30 Years After Desert Storm: Feb. 9

In commemoration of the 30th Anniversary of Operation Desert Storm, Air Force Magazine is posting daily recollections from the six-week war, which expelled Iraq from occupied Kuwait.

Feb. 9:

  • Scud hits Israel, injuring 26.
  • Defense Secretary Dick Cheney and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Colin Powell meet for eight hours with CENTCOM boss Army Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr.
  • “Tank plinking”—picking off individual tanks with smart weapons—begins.
  • Coalition sources tell press that 15 percent of Iraq’s armor, about 600 tanks, and between 15 percent and 20 percent of its overall fighting ability has been destroyed thus far in the air war.

Check out our complete chronology of the Gulf War, starting with Iraq’s July 1990 invasion of Kuwait and running through Iraq’s April 1991 acceptance of peace terms.