The Gulf War 1991 – Part 3: Land of Darkness

Conflicted: A History Podcast

Zach Cornwell

Education, History, Society & Culture

4.8 • 610 Ratings

🗓️ 10 August 2023

⏱️ 120 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On January 17th, 1991, Operation Desert Storm begins. As President Bush braces for high casualties, Saddam Hussein desperately seeks a path to survival. In Baghdad, Coalition air forces rain hell on Iraqi soldiers and civilians alike, while American diplomats scramble to defuse a potential crisis in Israel. US infantrymen come face-to-face with the fourth largest army in the world…with surprising results. As oil wells burn and journalists jockey for access, the war reaches a bloody climax at the “Highway of Death”. SOURCES: Aburish, Said K. Saddam Hussein: The Politics of Revenge. 2000. Atkinson, Rick. Crusade: The Untold Story of the Gulf War. 1993. Al-Radi, Nuha. Baghdad Diaries. 1998. Baudrillard, Jean. The Gulf War Did Not Take Place. 1991. Bergen, Peter L. The Rise and Fall of Osama bin Laden. 2021. Charles Rivers Editors. The Gulf War. 2018. Coll, Steve. Ghost Wars. 2004. Coll, Steve. Branigin, William. “US scrambled to shape view of ‘Highway of Death’”. 3.11.1991. Corrigan, Jim. Desert Storm Air War. 2017. Coughlin, Con. Saddam: His Rise and Fall. 2005. DeGhett, Torie Rose. “The War Photo No One Would Publish”. 8.8.2014. Dunnigan, James F. Macedonia, Raymond M. Getting It Right. 1995. Engel, Jeffrey A. When the World Seemed New. Finlan, Alastair. The Gulf War 1991. 2003. Gordon, Michael R. Trainer, Bernard E. The General’s War. 1995. “The Gulf War” / FRONTLINE. PBS. Jan 9, 1996. Hallion, Richard P. Desert Storm 1991. 2022. Hiro, Dilip. Desert Shield to Desert Storm: The Second Gulf War. 1991. Hiro, Dilip. Cold War in the Islamic World. 2018. Karsh, Efraim. The Iran-Iraq War, 1980-1988. 1989. Karsh, Efraim. Rautsi, Inari. Saddam Hussein. A Political Biography. 1991. Khadduri, Majid. Ghareeb, Edmund. War in the Gulf, 1990-1991. 1999. Jarecke, Kenneth. Cervenka, Exene. Just Another War. 1991. Lockwood, Stuart. 2015 June 5. “That’s Me In The Picture”. The Guardian. MacArthur, John R. Second Front: Censorship and Propaganda in the 1991 Gulf War. 1992. Mufson, Steven. 1990 Aug 6. “Kuwait Assets Form Vast, Frozen Empire”. The Washington Post. Murray, Williamson. Woods, Kevin M. The Iran-Iraq War. 2014. Meacham, Jon. Destiny and Power. 2015. Morris, David J. Storm on the Horizon. 2004. Riedel, Bruce. Kings and Presidents: Saudi Arabia and the United States. 2019. Swofford, Anthony. Jarhead. 2003. Woodward, Bob. 1991, May 4. “Regal Audience for a Forceful Presence”. The Washington Post Wyndham, Buck. Hogs in the Sand. 2020. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:23.3	like you sign up for your one dollar a month trial at shopify dot com slash setup hello and welcome to
0:32.1	conflicted the history podcast where we talk about the struggles that shaped us the tough questions
0:37.0	that they pose,
0:38.0	and why we should care about any of it. Conflicting is a member of the Evergreen Podcast Network.
0:43.1	And as always, I'm your host, Zach Cornwell. You are listening to the third and final installment
0:48.1	of a three-part series on the 1991 Gulf War. Now, I know I say this every time, but if you
0:53.4	haven't listened to parts one and two
0:54.9	yet, I'd definitely go check those out first. In those episodes, we introduced our cast of characters, established some important plot threads, and really set the stage for what's about to happen in this finale. Now, full disclosure, today's episode is going to be a long one. In fact, it might be one of the longest I've ever done.
1:11.3	Suffice to say, we have a lot of ground to cover today, but I'd still like to take a few minutes
1:15.5	and look back at where we've been so far. Last time, in part two, the storm, we opened with
1:21.5	the invasion of Kuwait by Iraqi forces in the summer of 1990, as seen through the eyes of
1:26.8	passengers on a British Airways flight,
1:29.1	the touchdown for a refueling stop in Kuwait City. And from their porthole windows, they witnessed
1:33.8	the opening hours of the attack, and were quickly captured and taken hostage by Iraqi forces.
1:39.2	From there, we focused on the immediate response to the invasion, specifically from the
1:43.5	perspective of U.S.
1:44.5	President George H.W. Bush.
1:46.6	While initially lukewarm, Bush's view on the situation quickly ossified into an intense
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