The Mother of All Battles: Saddam Hussein's Strategic Plan for the Persian Gulf War

by Kevin M. Woods USA (Ret.)

Overview

Events in this story of the “Mother of All Battles,” as Saddam designated the 1991 war, are drawn from primary Iraqi sources, including government documents, video and audiotapes, maps, and photographs captured by U.S. forces in 2003 from the regime's archives and never intended for outsiders' eyes. The book is part of an official U.S. Joint Forces Command research project to examine contemporary warfare from the point of view of the adversary's archives and senior leader interviews. Its purpose is to stimulate thoughtful analyses of currently accepted lessons of the first Gulf War. While not a comprehensive history, the author's balanced Iraqi perspective of events between 1990 and 1991 takes full advantage of his unique access to material. The result is a completely unknown but fully documented view from the other side.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781591149422
Publisher:	Naval Institute Press
Publication date:	08/01/2008
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Kevin M. Woods is an analyst with the Institute for Defense Analyses. A resident of Northern Virginia, he is also the coauthor of a companion volume on the 2003 Gulf War.

Table of Contents

List of Figures and Tables     ix
Foreword     xi
Preface     xiii
A Note on Sources     xv
Notes     xvii
Introduction     xix
Purposes of This Study     xxi
Notes     xxiv
An Overview of the GulfWar from the U.S. Perspective     1
The Diplomatic Background     1
The Air War     3
The Ground War     5
Notes     11
The "Victory" at al-Khafji     14
Notes     27
The Beginning: Saddam's Narrative     31
A Long View     31
The Iran-Iraq War as Precursor     36
The Coming War of the Elephant     40
Notes     43
Saddam's Strategic Calculations     47
Kuwait     47
Notes     57
Restoring the Branch to the Tree     60
Planning an Invasion     60
Yum al-Nida (Day of the Great Call)-The Invasion     73
The Republican Guard's Blitzkrieg     81
Notes     88
Occupation and Consolidation     93
A New Historical Juncture     93
Extending Ba'ath Control     96
Reaction and Iraqi Counteraction     103
The Americans     114
Notes     118
The Iraqi Plan for the Defense of Kuwait     124
Assessing the Coalition Threat     126
Preparing a Naval Defense     134
Notes     163
Um Al-Ma'arik (The Mother of All Battles)     172
The End-of-the-Epic Duel     227
Notes     250
Iraqi Lessons Learned     262
Selected Iraqi Military Lessons     268
Notes     293
Saddam's Strategic Lessons of the War     299
Saddam's Analysis of His Adversary     304
Notes     305
Epilogue: Insights from the Iraqi Perspective     307
Notes     309
Timeline     311
Key Personalities     319
Acronyms and Abbreviations     323
References     325
Books, Periodicals, Reports, Web sites     325
U.S. Government Publications     331
Harmony Media Files     332
Harmony Document Folders     336
Index     345