Operation Desert Storm begins

On January 17, 1991, the United States and a multinational coalition began Operation Desert Storm with a massive air campaign against Iraqi targets in Kuwait and Iraq. President George H. W. Bush ordered the attack after Saddam Hussein ignored United Nations Security Council Resolution 678 and refused to withdraw from Kuwait by the January 15, 1991 deadline. General Colin Powell and General Norman Schwarzkopf directed a coalition effort that quickly struck Iraqi command centers, air defenses, and military infrastructure.

The opening bombardment tested whether the post-Cold War United States could use United Nations authority and allied military power to reverse aggression without occupying a hostile capital. Bush wanted to defend the principle that borders could not be changed by conquest, while Saudi Arabia, Britain, France, and other coalition partners wanted to prevent Iraqi control over Kuwait and the Gulf oil region. The campaign also reflected the Powell Doctrine, because American planners sought overwhelming force, clear objectives, and broad allied backing before launching a major war.

The coalition's ground offensive that began on February 24, 1991 followed directly from the air campaign and liberated Kuwait within one hundred hours. The cease-fire of February 28, 1991 and the postwar no-fly zones over Iraq grew out of Operation Desert Storm, shaping American policy toward Saddam Hussein for the rest of the 1990s.