47 > 0:44:50The marines continued forward into Kuwait.
0:44:52 > 0:44:55There was little resistance and, nearly everywhere,
0:44:55 > 0:44:57their progress was unopposed.
0:45:00 > 0:45:05Right now, I feel sorry for the people remaining on the enemy side, cos we're gonna wipe them out.
0:45:08 > 0:45:11The marines were scoring a major success
0:45:11 > 0:45:14in their thrust up here into Kuwait.
0:45:14 > 0:45:15Almost too successful.
0:45:15 > 0:45:19They and the Arab forces to the east and west of them
0:45:19 > 0:45:22were fast heading for Kuwait City.
0:45:22 > 0:45:26There was now a risk that some of the crack Iraqi units,
0:45:26 > 0:45:28like the Republican Guard up here,
0:45:28 > 0:45:33might retreat before Schwarzkopf's army could destroy them.
0:45:33 > 0:45:37So he brought forward the timetable for his main attack.
0:45:37 > 0:45:42He ordered his big left hook, including Britain's tank force,
0:45:42 > 0:45:45to go in 15 hours ahead of schedule.
0:45:45 > 0:45:47The British would go for Kuwait
0:45:47 > 0:45:50and the US tanks would head for the Republican Guard.
0:46:00 > 0:46:04Ten hours into the ground war, at 2.30pm,
0:46:04 > 0:46:08British and American troops began a massive artillery barrage
0:46:08 > 0:46:11onto the Iraqi positions in front of them.
0:46:18 > 0:46:22One of their key weapons was the multiple launch rocket system.
0:46:38 > 0:46:41As each of the rockets burst in the air above the Iraqis,
0:46:41 > 0:46:45it scattered 644 bomblets over them.
0:46:45 > 0:46:48It was as if they were being showered by hand grenades.
0:46:48 > 0:46:54In just over 30 minutes, more than half a million of these bomblets landed on the Iraqi troops.
0:47:00 > 0:47:05As the artillery died down, more than 150,000 coalition troops
0:47:05 > 0:47:10and over 1,500 tanks began their advance.
0:47:10 > 0:47:13Saddam knew he couldn't keep Kuwait much longer,
0:47:13 > 0:47:17but he was still determined to show the Americans
0:47:17 > 0:47:20he had the capacity to hit them where it hurt.
0:47:23 > 0:47:26He ordered his troops inside Kuwait
0:47:26 > 0:47:29to counter-attack against the US marines.
0:47:36 > 0:47:40But they couldn't match the Americans' firepower
0:47:40 > 0:47:44nor halt their relentless drive towards Kuwait City.
0:47:46 > 0:47:53However, Saddam still had one last sting in his tail.
0:47:58 > 0:48:01Iraqi troops fired a Scud missile
0:48:01 > 0:48:05towards a coalition base in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.
0:48:10 > 0:48:15The resulting explosion killed 28 Americans and 100 were left wounded.
0:48:17 > 0:48:21It was their biggest single loss in the war so far.
0:48:28 > 0:48:31Despite this incident, the British and American troops
0:48:31 > 0:48:34had to keep up the speed of their advance.
0:48:34 > 0:48:38Saddam's army was collapsing by the minute, and every minute counted
0:48:38 > 0:48:41if Schwarzkopf was to be able to destroy
0:48:41 > 0:48:44the bulk of Iraq's military equipment before it escaped.
0:48:49 > 0:48:52Schwarzkopf's main armoured thrust had swept across
0:48:52 > 0:48:56100 miles of Iraqi desert west of Kuwait
0:48:56 > 0:49:00and closed in on Saddam's elite Republican Guard.
0:49:00 > 0:49:04Finally, at 4pm on the 26th of February,
0:49:04 > 0:49:06they came face to face.
0:49:07 > 0:49:12A gunner in one of the lead vehicles spotted a line of Iraqi tanks on the horizon.
0:49:12 > 0:49:15The US tank commander realised that he was heading straight
0:49:15 > 0:49:17for a major Republican Guard position.
0:49:20 > 0:49:23The gunner in the lead American tank
0:49:23 > 0:49:26quickly fired off a shot at one of the Iraqi tanks.
0:49:28 > 0:49:30Seconds later, the American Commander watched
0:49:30 > 0:49:33as the shell landed directly on the target.
0:49:33 > 0:49:35The Iraqi tank exploded,
0:49:35 > 0:49:39throwing a man out through the hatch engulfed in a ball of flame.
0:49:42 > 0:49:46Within seconds, the other American tanks had opened fire.
0:49:46 > 0:49:48In just a few minutes,
0:49:48 > 0:49:52the Republican Guard's position had been obliterated.
0:49:56 > 0:50:00The Iraqi tanks had been utterly outgunned.
0:50:00 > 0:50:06The American tanks could score a hit on the move from over 2,000m away.
0:50:06 > 0:50:11Iraqi tanks were only accurate below 1,700m and had to be stationary.
0:50:13 > 0:50:15Within a couple of hours,
0:50:15 > 0:50:19over 50 Iraqi armoured vehicles were destroyed with few American losses.
0:50:23 > 0:50:27Throughout the night, the Americans pursued the Republican Guard.
0:50:27 > 0:50:29By daybreak, they'd smashed an entire division,
0:50:29 > 0:50:34leaving over 100 tanks and armoured vehicles smoking on the battlefield.
0:50:34 > 0:50:38The remaining Republican Guard divisions made a desperate retreat,
0:50:38 > 0:50:40and the Americans continued to hunt them down.
0:50:44 > 0:50:50It looked like the Americans now had the Republican Guard at their mercy.
0:50:50 > 0:50:56But something had happened inside Kuwait that would help save them from destruction.
0:51:01 > 0:51:04Iraqi troops had been fleeing from Kuwait City
0:51:04 > 0:51:07in any vehicle they could get their hands on.
0:51:11 > 0:51:14American commanders were determined to stop them.
0:51:16 > 0:51:20It led to one of the most controversial episodes of the war.
0:51:22 > 0:51:26Using laser-guided bombs, pilots attacked Iraqi vehicles
0:51:26 > 0:51:30along a stretch of this road leading north from Kuwait City.
0:51:30 > 0:51:32This created a road block and, behind it,
0:51:32 > 0:51:36hundreds of vehicles became trapped in a giant traffic jam.
0:51:36 > 0:51:41This made them totally vulnerable to the American aircraft overhead.
0:51:41 > 0:51:43Some of them were so desperate to escape
0:51:43 > 0:51:46that they drove off across the desert.
0:51:49 > 0:51:54Every available American aircraft was ordered into the attack
0:51:54 > 0:51:56with devastating results.
0:52:03 > 0:52:07For mile after mile, charred vehicles and human corpses
0:52:07 > 0:52:12littered the desert and choked the two main roads going towards Iraq.
0:52:15 > 0:52:19An estimated 2,000 vehicles were destroyed.
0:52:19 > 0:52:23Only very few of them were tanks or armoured personnel carriers.
0:52:23 > 0:52:26Most were civilian vehicles
0:52:26 > 0:52:29stolen by the Iraqi Army as they fled Kuwait City.
0:52:29 > 0:52:35Nobody knows how many hundreds or thousands of Iraqis died in the attacks.
0:52:37 > 0:52:40The American leadership realised that pictures like these
0:52:40 > 0:52:42would soon be on television around the world
0:52:42 > 0:52:46and they feared it would look like a massacre.
0:52:46 > 0:52:51This would become a key factor in deciding when to end the war.
0:52:56 > 0:53:0036 hours later, coalition troops,
0:53:00 > 0:53:05led by units from Kuwait's own army, arrived in Kuwait City.
0:53:18 > 0:53:20The streets soon filled with vehicles
0:53:20 > 0:53:24as people celebrated the end of the Iraqi occupation.
0:53:26 > 0:53:29Welcome in Kuwait! Welcome, Mr Bush, welcome!
0:53:35 > 0:53:39Alongside them were American troops, greeted as heroes,
0:53:39 > 0:53:44as liberators of a country that had been subjected to months of horror by the Iraqi regime.
0:53:46 > 0:53:51They don't have any civilisation, they kill not by guns only, by torturing.
0:53:55 > 0:54:00They brought them over here in this space and they just shot them
0:54:00 > 0:54:05and killed them and left them for five days, just like a garbage.
0:54:08 > 0:54:13They want to put, er, name Saddam in my hands and they tell me
0:54:13 > 0:54:16to remember it, er, even when you are old man.
0:54:27 > 0:54:32With the liberation of Kuwait, the main political goal of the war had been achieved.
0:54:32 > 0:54:35But the Republican Guard had not yet been destroyed.
0:54:35 > 0:54:40However, President Bush feared that continuing to bomb a retreating enemy
0:54:40 > 0:54:44might give the impression that America was behaving like a bully,
0:54:44 > 0:54:51and, so, on February the 28th, 1991, Bush declared a cease-fire.
0:54:53 > 0:54:55'I am pleased to announce
0:54:55 > 0:54:59'that, exactly 100 hours since ground operations commenced
0:54:59 > 0:55:04'and six weeks since the start of Operation Desert Storm,
0:55:04 > 0:55:07'all United States and coalition forces'
0:55:07 > 0:55:12will suspend offensive combat operations.
0:55:12 > 0:55:15CHEERING 'The Gulf War was over.'
0:55:27 > 0:55:34Within weeks, tens of thousands of coalition troops began the long journey home,
0:55:34 > 0:55:40all of them grateful that the mass casualties they'd feared had never materialised.
0:55:50 > 0:55:54In total, 248 coalition troops were killed,
0:55:54 > 0:55:57far less than anyone had dared hope.
0:55:57 > 0:56:02Nobody knows how many Iraqis died, though some estimates put the figure
0:56:02 > 0:56:06at over 30,000, including 3,000 civilians.
0:56:06 > 0:56:11Despite the pre-war fears of the coalition, it had turned out to be
0:56:11 > 0:56:15one of the most one-sided battles in modern history.
0:56:15 > 0:56:18FANFARE PLAYS CROWD CHEERS
0:56:22 > 0:56:26Schwarzkopf and his men returned home to a hero's welcome.
0:56:48 > 0:56:52The allies could have chased Saddam all the way to Baghdad,
0:56:52 > 0:56:57but they had no authority from the UN and no wish to become mired in Iraq.
0:56:57 > 0:57:01Instead, they hoped that Saddam would now be too weak to be a threat.
0:57:06 > 0:57:11But Saddam's regime did not crumble as the Americans hoped.
0:57:11 > 0:57:14He crushed two uprisings that followed the end of the war
0:57:14 > 0:57:18and remained in power for another 12 years.
0:57:21 > 0:57:25Several thousand US forces remained in Saudi Arabia
0:57:25 > 0:57:27to keep watch on Saddam's army.
0:57:30 > 0:57:34Osama Bin Laden has claimed that it was this presence of US troops
0:57:34 > 0:57:37in the Muslim holy land of Saudi Arabia
0:57:37 > 0:57:39that motivated him to launch
0:57:39 > 0:57:43a series of attacks against American interests.
0:57:43 > 0:57:48This culminated in the events of September the 11th, 2001.
0:57:50 > 0:57:55President Bush's son, George W Bush, was now in the White House
0:57:55 > 0:58:00and, in response to the 9/11 attacks, he declared a global war on terror.
0:58:00 > 0:58:03As part of this war,
0:58:03 > 0:58:08he launched a US- and British-led invasion of Iraq in 2003,
0:58:08 > 0:58:11which ousted Saddam Hussein from power.
0:58:11 > 0:58:18Thousands of British and American troops remain in Iraq to this day, dealing with the consequences.
0:58:18 > 0:58:22No-one knows when they will return home.
0:58:54 > 0:58:57Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd