The Gulf War was the beginning of the end for American supremacy - David Blair

For one brief moment it seemed the USA could conquer anywhere in the world. 25 years on, we've learned how wrong that was

Cruise missiles and laser-guided bombs suddenly became household names exactly 25 years ago on Saturday. As night fell on Jan 16 1991, the mightiest aerial armada in history began the onslaught that would hurl Saddam Hussein’s army out of Kuwait.

A new generation of weapons instantly appeared on the world’s television screens. When millions watched the first live satellite broadcasts from a city under attack, they saw American cruise missiles tracking the street plan of Baghdad and entering buildings through carefully chosen windows.

The campaign to reverse Iraq’s occupation of its neighbour became synonymous with the most advanced military technology.

Yet, with the perspective of a quarter of a century, the Gulf War of 1991 looks very different. Far from being a cutting edge affair, it now seems like one of the most old-fashioned and traditional clashes of arms in Western military history.

Along with countless wars over the centuries beforehand – and very few in the 25 years since – this conflict was fought between states with the aim of controlling territory. The struggle consisted entirely of conventional battles between regular armed forces. Suicide bombers and “improvised explosive devices” were entirely absent.

And no-one can forget the outcome. After 40 days of bombing and a lightning ground offensive lasting only 100 hours, Saddam’s grip on Kuwait was broken.

During the four days of the land campaign, not a single American soldier was killed by enemy fire. Even the shattered French at Agincourt managed to dispatch a few score of their English tormentors; Iraqi soldiers, by contrast, proved utterly helpless in the face of America's military juggernaut.

That central fact helps to explain many recent events. Every adversary of the West – from Osama bin Laden to the Taliban and from Vladimir Putin to the leaders of China – took careful note. The lesson they learnt was abundantly clear: never, never, never take on America in conventional combat. Army against army, air force against air force, the Americans will always win.

s a result, the Gulf War of 1991 triggered more than its fair share of unintended consequences. The first was America's enemies revived other methods of combat designed to get around US supremacy. For Mr Putin, that meant perfecting the brand of “hybrid warfare” he turned on Ukraine; for the leaders of China, this meant identifying chinks in America's armour and working out how to exploit them – shooting down satellites, perhaps, or mounting cyber attacks.

As for the world’s Islamist terrorists, they embraced what strategists call “asymmetric conflict” and the world knows as insurgency or guerrilla warfare. When America invaded Afghanistan in 2001, the Taliban knew that a conventional defence of Kabul would have been as futile as Saddam’s defence of Kuwait. 

A quarter of a century ago, the US and its allies thought they had reached the zenith of their military strength. But it turned out that the high intensity warfare which they had brought to such devastating perfection would not be needed again. - Read  More at the telegraph

David Blair: The Gulf War was the beginning of the end for American supremacy