Twenty 5 years agone , 1 of the most savage massacres inward country of war history occurred inward Republic of Iraq , along Highway lxxx , nearly 32 km due west of State of Kuwait city. On the nighttime of Feb 26–27 , 1991 , thousands of Iraqi soldiers together with civilians were retreating to Baghdad , after a ceasefire was announced , when President George Bush ordered his forces to slaughter the retreating Iraqi army. Fighter planes of the coalition forces swooped downward upon the unarmed convoy together with disabled the vehicles inward the front end , together with at the raise , thence that they couldn’t escape. Then moving ridge after moving ridge of aircraft pounded the trapped vehicles for hours on end. After the carnage was over , or thence 2 ,000 mangled Iraqi vehicles , together with charred together with dismembered bodies of tens of thousands of Iraqi soldiers lay for miles along what came to live known equally the “Highway of Death”. Several hundred to a greater extent than littered along or thence other route , Highway eight , that leads to Basra. The scenes of destruction on these ii roads became or thence of the most recognizable images of the Gulf War.
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The twenty-four hr menses earlier , Baghdad had radio announced that Iraq's Foreign Minister had accepted the Soviet ceasefire proposal together with had ordered all Iraqi troops to withdraw from State of Kuwait inward compliance alongside United Nations Resolution 660. President Bush , nonetheless , had refused to believe it together with had responded that "there was no prove to propose the Iraqi Earth forces is withdrawing. In fact , Iraqi units are continuing to fight. . . We proceed to prosecute the war."
The side past times side twenty-four hr menses , the Iraqi President had himself announced over the radio that the withdraw had indeed begun on ii highways together with would live completed that twenty-four hr menses , to which Bush had reacted calling Hussein's annunciation "an outrage" together with "a cruel hoax."
Rather than convey the offering of Republic of Iraq to give upwards together with leave of absence the plain of battle , thereby risking a village that mightiness non live favorable to the United States of America , Bush together with the U.S. armed forces strategists decided only to kill equally many Iraqis equally they maybe could.
The bombing started close midnight. At origin United States of America together with Canadian jets bombed the front end together with raise ends of the convoy to forestall it from moving frontwards or dorsum , thence attacked the trapped convoy past times repeated bombing. The Commander-in-Chief of the United States of America Central Command had received education from Bush management to "not to allow anybody or anything out of State of Kuwait City." Consequently , whatever vehicle that diverted off of the highway was tracked , hunted together with destroyed individually. Even disarmed Iraqi soldiers who surrendered were mowed downward past times gunfire. Not 1 Iraqi survived.
Demolished vehicles trouble Highway lxxx , on eighteen Apr , 1991. Photo credit: TECH. SGT. JOE COLEMAN/Wikimedia
“The cabs of trucks were bombed thence much that they were pushed into the Earth , together with it's impossible to run across if they incorporate drivers or not. Windshields were melted away , together with huge tanks were reduced to shrapnel ,” wrote Lebanese-American journalist Joyce Chediac.
“The massacre of withdrawing Iraqi soldiers violates the Geneva Conventions of 1949 , Common Article III , which outlaws the killing of soldiers who are out of combat ,” wrote Joyce Chediac. “The Iraqi troops were non beingness driven out of State of Kuwait past times U.S. troops equally the Bush management maintains. They were non retreating inward lodge to regroup together with care again. In fact , they were withdrawing , they were going home.”
“To onslaught the soldiers returning dwelling nether these circumstances is a country of war criminal offence ,” Chediac added.
"Even inward Vietnam I didn't run across anything similar this. It's pitiful ," said Major Bob Nugent , an Army intelligence officer.
“The most disturbing human face of the incident was the secrecy involved ,” wrote Malcom Lagauche. “When Newsday broke the floor , many were taken past times surprise. According to members of the U.S. House together with Senate Armed Forces Committees , the Pentagon had withheld details of the gear upwards on from the committees.”
The media was too given a unlike story. U.S. plain commanders tried to portray that Iraqi forces were non voluntarily withdrawing but were beingness pushed from the battlefield.
Four years afterward , General Norman Schwarzkopf tried to justify what had happened on the Highway of Death:
“The origin argue why nosotros bombed the highway coming northward out of State of Kuwait is because in that place was a neat bargain of armed forces equipment on that highway , together with I had given orders to all my commanders that I wanted every slice of Iraqi equipment that nosotros maybe could destroy. Secondly , this was non a bunch of innocent people exactly trying to brand their agency dorsum across the edge to Iraq. This was a bunch of rapists , murderers together with thugs who had raped together with pillaged downtown State of Kuwait City together with instantly were trying to leave of absence of the position down earlier they were caught.”
Photo credit: Staff Sgt. Dean Wagner/Wikimedia
Photo credit: o.canada.com
Photo credit: o.canada.com
Photo credit: o.canada.com
The charred remains of an Iraqi soldier equally he attempted to line himself upwards over the dashboard of his truck. Photo credit: Kenneth Jarecke
The burned-out truck , surrounded past times corpses , on the “Highway of Death”. Photo credit: Kenneth Jarecke
The sole of a shoe left behind spell fleeing State of Kuwait along the Highway of Death , taken on Feb 28 , 2003. Photo credit: Christiaan Briggs/Wikimedia
Photo credit: PHC HOLMES , United States of America Navy/Wikimedia
Photo credit: PHC HOLMES , United States of America Navy/Wikimedia
