1.
Iraqi no-fly zones
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Iraqi aircraft were forbidden from flying inside the zones. The policy was enforced by U. S. British, while the enforcing powers had cited United Nations Security Council Resolution 688 as authorizing the operations, the resolution contains no explicit authorization. The Secretary-General of the UN at the time the resolution was passed, from 1992 to the United States-led coalition invasion of Iraq in 2003, there were two NFZs in Iraq. The NFZ in the north of Iraq was established shortly after the Gulf War, in August 1992 the NFZ in the south to the 32nd parallel was established, but in 1996 it was expanded to the 33rd parallel. The northern NFZ was initially part of Operation Provide Comfort relief operations to a persecuted Kurdish minority in Iraq, the southern NFZ was maintained by Operation Southern Watch. When Operation Desert Storm ended in 1991, the safety of Kurds who were fleeing during the uprising from Iraqi persecution became an issue and this operation essentially created a Northern NFZ to Iraqi military aircraft. The operation provided the Kurdish population with humanitarian aid and reassurance of safe skies, Operation Provide Comfort officially ended on 31 December 1996. Following Operation Provide Comfort, the United States continued to watch over the skies with the launching of Operation Northern Watch on 1 January 1997. Operation Northern Watch continued to provide air security to the Kurdish population in the north, by 1999, the Department of Defense had flown over 200,000 sorties over Iraq. American and British aircraft continuously maintained the integrity of the NFZ, the operation ran until its conclusion on 1 May 2003. In the south, Operation Southern Watch was underway to watch over the persecuted Shiite populations and this operation was launched on 27 August 1992 with the mission of preventing further human rights abuses against civilian populations. Iraq challenged the no-fly zone beginning in December 1992 when a USAF F-16 fighter plane shot down an Iraqi MiG-25 Foxbat fighter which had locked onto it in the Southern no-fly zone, the next month Allied planes attacked Iraqi SAM sites in the South. Baghdad eventually halted firing on patrolling Allied aircraft after August 1993, in the aftermath of Operation Desert Fox in December 1998, Iraq announced it would no longer respect the no-fly zones and resumed its efforts in shooting down Allied aircraft. Saddam Hussein offered a $14,000 reward to anyone who could accomplish this task, air strikes by British and American aircraft against Iraqi claimed anti-aircraft and military targets continued weekly over the next few years. In the early 2000s, the U. S. developed a contingency plan, the operation continued until it transitioned to Operation Southern Focus in June 2002. They began to carry out offensive sorties, not only against targets that had fired on them and their records indicate that in the first seven months of 2001, there had been 370 provocations on the part of Iraq. In the seven months from October 2001 into May 2002, only 32 such provocations were recorded, the U. S. and British operations had the effect of reducing Iraqi ability to counter airstrikes prior to the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The NFZs effectively ceased to exist with the beginning of the Iraq War in March 2003, the NFZs were officially deactivated right after Saddam Husseins overthrow
2.
Iraq
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The capital, and largest city, is Baghdad. The main ethnic groups are Arabs and Kurds, others include Assyrians, Turkmen, Shabakis, Yazidis, Armenians, Mandeans, Circassians, around 95% of the countrys 36 million citizens are Muslims, with Christianity, Yarsan, Yezidism, and Mandeanism also present. The official languages of Iraq are Arabic and Kurdish, two major rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, run south through Iraq and into the Shatt al-Arab near the Persian Gulf. These rivers provide Iraq with significant amounts of fertile land, the region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, historically known as Mesopotamia, is often referred to as the cradle of civilisation. It was here that mankind first began to read, write, create laws, the area has been home to successive civilisations since the 6th millennium BC. Iraq was the centre of the Akkadian, Sumerian, Assyrian and it was also part of the Median, Achaemenid, Hellenistic, Parthian, Sassanid, Roman, Rashidun, Umayyad, Abbasid, Ayyubid, Mongol, Safavid, Afsharid, and Ottoman empires. Iraqs modern borders were mostly demarcated in 1920 by the League of Nations when the Ottoman Empire was divided by the Treaty of Sèvres, Iraq was placed under the authority of the United Kingdom as the British Mandate of Mesopotamia. A monarchy was established in 1921 and the Kingdom of Iraq gained independence from Britain in 1932, in 1958, the monarchy was overthrown and the Iraqi Republic created. Iraq was controlled by the Arab Socialist Baath Party from 1968 until 2003, after an invasion by the United States and its allies in 2003, Saddam Husseins Baath Party was removed from power and multi-party parliamentary elections were held in 2005. The American presence in Iraq ended in 2011, but the Iraqi insurgency continued and intensified as fighters from the Syrian Civil War spilled into the country, the Arabic name العراق al-ʿIrāq has been in use since before the 6th century. There are several suggested origins for the name, one dates to the Sumerian city of Uruk and is thus ultimately of Sumerian origin, as Uruk was the Akkadian name for the Sumerian city of Urug, containing the Sumerian word for city, UR. An Arabic folk etymology for the name is rooted, well-watered. During the medieval period, there was a region called ʿIrāq ʿArabī for Lower Mesopotamia and ʿIrāq ʿajamī, for the region now situated in Central and Western Iran. The term historically included the south of the Hamrin Mountains. The term Sawad was also used in early Islamic times for the region of the plain of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. In English, it is either /ɪˈrɑːk/ or /ɪˈræk/, the American Heritage Dictionary, the pronunciation /aɪˈræk/ is frequently heard in U. S. media. Since approximately 10,000 BC, Iraq was one of centres of a Caucasoid Neolithic culture where agriculture, the following Neolithic period is represented by rectangular houses. At the time of the pre-pottery Neolithic, people used vessels made of stone, gypsum, finds of obsidian tools from Anatolia are evidences of early trade relations
3.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
4.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
5.
France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
6.
Australia
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Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It is the worlds sixth-largest country by total area, the neighbouring countries are Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and East Timor to the north, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to the north-east, and New Zealand to the south-east. Australias capital is Canberra, and its largest urban area is Sydney, for about 50,000 years before the first British settlement in the late 18th century, Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians, who spoke languages classifiable into roughly 250 groups. The population grew steadily in subsequent decades, and by the 1850s most of the continent had been explored, on 1 January 1901, the six colonies federated, forming the Commonwealth of Australia. Australia has since maintained a liberal democratic political system that functions as a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy comprising six states. The population of 24 million is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated on the eastern seaboard, Australia has the worlds 13th-largest economy and ninth-highest per capita income. With the second-highest human development index globally, the country highly in quality of life, health, education, economic freedom. The name Australia is derived from the Latin Terra Australis a name used for putative lands in the southern hemisphere since ancient times, the Dutch adjectival form Australische was used in a Dutch book in Batavia in 1638, to refer to the newly discovered lands to the south. On 12 December 1817, Macquarie recommended to the Colonial Office that it be formally adopted, in 1824, the Admiralty agreed that the continent should be known officially as Australia. The first official published use of the term Australia came with the 1830 publication of The Australia Directory and these first inhabitants may have been ancestors of modern Indigenous Australians. The Torres Strait Islanders, ethnically Melanesian, were originally horticulturists, the northern coasts and waters of Australia were visited sporadically by fishermen from Maritime Southeast Asia. The first recorded European sighting of the Australian mainland, and the first recorded European landfall on the Australian continent, are attributed to the Dutch. The first ship and crew to chart the Australian coast and meet with Aboriginal people was the Duyfken captained by Dutch navigator, Willem Janszoon. He sighted the coast of Cape York Peninsula in early 1606, the Dutch charted the whole of the western and northern coastlines and named the island continent New Holland during the 17th century, but made no attempt at settlement. William Dampier, an English explorer and privateer, landed on the north-west coast of New Holland in 1688, in 1770, James Cook sailed along and mapped the east coast, which he named New South Wales and claimed for Great Britain. The first settlement led to the foundation of Sydney, and the exploration, a British settlement was established in Van Diemens Land, now known as Tasmania, in 1803, and it became a separate colony in 1825. The United Kingdom formally claimed the part of Western Australia in 1828. Separate colonies were carved from parts of New South Wales, South Australia in 1836, Victoria in 1851, the Northern Territory was founded in 1911 when it was excised from South Australia
7.
Netherlands
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The Netherlands, also informally known as Holland is the main constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a densely populated country located in Western Europe with three territories in the Caribbean. The European part of the Netherlands borders Germany to the east, Belgium to the south, and the North Sea to the northwest, sharing borders with Belgium, the United Kingdom. The three largest cities in the Netherlands are Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague, Amsterdam is the countrys capital, while The Hague holds the Dutch seat of parliament and government. The port of Rotterdam is the worlds largest port outside East-Asia, the name Holland is used informally to refer to the whole of the country of the Netherlands. Netherlands literally means lower countries, influenced by its low land and flat geography, most of the areas below sea level are artificial. Since the late 16th century, large areas have been reclaimed from the sea and lakes, with a population density of 412 people per km2 –507 if water is excluded – the Netherlands is classified as a very densely populated country. Only Bangladesh, South Korea, and Taiwan have both a population and higher population density. Nevertheless, the Netherlands is the worlds second-largest exporter of food and agricultural products and this is partly due to the fertility of the soil and the mild climate. In 2001, it became the worlds first country to legalise same-sex marriage, the Netherlands is a founding member of the EU, Eurozone, G-10, NATO, OECD and WTO, as well as being a part of the Schengen Area and the trilateral Benelux Union. The first four are situated in The Hague, as is the EUs criminal intelligence agency Europol and this has led to the city being dubbed the worlds legal capital. The country also ranks second highest in the worlds 2016 Press Freedom Index, the Netherlands has a market-based mixed economy, ranking 17th of 177 countries according to the Index of Economic Freedom. It had the thirteenth-highest per capita income in the world in 2013 according to the International Monetary Fund, in 2013, the United Nations World Happiness Report ranked the Netherlands as the seventh-happiest country in the world, reflecting its high quality of life. The Netherlands also ranks joint second highest in the Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index, the region called Low Countries and the country of the Netherlands have the same toponymy. Place names with Neder, Nieder, Nether and Nedre and Bas or Inferior are in use in all over Europe. They are sometimes used in a relation to a higher ground that consecutively is indicated as Upper, Boven, Oben. In the case of the Low Countries / the Netherlands the geographical location of the region has been more or less downstream. The geographical location of the region, however, changed over time tremendously
8.
Turkey
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Turkey, officially the Republic of Turkey, is a transcontinental country in Eurasia, mainly in Anatolia in Western Asia, with a smaller portion on the Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. Turkey is a democratic, secular, unitary, parliamentary republic with a cultural heritage. The country is encircled by seas on three sides, the Aegean Sea is to the west, the Black Sea to the north, and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. The Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmara, and the Dardanelles, Ankara is the capital while Istanbul is the countrys largest city and main cultural and commercial centre. Approximately 70-80% of the countrys citizens identify themselves as ethnic Turks, other ethnic groups include legally recognised and unrecognised minorities. Kurds are the largest ethnic minority group, making up approximately 20% of the population, the area of Turkey has been inhabited since the Paleolithic by various ancient Anatolian civilisations, as well as Assyrians, Greeks, Thracians, Phrygians, Urartians and Armenians. After Alexander the Greats conquest, the area was Hellenized, a process continued under the Roman Empire. The Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm ruled Anatolia until the Mongol invasion in 1243, the empire reached the peak of its power in the 16th century, especially during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent. During the war, the Ottoman government committed genocides against its Armenian, Assyrian, following the war, the conglomeration of territories and peoples that formerly comprised the Ottoman Empire was partitioned into several new states. Turkey is a member of the UN, an early member of NATO. Turkeys growing economy and diplomatic initiatives have led to its recognition as a regional power while her location has given it geopolitical, the name of Turkey is based on the ethnonym Türk. The first recorded use of the term Türk or Türük as an autonym is contained in the Old Turkic inscriptions of the Göktürks of Central Asia, the English name Turkey first appeared in the late 14th century and is derived from Medieval Latin Turchia. Similarly, the medieval Khazar Empire, a Turkic state on the shores of the Black. The medieval Arabs referred to the Mamluk Sultanate as al-Dawla al-Turkiyya, the Ottoman Empire was sometimes referred to as Turkey or the Turkish Empire among its European contemporaries. The Anatolian peninsula, comprising most of modern Turkey, is one of the oldest permanently settled regions in the world, various ancient Anatolian populations have lived in Anatolia, from at least the Neolithic period until the Hellenistic period. Many of these peoples spoke the Anatolian languages, a branch of the larger Indo-European language family, in fact, given the antiquity of the Indo-European Hittite and Luwian languages, some scholars have proposed Anatolia as the hypothetical centre from which the Indo-European languages radiated. The European part of Turkey, called Eastern Thrace, has also been inhabited since at least forty years ago. It is the largest and best-preserved Neolithic site found to date, the settlement of Troy started in the Neolithic Age and continued into the Iron Age
9.
Ba'athist Iraq
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Baathist Iraq, formally the Iraqi Republic, covers the history of Iraq between 1968 and 2003, during the period of the Arab Socialist Baath Partys rule. This period began with high growth and soaring prosperity, but ended with Iraq facing social, political. The average annual income decreased because of external factors. During al-Bakrs de jure rule, the economy grew. However, several factors were threatening the countrys stability, among them the countrys conflict with Iran. An external problem was the conflict with Iran, which would contribute to the Iran–Iraq War. The Baath Party, which was secular in nature, harshly repressed the protests, another policy change was Iraqs foreign policy towards Iran, a Shia Muslim country. Deteriorating relations eventually led to the Iran–Iraq War, which started in 1980 when Iraq launched an invasion of Iran. Following the 1979 Iranian revolution, the Iraqis believed the Iranians to be weak and this notion proved to be incorrect, and the war lasted for eight years. Iraqs economy deteriorated during the war, and the country dependent on foreign donations to fund their war effort. The war ended in a stalemate when a ceasefire was reached in 1988, when the war ended, Iraq found itself in the midst of an economic depression, owed millions of dollars to foreign countries, and was unable to repay its creditors. Kuwait, which had increased oil output following the war, reducing international oil prices. In response to this, Saddam threatened Kuwait that, unless it reduced its oil output, negotiations broke down, and on 2 August 1990, Iraq launched an invasion of Kuwait. The resulting international response led to the Persian Gulf War, which Iraq lost, the United Nations initiated economic sanctions in the wars aftermath to weaken the Baathist Iraqi government. The countrys economic conditions worsened during the 1990s, and at the turn of the 21st century, in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks of 2001, the United States initiated a Global War on Terrorism, and labelled Iraq as a part of an Axis of Evil. In 2003, U. S. coalition forces invaded Iraq, in contrast to previous coups détat in Iraqs history, the 1968 coup, referred to as the 17 July Revolution, was, according to Con Coughlin, a relatively civil affair. All telephone lines were cut at 03,00, by which time several tanks had been commanded to halt in front of the Presidential Palace. Abdul Rahman Arif, the then-President of Iraq, first knew of the coup when jubilant members of the Republican Guard started shooting into the air in a premature triumph
10.
John Shalikashvili
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John Malchase David Shalikashvili was a United States Army general who served as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Supreme Allied Commander from 1993 to 1997. He was born in Warsaw, Poland, to Georgian parents, in 1996, he was the first recipient of the Naval War College Distinguished Graduate Leadership Award. Shalikashvili was the first foreign-born man to become Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and he served in every level of unit command from platoon to division. Shalikashvili died of a stroke in 2011 at the age of 75, Shalikashvili was a scion of the medieval Georgian noble house of Shalikashvili. His father, Prince Dimitri Shalikashvili, born in Gurjaani, served in the army of Imperial Russia, Shalikashvilis mother was Countess Maria Rüdiger-Beliaev. After the Bolshevik Revolution, Dimitri became a lieutenant-colonel in the army of the Democratic Republic of Georgia, when the Soviet Union invaded and occupied Georgia in 1921, Dimitri was on diplomatic service in Turkey. They had three children, Othar, John and Gale, Dimitri served in the Polish Army as a contract officer. In 1939, he fought against the German invasion of Poland, after the Polish defeat, Dimitri was demobilized. In 1941, he enlisted in the Georgian Legion, a force of ethnic Georgians recruited by Germany to fight against the Soviet Union, the unit was later incorporated into the SS-Waffengruppe Georgien and transferred to Normandy. Dimitri surrendered to British forces and was a prisoner of war until after the war, a collection of Dimitri Shalikashvilis writings are on deposit at the Hoover Institution. Meanwhile, Maria, John and his two brothers lived through the destruction of Warsaw, as the Red Army approached Warsaw in 1944, the family fled to Pappenheim, Germany, being reunited with Dimitri along the way. It was in Pappenheim in the days of World War II that John first laid eyes on American soldiers. His family stayed with relatives there in Pappenheim for eight years, in 1952, when Shalikashvili was 16, the family emigrated to Peoria, Illinois. They were sponsored by Winifred Luthy, the wife of a local banker, the Luthys and the Episcopal Church helped the Shalikashvili family get started, finding jobs and a home for them. Dimitri worked for Ameren, and Maria was a clerk at Commercial National Bank. When Shalikashvili arrived in Peoria he spoke little English, Shalikashvili went to Peoria High School and he attended Bradley University in Peoria and received a bachelors degree in mechanical engineering in 1958. He was a member of Theta Chi Fraternity, in 1970, Shalikashvili received a masters degree in international affairs from the George Washington Universitys School of International Affairs. In May 1958, Shalikashvili and his family became American citizens and it was the first nationality he ever held
11.
Saddam Hussein
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Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. In the early 1970s, Saddam nationalized oil and other industries, the state-owned banks were put under his control, leaving the system eventually insolvent mostly due to the Iran–Iraq War, the Gulf War, and UN sanctions. Through the 1970s, Saddam cemented his authority over the apparatuses of government as oil money helped Iraqs economy to grow at a rapid pace, positions of power in the country were mostly filled with Sunni Arabs, a minority that made up only a fifth of the population. Saddam formally rose to power in 1979, although he had been the de facto head of Iraq for several years prior. He suppressed several movements, particularly Shia and Kurdish movements, seeking to overthrow the government or gain independence, and maintained power during the Iran–Iraq War and the Gulf War. Whereas some in the Arab world lauded Saddam for his opposition to the United States, the total number of Iraqis killed by the security services of Saddams government in various purges and genocides is unknown, but the lowest estimate is 250,000. Saddams Baath party was disbanded and elections were held, following his capture on 13 December 2003, the trial of Saddam took place under the Iraqi Interim Government. On 5 November 2006, Saddam was convicted of charges of crimes against humanity related to the 1982 killing of 148 Iraqi Shiites and his execution was carried out on 30 December 2006. His mother, Subha Tulfah al-Mussallat, named her newborn son Saddam and he is always referred to by this personal name, which may be followed by the patronymic and other elements. He never knew his father, Hussein Abd al-Majid, who disappeared six months before Saddam was born, shortly afterward, Saddams 13-year-old brother died of cancer. The infant Saddam was sent to the family of his maternal uncle Khairallah Talfah until he was three and his mother remarried, and Saddam gained three half-brothers through this marriage. His stepfather, Ibrahim al-Hassan, treated Saddam harshly after his return, at about age 10, Saddam fled the family and returned to live in Baghdad with his uncle Kharaillah Talfah. Later in his relatives from his native Tikrit became some of his closest advisors and supporters. Under the guidance of his uncle he attended a high school in Baghdad. After secondary school Saddam studied at an Iraqi law school for three years, dropping out in 1957 at the age of 20 to join the revolutionary pan-Arab Baath Party, during this time, Saddam apparently supported himself as a secondary school teacher. Revolutionary sentiment was characteristic of the era in Iraq and throughout the Middle East, in Iraq progressives and socialists assailed traditional political elites. Moreover, the nationalism of Gamal Abdel Nasser in Egypt profoundly influenced young Baathists like Saddam. The rise of Nasser foreshadowed a wave of revolutions throughout the Middle East in the 1950s and 1960s, with the collapse of the monarchies of Iraq, Egypt, and Libya
12.
Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk
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The Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk is a four-bladed, twin-engine, medium-lift utility helicopter manufactured by Sikorsky Aircraft. Sikorsky submitted the S-70 design for the United States Armys Utility Tactical Transport Aircraft System competition in 1972, the Army designated the prototype as the YUH-60A and selected the Black Hawk as the winner of the program in 1976, after a fly-off competition with the Boeing Vertol YUH-61. Named after the Native American war leader Black Hawk, the UH-60A entered service with the U. S. Army in 1979 and this was followed by the fielding of electronic warfare and special operations variants of the Black Hawk. Improved UH-60L and UH-60M utility variants have also been developed, Modified versions have also been developed for the U. S. Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard. In addition to U. S. Army use, the UH-60 family has been exported to several nations, Black Hawks have served in combat during conflicts in Grenada, Panama, Iraq, Somalia, the Balkans, Afghanistan, and other areas in the Middle East. In the late 1960s, the United States Army began forming requirements for a helicopter to replace the UH-1 Iroquois, the Army also initiated the development of a new, common turbine engine for its helicopters that would become the General Electric T700. Based on experience in Vietnam, the Army required significant performance, the Army released its UTTAS request for proposals in January 1972. The RFP also included air transport requirements, Transport aboard the C-130 limited the UTTAS cabin height and length. Four prototypes were constructed, with the first YUH-60A flying on 17 October 1974, prior to delivery of the prototypes to the US Army, a preliminary evaluation was conducted in November 1975 to ensure the aircraft could be operated safely during all testing. Three of the prototypes were delivered to the Army in March 1976, for evaluation against the rival Boeing-Vertol design, the YUH-61A, the Army selected the UH-60 for production in December 1976. Deliveries of the UH-60A to the Army began in October 1978, after entering service, the helicopter was modified for new missions and roles, including mine laying and medical evacuation. An EH-60 variant was developed to conduct electronic warfare and special operations aviation developed the MH-60 variant to support its missions, due to weight increases from the addition of mission equipment and other changes, the Army ordered the improved UH-60L in 1987. The new model incorporated all of the made to the UH-60A fleet as standard design features. The UH-60L also featured more power and lifting capability with upgraded T700-GE-701C engines and its external lift capacity increased by 1,000 lb up to 9,000 lb. The UH-60L also incorporated the automatic control system from the SH-60 for better flight control due to handling issues with the more powerful engines. Production of the L-model began in 1989, Development of the next improved variant, the UH-60M, was approved in 2001, to extend the service life of the UH-60 design into the 2020s. The UH-60M incorporates upgraded T700-GE-701D engines, improved rotor blades, and state of the art electronic instrumentation, flight controls and aircraft navigation control. After the U. S. DoD approved low-rate initial production of the new variant, manufacturing began in 2006, after an initial operational evaluation, the Army approved full-rate production and a five-year contract for 1,227 helicopters in December 2007
13.
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23
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The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 is a variable-geometry fighter aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan-Gurevich design bureau in the Soviet Union. It is considered to belong to the Soviet third-generation jet fighter category and it was the first attempt by the Soviet Union to design look-down/shoot-down radar and one of the first to be armed with beyond visual range missiles. Production started in 1970 and reached large numbers with over 5,000 aircraft built, today the MiG-23 remains in limited service with some export customers. The basic design was used as the basis for the Mikoyan MiG-27. Among many minor changes, the MiG-27 replaced the MiG-23s nose-mounted radar system with a panel holding a laser designator. The MiG-23s predecessor, the MiG-21, was fast and agile, but limited in its capabilities by its primitive radar, short range. Work began on a replacement for the MiG-21 in the early 1960s, the new aircraft was required to have better performance and range than the MiG-21, while carrying more capable avionics and weapons including beyond-visual-range missiles. A major design consideration was take-off and landing performance, existing Soviet fast jets required very long runways which, combined with their limited range, restricted their tactical usefulness. The VVS demanded the new aircraft have a much shorter take-off run, low-level speed and handling was also to be improved over the MiG-21. Manoeuvrability was not an urgent requirement and this first flew on 3 April 1967, but it soon became apparent that this configuration was unsatisfactory, as the lift jets became useless dead weight once airborne. Work on the strand of development was carried out in parallel by a team led by A. A Andreyev, with MiG directed to build a variable-geometry prototype. The 23-11 featured variable-geometry wings which could be set to angles of 16,45 and 72 degrees, the maiden flight of 23–11 took place on 10 June 1967, flown by the famous MiG test pilot Alexander Vasilevich Fedotov. Six more flight prototypes and two static-test prototypes were prepared for flight and system testing. All featured the Tumansky R-27-300 turbojet engine with a thrust of 7850 kp, the order to start series production of the MiG-23 was given in December 1967. The first production MiG-23S took to the air on 21 May 1969, the General Dynamics F-111 and McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II were the main Western influences on the MiG-23. The Soviets, however, wanted a lighter, single-engined fighter to maximize agility. Both the F-111 and the MiG-23 were designed as fighters, but the weight and inherent stability of the F-111 turned it into a long-range interdictor. The MiG-23s designers kept the MiG-23 light and agile enough to dogfight with enemy fighters, the MiG-23s armament evolved as the types avionics were upgraded and new variants were deployed
14.
Sukhoi Su-17
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The Sukhoi Su-17 is a Soviet variable-sweep wing fighter-bomber developed from the Sukhoi Su-7. It enjoyed a career in Soviet, later Russian, service and was widely exported to Eastern Bloc, Arab air forces, Angola and Peru as the Su-20. It is the first variable-sweep wing of Russian/Soviet origin, the Su-17 set a number of world records. Seeking to improve low-speed and take-off/landing performance of the Su-7B fighter-bomber, the Su-7IG, converted from a production Su-7BM, had fixed inner portions of the wing with movable outer segments which could be swept to 28°, 45°, or 62°. The new wing also had extensive leading-edge slats and trailing-edge flaps, Su-7IG first flew on 2 August 1966 with V. S. Ilyushin at the controls, becoming the first Soviet variable geometry aircraft. Testing revealed that take-off and landing speeds had decreased by 50–60 km/h compared to the conventional Su-7, the production aircraft was named Su-17 and was unofficially dubbed Strizh in service. Aside from the new wing, it differed from its predecessor Su-7 in having a new canopy, the Su-17 first flew on 1 July 1969 with E. K. Kukushev at the controls. A total of 2,867 Su-17 and its variants were built, the Su-17 entered service with the Soviet Air Force in 1970. The aircraft was used by both the Soviets and the Afghanistan government forces during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, high-altitude airfields and hot dusty climate created special operational challenges. In the summer, the roll of the Su-17 increased 1. 5-fold and landings frequently ended with burst tires. Avionics failures were due to heat and sand contamination. The first-series Su-17s were quickly replaced with more capable Su-17M3 and Su-17M4, although external armor was added around the engine, hydraulics, and fuel systems based on damage analysis, this was still insufficient compared to dedicated close air support Su-25s. The appearance of MANPADS such as the Soviet-made Strela 2, Revised tactics and retrofit of up to 12 flare dispensers which fired automatically during the attack run proved effective, and in 1985 only one Soviet Su-17 was lost to ground fire. Forced to operate 3, 500–4,000 m above ground, Su-17s shifted from using unguided rockets to bombs, including thermobaric weapons, while Su-25s were tasked with precision strikes. Toward the end of the war, the Su-17 force was replaced by the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-27s in order to perform operational testing of the new fighter-bomber. The Su-17M3/4 were used during the First Chechen War alongside Sukhoi Su-24s and Sukhoi Su-25s in ground attack, in a move to eliminate single engine strike aircraft from its inventory, the Russian Air Force retired its last Su-17M4 along with its fleet of MiG-23/27s in 1998. The Soviets supplied the communist government of Angola with 12 Su-20Ms in 1982 or 1983, a second shipment from Belarus in 1999 consisted of 2 Su-22UBs and 4 Su-22Ms, and a third one from Slovakia in 1999–2001 consisted of 10 Su-22M-4s and one Su-22UM-3K. These aircraft saw heavy use in the war against UNITA, the pilot managed to eject and flee naked after stripping off his flight suit
15.
Operation Southern Watch
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Operation Southern Watch was an air-centric military operation conducted by the United States Department of Defense from Summer 1992 to Spring 2003. Nothing in the resolution spelled out the Iraqi no-fly zones or Operation Southern Watch, military forces from Saudi Arabia, the United States, the United Kingdom, and France participated in Operation Southern Watch. An intensification was noted prior to the 2003 invasion of Iraq and it is now known that this increased activity occurred during an operation known as Operation Southern Focus. At first, Iraqi forces did not attack Coalition aircraft, later in the day, several Iraqi fighters dodged back and forth across the 32nd parallel, staying out of missile range of American fighters. However, an Iraqi MiG-25 crossed too far and was trapped inside the 32nd parallel by a flight of USAF F-16 Falcons of the 33rd Fighter Squadron, after intelligence verified the aircraft was hostile, the fighter pilot received clearance to fire. The lead plane piloted by then-Lieutenant Colonel Gary North, USAF and this was the first combat kill by an F-16 in USAF service, and the first combat kill using the AIM-120 AMRAAM missile. On 17 January 1993, a USAF F-16C destroyed an Iraqi MiG-23 Flogger with an AMRAAM missile for the second USAF aerial victory, on 7 January 1993, Iraq agreed to American, British, and French demands to withdraw their surface-to-air missiles from below the 32nd parallel. However, they did not remove all of them, and U. S. President George H. W. Bush ordered U. S. aircraft to bomb the remaining missile sites. On 13 January, more than 100 American, British, and French aircraft attacked Iraqi missile sites near Nasiriyah, Samawah, Najaf, around half the Iraqi sites south of the 32nd parallel were hit. On 29 June, a USAF F-4G Phantom II destroyed an Iraqi radar which had illuminated it, the first nine months of 1994 were quiet, and the USAF began to withdraw forces from the region. Saddam later withdrew the Iraqi Republican Guard out of the Kuwati border due to massive American military buildup and this served to increase Coalition resolve to enforce the no-fly zones and contain Iraqi aggression. On 25 June 1996, terrorists bombed the U. S. base at Khobar Towers in Dhahran, the attack killing 19 American airmen and injured an additional 372 people. In August 1996, Iraqi forces invaded the Kurdish regions of northern Iraq, as a result, the no-fly zone was extended north to the 33rd parallel. This marked renewed conflict with Iraqi air defenses and several more radars were destroyed by F-16 fighters, on 15 December 1998, France suspended participation in the no-fly zones, arguing that they had been maintained for too long and were ineffective. On 16 December, U. S. President Bill Clinton ordered execution of Operation Desert Fox and this resulted in an increased level of combat in the no-fly zones which lasted until 2003. On 30 December 1998, Iraqi SA-6 missile sites fired 6 to 8 surface-to-air missiles at American military aircraft, USAF F-16s responded by bombing the sites. On 5 January 1999, four Iraqi MiG-25s crossed into the southern no-fly zone, the American fighters fired a total of six missiles at the Iraqi aircraft, but they were able to evade them all and escape back to the north. Over the same period, American aircraft had attacked Iraqi targets on 73 occasions
16.
Operation Vigilant Warrior
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A quick response by United States President Bill Clinton allowed USCENTAF command and staff to deploy to Riyadh within days. C/2/5 SFG maintained the CAS umbrella continuously until elements of 1st Brigade of the 24 Infantry Division arrived in Kuwait, operational Outcome, Army Prepositioned Stocks concept could not adequately respond to tactical threats emerging in the Persian Gulf area. On the evening of 7 October 1994, 1st Brigade of the 24th Infantry Division based at Fort Stewart GA went on alert and those elements completed the air movement within 48 hours. Within 72 hours, that reinforced brigade drew pre-positioned equipment stored at Camp Doha In addition two Patriot missile batteries from Fort Polk, Louisiana were dispatched to theater, on 8 October, 1st Force Service Support Group, I Marine Expeditionary Force, was put on alert. The 1st FSSG Forward was manned up to deploy as the element for the 1st FSSG. The FSSG FWD deployed 120 Marines and equipment from March Air Force Base, CA to Dhahran, the unit then traveled north by convoy to the port of Al-Jubayli. At the same time, the 3rd Brigade, 24th Infantry Division deployed from Fort Benning GA to the port of Ad-Dammam and this allowed better face-to-face coordination with tactical air control parties assets further forward deployed at Camp Doha, Kuwait and points North. They initiated the first of a series of 120-day rotations for the A-10 community that continued until Operation IRAQI FREEDOM commenced. The United Kingdoms contribution was two warships, HMS Cardiff and HMS Cornwall, doubling their deployment of RAF Tornado GR1s, elements of the 45 Commando were airlifted into Kuwait. The Commandos operated alongside the 1st Brigade of 24th Infantry Division, Iraq recalled its ground forces during the last weeks of October. With no remaining need for the troops, retrograde began within a few days. The Marines departed from Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, on 5 November 1994, much of the 24th Infantry Division turned in the pre-positioned equipment and rotated out of Kuwait before Thanksgiving Day, but trail elements remained until the first days of December. There is significant debate over Iraqi intentions during the October 1994 crisis, others have argued that Saddam never intended to actually invade Kuwait and the movements were intended as a provocation to draw attention to Iraqs plight under the international sanctions regime. Iraq formally recognized Kuwaits independence at the end of the crisis on November 10, the Joint Meritorious Unit Award given went to HQ US Training Mission Riyadh, Saudi Arabia,8 October 1994 through 15 December 1994, for Operation Vigilant Warrior. President Clinton visited the troops in late October. On 28 October, he spoke to the members of the 1st Brigade, Clinton emphasized the speed at which the brigade deployed deterred a repeat of the 1991 invasion of Kuwait. Clinton stated, You got here in a big hurry. And because of that, Iraq got the message in a big hurry
17.
1996 cruise missile strikes on Iraq
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On 31 August 1996, the Iraqi military launched its biggest offensive since 1991 against the city of Irbil in Iraqi Kurdistan. This attack stoked American fears that the Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein intended to launch a campaign against the Kurds similar to the campaigns of 1988 and 1991. It also placed Saddam in clear violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 688 forbidding repression of Iraqs ethnic minorities, however, the strike instead was launched by U. S. Navy surface warships and U. S. Air Force bombers. On 3 September 1996, a joint operation by the U. S. Navys Carl Vinson Carrier Battle Group and U. S. A second wave of 17 missiles was launched later that day from the destroyers USS Russell, USS Hewitt, USS Laboon, the missiles hit targets in and around Kut, Iskandariyah, Nasiriyah, and Tallil. These strikes, along with follow-on deployments of troops, aircraft, and it is debatable whether the attacks did or did not have a substantial effect on Iraqs northern campaign. Once they installed the Kurdistan Democratic Party in control of Irbil, the KDP drove the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan from its other strongholds, and with additional Iraqi help, captured Sulaymaniyah. The PUK and its leader, Jalal Talabani, retreated to the Iranian border,1993 cruise missile strikes on Iraq Bombing of Iraq Operation Desert Strike at globalsecurity. org
18.
Operation Northern Watch
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Operation Northern Watch, the successor to Operation Provide Comfort, was a Combined Task Force charged with enforcing its own no-fly zone above the 36th parallel in Iraq. Its mission began on 1 January 1997, the coalition partners of the United States, United Kingdom, and Turkey provided approximately 45 aircraft and more than 1,400 personnel to support Operation Northern Watch. The joint U. S. forces of some 1,100 U. S. personnel, included airmen, sailors, soldiers, the original mandate from the Turkish government allowed the operation to continue for six months. Turkey subsequently approved two 6-month extensions, but indicated that it would not become a permanent mission, for the first year of the mission, northern Iraq was quiet, with no combat between Coalition aircraft and Iraqi forces. Operation Northern Watch forces did not take part in Operation Desert Fox in December 1998, after Desert Fox, Iraq announced they would no longer recognize the no-fly zones and urged their troops to attack Coalition aircraft. On December 28,1998 Iraq fired SA-3 surface to air missiles against coalition aircraft patrolling the northern no-fly zone, from December 1998 to March 1999, U. S. aircraft over northern Iraq came under almost daily fire from Iraqi surface-to-air missile sites and anti-aircraft guns. U. S. aircraft responded by bombing Iraqi air-defense sites, using laser-guided bombs as well as AGM-88 HARM missiles, the first combat use of the AGM-130 was conducted during ONW. Coalition aircraft flew patrols on an average of 18 days per month, the most common threat was from anti-aircraft guns. Despite Saddam Hussein offering a $14,000 reward for downing a Coalition aircraft, low level conflict continued up until the invasion of Iraq in 2003, although the number of response incidents declined dramatically after 1999. The final combat air patrol occurred on 17 March 2003, six weeks later the operation concluded with an official stand down on 1 May 2003. A grand total of 36,000 sorties were flown during Operation Northern Watch, Operation Northern Watch was the longest combat operation in the history of the European Command. Operation Southern Watch Global Security brief on Operation Northern Watch
19.
Bombing of Iraq (1998)
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The December 1998 bombing of Iraq was a major four-day bombing campaign on Iraqi targets from 16 December 1998, to 19 December 1998, by the United States and United Kingdom. The contemporaneous justification for the strikes was Iraqs failure to comply with United Nations Security Council resolutions, the operation was a major flare-up in the Iraq disarmament crisis. The bombing campaign had been anticipated since February 1998 and incurred wide-ranging criticism and support, at home, saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates initially announced they would deny U. S. military the use of local bases for the purpose of air strikes against Iraq. The new Act appropriated funds for Iraqi opposition groups in the hope of removing Saddam Hussein from power, despite the acts intention being support of opposition groups, Clinton justified his order for US action under the Act. The Act also said that, Nothing in this Act shall be construed to authorize or otherwise speak to the use of United States Armed Forces in carrying out this Act. Just prior to Desert Fox, the U. S. nearly led a campaign against Saddam called Operation Desert Thunder. It was abandoned at the last minute when the Iraqi leader allowed the UN to continue weapons inspections, Clinton administration officials said the aim of the mission was to degrade Iraqs ability to manufacture and use weapons of mass destruction, not to eliminate it. We are lessening, degrading his ability to use this, the weapons of mass destruction are the threat of the future. I think the president explained very clearly to the American people that this is the threat of the 21st century, hat it means is that we know we cant get everything, but degrading is the right word. Also, one of Saddams lavish presidential palaces came under attack, Iraqi air defense batteries, unable to target the American and British jets, began to blanket the sky with near random bursts of flak fire. The air strikes continued unabated however, and cruise missile launched by naval vessels added to the bombs dropped by the planes. By the fourth night, most of the targets had been damaged or destroyed and the Operation was deemed a success. U. S. Navy aircraft from Carrier Air Wing Three, flying from USS Enterprise, on the second night of Operation Desert Fox, aircrews flying 12 B-52s took off from the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean and launched 74 conventional air-launched cruise missiles. The following evening, two more B-52 crews launched 16 more CALCMs, over a two-night period aircrews from the 2nd and 5th Bomb Wings launched a total of 90 CALCMs. The B-1 bomber also made its debut by striking at Republican Guard targets. Also on 17 Dec, USAF aircraft based in Kuwait participated, the British contribution totaled 15 percent of the sorties flown in Desert Fox. By 19 December, U. S. and British aircraft had struck 97 targets, supported by Secretary Cohen, as well as United States Central Command commander General Anthony C. Zinni and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Henry H. Shelton, in total, the 70-hour campaign saw U. S. forces strike 85 percent of their targets,75 percent of which were considered highly effective strikes
20.
Kurdistan Islamist conflict
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The conflict began in 2001, but subsequently merged with the larger 2003 invasion of Iraq, which led to the defeat of Ansar al-Islam. After the invasion, Ansar al-Islam continued a low level terrorist insurgency against the Kurdish Democratic Party, Ansar al-Islam was formed in September 2001 when Jund al-Islam merged with a splinter group from the Islamic Movement of Kurdistan, under the leaderhsip of Mullah Krekar. According to the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, the group consisted of Arabs and they came back to Kurdistan after the defeat of the Taliban government in Afghanistan in 2001. Ansar al-Islam imposed Sharia in the villages they controlled around Biyara, human Rights Watch has accused Ansar al-Islam of committing atrocities against the civilian population in the territory which they controlled. It has been alleged that Ansar al-Islam harshly persecuted the Kakai religious minority, human Rights Watch also accused Ansar al-Islam fighters of torturing prisoners and summarily executing captured PUK soldiers. An unsuccessful attempt was made on the life of Barham Salih in April 2002 by Ansar al-Islam, at the time, Saleh was the PUK Regional Government Prime Minister. Later in February 2003 Ansar al-Islam assassinated the prominent PUK commander Shawkat Haji Mushir, in March 2004 the US State Department officially classified Ansar al-Islam as a terrorist organization. During the 2003 Invasion of Iraq, US forces aided the PUK in attacking Ansar al-Islam, in late March 2003, PUK forces supported by American special forces captured Halabja after several days of heavy fighting. The surviving Ansar al-Islam forces fled to Iran, American intelligence personnel inspected the suspected chemical weapons site in Sargat and discovered traces of Ricin in the ruins, as well as potassium chloride. After their defeat in Iraqi Kurdistan, Ansar al-Islam joined the Iraqi insurgency in Iraq, several terrorist attacks in the Irbil area have been linked to Ansar al-Islam, including the suicide bombing of the PUK and KDP headquarters in Irbil that killed 117 people. They also carried out the bombing of the Mount Lebanon Hotel in Baghdad on March 17,2004
21.
John Abizaid
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John Philip Abizaid is a retired United States Army general and former U. S. Central Command commander, overseeing American military operations in a 27-country region, from the Horn of Africa, Abizaid succeeded General Tommy Franks as Commander, USCENTCOM, on July 7,2003, and was also elevated to the rank of four-star general the same week. He was succeeded by Admiral William J. Fallon on March 16,2007, Abizaid retired from the military on May 1,2007 after 34 years of service. As of 2007, Abizaid is employed as a fellow of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and he assumed the Distinguished Chair of the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point in December 2007. Abizaid was appointed to the board of directors of RPM International on January 24,2008, in 2008 he was selected as a Montgomery Fellow at Dartmouth College. A Lebanese American, Abizaid was born in northern California in 1951 and his grandparents had immigrated to California from southern Lebanon during the late 19th century. His father, a Navy machinist in World War II, raised him after Abizaids mother died of cancer. In his civilian studies, he earned a Master of Arts degree in Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard University, Abizaid greatly impressed his teachers at Harvard University. Abizaid was commissioned a Second Lieutenant of Infantry upon graduation from the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, Class of June 1973. He started his career with the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina and he commanded companies in the 2nd and 1st Ranger Battalions, leading a Ranger Rifle Company during the invasion of Grenada. His brigade command was the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 82nd Airborne Division and he served as the Assistant Division Commander, 1st Armored Division, in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Following that tour, he served as the 66th Commandant at the United States Military Academy at West Point, at West Point, he reined in hazing rituals and revamped the curriculum. Later, he took command of the 1st Infantry Division, the “Big Red One, ” in Würzburg, Germany, from David L. Grange and he served as the Deputy Commander, Combined Forces Command, U. S. Central Command during Operation Iraqi Freedom, Staff assignments include a tour with the United Nations as Operations Officer for Observer Group Lebanon and a tour in the Office of the Chief of Staff of the U. S. Army. European staff tours include assignments in both the Southern European Task Force and Headquarters, U. S. Army Europe. Abizaid also served as Executive Assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Director of Strategic Plans and Policy on the Joint Staff, following the Iraq War and the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, he assumed command of Central Command from General Tommy Franks. On December 20,2006, it was announced that Abizaid would step down from his position and he had planned to retire earlier, but stayed at the urging of Donald Rumsfeld. On March 16,2007, Abizaid transferred command to Admiral William J. Fallon, after serving longer as Commander, Central Command than any of his predecessors
22.
Kurds
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The Kurds are culturally and linguistically closely related to the Iranian peoples and, as a result, are often themselves classified as an Iranian people. A recent Kurdish diaspora has also developed in Western countries, primarily in Germany, the Kurdish language refers collectively to the related dialects spoken by the Kurds. It is mainly spoken in parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria. Kurdish holds official status in Iraq as a national language alongside Arabic, is recognized in Iran as a regional language, the Kurdish languages belong to the northwestern sub‑group of the Iranian languages, which in turn belongs to the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European family. According to Mackenzie, there are few features that all Kurdish dialects have in common. And the fact that this reflects the sense of ethnic identity and unity of the Kurds. The number of Kurds living in Southwest Asia is estimated at close to 30 million, Kurds comprise anywhere from 18% to 20% of the population in Turkey, possibly as high as 25%,15 to 20% in Iraq, 10% in Iran, and 9% in Syria. Kurds form regional majorities in all four of these countries, viz. in Turkish Kurdistan, the Kurds are the fourth largest ethnic group in West Asia after the Arabs, Persians, and Turks. The total number of Kurds in 1991 was placed at 22.5 million, with 48% of this number living in Turkey, 18% in Iraq, 24% in Iran, and 4% in Syria. Recent emigration accounts for a population of close to 1.5 million in Western countries and this groups population was estimated at close to 0.4 million in 1990. The land of Karda is mentioned on a Sumerian clay-tablet dated to the 3rd millennium B. C. This land was inhabited by the people of Su who dwelt in the regions of Lake Van. Other Sumerian clay-tables referred the people, who lived in the land of Karda, as the Qarduchi and the Qurti. Many Kurds consider themselves descended from the Medes, an ancient Iranian people, the claimed Median descent is reflected in the words of the Kurdish national anthem, We are the children of the Medes and Kai Khosrow. The Kurdish languages form a subgroup of the Northwestern Iranian languages like Median, some researchers consider the independent Kardouchoi as the ancestors of the Kurds. The term Kurd, however, is first encountered in Arabic sources of the seventh century, the Kurds have ethnically diverse origins. During the Sassanid era, in Kar-Namag i Ardashir i Pabagan, after initially sustaining a heavy defeat, Ardashir I was successful in subjugating the Kurds. In a letter Ardashir I received from his foe, Ardavan V, the usage of the term Kurd during this time period most likely was a social term, designating Northwestern Iranian nomads, rather than a concrete ethnic group
23.
Gulf War
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The Iraqi Armys occupation of Kuwait that began 2 August 1990 was met with international condemnation, and brought immediate economic sanctions against Iraq by members of the UN Security Council. US President George H. W. Bush deployed US forces into Saudi Arabia, an array of nations joined the coalition, the largest military alliance since World War II. The great majority of the military forces were from the US, with Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom. Kuwait and Saudi Arabia paid around US$32 billion of the US$60 billion cost, the war was marked by the introduction of live news broadcasts from the front lines of the battle, principally by the US network CNN. The war has also earned the nickname Video Game War after the daily broadcast of images from cameras on board US bombers during Operation Desert Storm. The initial conflict to expel Iraqi troops from Kuwait began with an aerial and naval bombardment on 17 January 1991 and this was followed by a ground assault on 24 February. This was a victory for the coalition forces, who liberated Kuwait. The coalition ceased its advance, and declared a ceasefire 100 hours after the campaign started. Aerial and ground combat was confined to Iraq, Kuwait, Iraq launched Scud missiles against coalition military targets in Saudi Arabia and against Israel. The following names have been used to describe the conflict itself, Gulf War, a problem with these terms is that the usage is ambiguous, having now been applied to at least three conflicts, see Gulf War. The use of the term Persian Gulf is also disputed, see Persian Gulf naming dispute, with no consensus of naming, various publications have attempted to refine the name. Other language terms include French, la Guerre du Golfe and German, Golfkrieg, German, Zweiter Golfkrieg, French, most of the coalition states used various names for their operations and the wars operational phases. Operation Desert Storm was the US name of the conflict from 17 January 1991. Operation Desert Sabre was the US name for the offensive against the Iraqi Army in the Kuwaiti Theater of Operations from 24–28 February 1991, in itself. Operation Desert Farewell was the given to the return of US units and equipment to the US in 1991 after Kuwaits liberation. Operation Granby was the British name for British military activities during the operations, Opération Daguet was the French name for French military activities in the conflict. Operation Friction was the name of the Canadian operations Operazione Locusta was the Italian name for the operations, in addition, various phases of each operation may have a unique operational name. The US divided the conflict into three campaigns, Defense of Saudi Arabian country for the period 2 August 1990, through 16 January 1991
24.
Saddam
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Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. In the early 1970s, Saddam nationalized oil and other industries, the state-owned banks were put under his control, leaving the system eventually insolvent mostly due to the Iran–Iraq War, the Gulf War, and UN sanctions. Through the 1970s, Saddam cemented his authority over the apparatuses of government as oil money helped Iraqs economy to grow at a rapid pace, positions of power in the country were mostly filled with Sunni Arabs, a minority that made up only a fifth of the population. Saddam formally rose to power in 1979, although he had been the de facto head of Iraq for several years prior. He suppressed several movements, particularly Shia and Kurdish movements, seeking to overthrow the government or gain independence, and maintained power during the Iran–Iraq War and the Gulf War. Whereas some in the Arab world lauded Saddam for his opposition to the United States, the total number of Iraqis killed by the security services of Saddams government in various purges and genocides is unknown, but the lowest estimate is 250,000. Saddams Baath party was disbanded and elections were held, following his capture on 13 December 2003, the trial of Saddam took place under the Iraqi Interim Government. On 5 November 2006, Saddam was convicted of charges of crimes against humanity related to the 1982 killing of 148 Iraqi Shiites and his execution was carried out on 30 December 2006. His mother, Subha Tulfah al-Mussallat, named her newborn son Saddam and he is always referred to by this personal name, which may be followed by the patronymic and other elements. He never knew his father, Hussein Abd al-Majid, who disappeared six months before Saddam was born, shortly afterward, Saddams 13-year-old brother died of cancer. The infant Saddam was sent to the family of his maternal uncle Khairallah Talfah until he was three and his mother remarried, and Saddam gained three half-brothers through this marriage. His stepfather, Ibrahim al-Hassan, treated Saddam harshly after his return, at about age 10, Saddam fled the family and returned to live in Baghdad with his uncle Kharaillah Talfah. Later in his relatives from his native Tikrit became some of his closest advisors and supporters. Under the guidance of his uncle he attended a high school in Baghdad. After secondary school Saddam studied at an Iraqi law school for three years, dropping out in 1957 at the age of 20 to join the revolutionary pan-Arab Baath Party, during this time, Saddam apparently supported himself as a secondary school teacher. Revolutionary sentiment was characteristic of the era in Iraq and throughout the Middle East, in Iraq progressives and socialists assailed traditional political elites. Moreover, the nationalism of Gamal Abdel Nasser in Egypt profoundly influenced young Baathists like Saddam. The rise of Nasser foreshadowed a wave of revolutions throughout the Middle East in the 1950s and 1960s, with the collapse of the monarchies of Iraq, Egypt, and Libya
25.
3 Commando Brigade
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3 Commando Brigade is a commando formation of the British Armed Forces and the main manoeuvre formation of the Royal Marines. Its personnel are predominantly Royal Marines, supported by units of Royal Engineers, Royal Artillery, the brigade was formed in 1943, during the Second World War, with a mixture of Army commando and Royal Marine commando units and served in the Burma Campaign. After the Second World War, the Army commandos were disbanded, since the end of the Second World War, it has served in the Suez crisis, Falklands War, Gulf War and the War in Afghanistan. The 3rd Special Service Brigade was formed in 1943 and sailed for the Far East, on 6 December 1944, the brigade was renamed 3rd Commando Brigade, removing the hated title Special Service and its association with the German SS. In January 1945, the Brigade was involved in the battles to secure the Myebon peninsula, the brigade was then withdrawn to India to prepare for the amphibious assault on Malaya, but the dropping of the atom bombs on Japan ended the war before the planned invasion. Instead, the moved to Hong Kong to secure the Crown Colony. In 1946, the Army Commandos in the brigade were disbanded, the brigade was composed as follows, No.1 Commando No.5 Commando No.42 Royal Marine Commando No.44 Royal Marine Commando. 3 Commando Brigade’s most high-profile operation after the war was the Suez Crisis, during Operation Musketeer, units of the brigade made a helicopter-borne assault. 1971 saw the withdrawal of British forces from the Far East, the brigade returned to the UK with other British units. It moved to Stonehouse Barracks in Plymouth, where it remains to this day, the brigade was deployed to Northern Ireland as part of Operation Banner as violence escalated during the Troubles in July 1972. The brigades next operation was in 1982. Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands, and 3 Commando Brigade, reinforced by 2 Para and 3 Para, was one of the two main British land formations that took part in operations to recapture the islands. The Brigade landed at San Carlos Water and marched across East Falkland to Stanley, argentine units were defeated in several sharp engagements, and their forces surrendered on 14 June. In the aftermath of the 1991 Gulf War, the brigade was deployed on a task in northern Iraq. The Iraqi Kurds had suffered immensely during the war and in its aftermath. It provided humanitarian aid to the Kurds and saved many from starvation, recently, the brigade has been involved in two major campaigns, including Operation Veritas in Afghanistan,2001 and 2002, and Operation Telic during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. In Afghanistan, no contact was made with enemy forces, despite contrary predictions. Iraq, however, saw heavy fighting occur in the stages of the campaign
26.
Royal Marines
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The Corps of Royal Marines is the United Kingdoms amphibious light infantry force, forming part of the Naval Service, along with the Royal Navy. The Royal Marines were formed in 1755 as the Royal Navys infantry troops, as a highly specialised and adaptable light infantry force, the Royal Marines are trained for rapid deployment worldwide and capable of dealing with a wide range of threats. The Royal Marines have close ties with allied marine forces, particularly the United States Marine Corps. Today, the Royal Marines are a fighting force within the British Armed forces. The Royal Marines can trace its origins back as far as 28 October 1664 when at the grounds of the Honourable Artillery Company the Duke of York and Albanys maritime regiment of foot was first formed. On 5 April 1755, His Majestys Marine Forces, fifty Companies in three Divisions, headquartered at Chatham, Portsmouth, and Plymouth, were formed by Order of Council under Admiralty control. Initially all field officers were Royal Navy officers as the Royal Navy felt that the ranks of Marine field officers were largely honorary and this meant that the furthest a Marine officer could advance was to lieutenant colonel. It was not until 1771 that the first Marine was promoted to colonel and this attitude persisted well into the 1800s. During the rest of the 18th century, they served in numerous landings all over the world and they also served in the American War of Independence, being particularly courageous in the Battle of Bunker Hill led by Major John Pitcairn. In 1788 a detachment of four companies of marines, under Major Robert Ross, due to an error the Fleet left Portsmouth without its main supply of ammunition, and were not resupplied until the Fleet docked in Rio de Janeiro midway through the voyage. In 1802, largely at the instigation of Admiral the Earl St. Vincent, the Royal Marines Artillery was formed as a separate unit in 1804 to man the artillery in bomb ketches. These had been manned by the Armys Royal Regiment of Artillery, during the Napoleonic Wars the Royal Marines participated in every notable naval battle on board the Royal Navys ships and also took part in multiple amphibious actions. In the Caribbean theatre volunteers from freed French slaves on Marie-Galante were used to form Sir Alexander Cochranes first Corps of Colonial Marines and these men bolstered the ranks, helping the British to hold the island until reinforcements arrived. This practice was repeated during the War of 1812, where escaped American slaves were formed into Cochranes second Corps of Colonial Marines and these men were commanded by Royal Marines officers and fought alongside their regular Royal Marines counterparts at the Battle of Bladensburg. Throughout the war Royal Marines units raided up and down the east coast of America including up the Penobscot River and they fought in the Battle of New Orleans and later helped capture Fort Bowyer in Mobile Bay in what was the last action of the war. In 1855 the Infantry forces were renamed the Royal Marines Light Infantry, during the Crimean War in 1854 and 1855, three Royal Marines earned the Victoria Cross, two in the Crimea and one in the Baltic. In 1862 the name was altered to Royal Marine Light Infantry. The Royal Navy did not fight any other ships after 1850, in these Naval Brigades, the function of the Royal Marines was to land first and act as skimishers ahead of the sailor Infantry and Artillery
27.
Royal Air Force
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The Royal Air Force is the United Kingdoms aerial warfare force. Formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, following victory over the Central Powers in 1918 the RAF emerged as, at the time, the largest air force in the world. The RAF describe its mission statement as, an agile, adaptable and capable Air Force that, person for person, is second to none, and that makes a decisive air power contribution in support of the UK Defence Mission. The mission statement is supported by the RAFs definition of air power, Air power is defined as the ability to project power from the air and space to influence the behaviour of people or the course of events. Today the Royal Air Force maintains a fleet of various types of aircraft. The majority of the RAFs rotary-wing aircraft form part of the tri-service Joint Helicopter Command in support of ground forces, most of the RAFs aircraft and personnel are based in the UK, with many others serving on operations or at long-established overseas bases. It was founded on 1 April 1918, with headquarters located in the former Hotel Cecil, during the First World War, by the amalgamation of the Royal Flying Corps, at that time it was the largest air force in the world. The RAFs naval aviation branch, the Fleet Air Arm, was founded in 1924, the RAF developed the doctrine of strategic bombing which led to the construction of long-range bombers and became its main bombing strategy in the Second World War. The RAF underwent rapid expansion prior to and during the Second World War, under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan of December 1939, the air forces of British Commonwealth countries trained and formed Article XV squadrons for service with RAF formations. Many individual personnel from countries, and exiles from occupied Europe. By the end of the war the Royal Canadian Air Force had contributed more than 30 squadrons to serve in RAF formations, additionally, the Royal Australian Air Force represented around nine percent of all RAF personnel who served in the European and Mediterranean theatres. In the Battle of Britain in 1940, the RAF defended the skies over Britain against the numerically superior German Luftwaffe, the largest RAF effort during the war was the strategic bombing campaign against Germany by Bomber Command. Following victory in the Second World War, the RAF underwent significant re-organisation, during the early stages of the Cold War, one of the first major operations undertaken by the Royal Air Force was in 1948 and the Berlin Airlift, codenamed Operation Plainfire. Before Britain developed its own nuclear weapons the RAF was provided with American nuclear weapons under Project E and these were initially armed with nuclear gravity bombs, later being equipped with the Blue Steel missile. Following the development of the Royal Navys Polaris submarines, the nuclear deterrent passed to the navys submarines on 30 June 1969. With the introduction of Polaris, the RAFs strategic nuclear role was reduced to a tactical one and this tactical role was continued by the V bombers into the 1980s and until 1998 by Tornado GR1s. For much of the Cold War the primary role of the RAF was the defence of Western Europe against potential attack by the Soviet Union, with many squadrons based in West Germany. With the decline of the British Empire, global operations were scaled back, despite this, the RAF fought in many battles in the Cold War period
28.
1991 uprisings in Iraq
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The 1991 uprisings in Iraq were a series of popular rebellions in northern and southern Iraq in March and April 1991 in a cease fire of the Gulf War. Within the first two weeks, most of Iraqs cities and provinces fell to rebel forces, participants of the uprising were a diverse mix of ethnic, religious and political affiliations, including military mutineers, Shia Arab Islamists, Kurdish nationalists, and far-left groups. Following initial victories, the revolution was held back from continued success by internal divisions as well as a lack of anticipated American support, during the brief, roughly one-month period of unrest, tens of thousands of people died and nearly two million people were displaced. After the conflict, the Iraqi government intensified a prior systematic forced relocation of Marsh Arabs, on February 15,1991, then President of the United States of America, George H. W. Bush, made a speech targeting Iraqis via Voice of America radio. The speaker on the radio was Salah Omar al-Ali, a former member of the Baath Party. Iraqi armed forces were composed largely of Shia conscripts and contained substantial anti-regime elements, the turmoil first began in the towns of Abu Al-Khaseeb and Az Zubayr, south of Basra, at the end of February. The uprising in Basra was entirely spontaneous and disorganised, the news of this event and Bushs radio broadcasts encouraged the Iraqi people to revolt against the regime in the other towns and cities. In Najaf, a demonstration near the citys great Imam Ali Mosque became a gun battle between army deserters and Saddams security forces, the rebels seized the shrine as Baath Party officials fled the city or were killed, prisoners were freed from jails. The uprising spread within days to all of the largest Shia cities in southern Iraq, Amarah, Diwaniya, Hilla, Karbala, Kut, smaller cities were swept up in the revolution as well. Many exiled Iraqi dissidents, including thousands of Iran-based Badr Brigades militants of SCIRI, crossed the borders, another wave of insurgency broke out shortly afterwards in the Kurdish populated northern Iraq. In the north, the defection of the government-recruited Kurdish home guard militias, known as jash, the rebellion in the north erupted on March 5 in the town of Rania. Entire units surrendered without much or any resistance, including the whole 24th Division which did not fire a single bullet, in Sulaymaniyah, the rebels besieged and captured the regional headquarters of the dreaded Directorate of General Security secret police. In a bloody revenge, they killed several hundred of captured Baathist officials and security officers without a trial, reportedly, unlike in the south, the Kurdish rebellion was preceded by demonstrations with clear political slogans, democracy for Iraq and autonomy for Kurdistan. After Mosul was taken, Jalal Talabani proposed to march on the capital Baghdad, at the height of the revolution, the government lost effective control over 14 of Iraqs 18 provinces. However, the people of Baghdad remained largely passive, as the Dawa Party, the Communist Party, there was only a limited unrest in the Shia-populated vast slum of Saddam City while the rest of Baghdad remained calm. Soon, regime loyalists regrouped and went on an offensive to reclaim the cities, there were several reports of chemical warfare attacks, including of a nerve agent being used during the assault on Basra. According to the U. S. S. forces that have been stationed there at the time, in the south, Saddams forces quelled all but a scattering of the resistance by the end of March. On March 29, SCIRI leader Abdul Aziz al-Hakim conceded that Shia rebels withdrew from the cities, the Kurdish uprising in the north of the country collapsed even more quickly than it began
29.
Anfal genocide
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The Al-Anfal campaign Operation Anfal or just simply Anfal was a campaign against Kurdistan in northern Iraq, led by Ali Hassan al-Majid in the final stages of the Iran–Iraq War. Sweden, Norway and the United Kingdom officially recognize the Anfal campaign as genocide, Al-Anfal is the eighth sura or chapter of the Quran which explains the triumph of 313 followers of the new Muslim faith over almost 900 pagans at the Battle of Badr in 624 AD. Al Anfal literally means the spoils and was used to describe the campaign of extermination. His orders informed jash units that taking cattle, sheep, goats, money, weapons, the Anfal campaign began in 1986 and lasted until 1989, and was headed by Ali Hassan al-Majid. Thousands of civilians were killed during the anti-insurgent campaigns stretching from the spring of 1987 through the fall of 1988.5 million Kurdish population, amnesty International collected the names of more than 17,000 people who had disappeared during 1988. The campaign has been characterized as genocidal in nature and it is also characterized as gendercidal, because battle-age men were the primary targets, according to Human Rights Watch/Middle East. According to the Iraqi prosecutors and Kurdish officials, as many as 180,000 people were killed, in March 1987, Ali Hassan al-Majid was appointed secretary-general of the Baath Partys Northern Region, which included Iraqi Kurdistan. Under al-Majid, control of policies against the Kurdish insurgents passed from the Iraqi Army to the Baath Party itself and it would be known as al-Anfal, in a reference to the eighth sura of the Quran. Anfal, officially conducted in 1988, would have eight stages altogether, for these assaults, the Iraqis mustered up to 200,000 soldiers with air support—matched against Kurdish guerrilla forces that numbered no more than a few thousand. On March 16,1988, there was a poison gas attack on the city of Halabja in which 3, 200-5,000 Kurdish people were killed. When captured, Kurdish populations were transported to detention centers, adult, according to Human Rights Watch/Middle East, With only minor variations. The standard pattern for sorting new arrivals, men and women were segregated on the spot as soon as the trucks had rolled to a halt in the bases large central courtyard or parade ground. A little later, the men were divided by age, small children were kept with their mothers. Men and teenage boys considered to be of an age to use a weapon were herded together, a strapping twelve-year-old might fail to make the cut, an undersized sixteen-year-old might be told to remain with his female relatives. It was then time to process the younger males and they were split into smaller groups. Once duly registered, the prisoners were hustled into large rooms, or halls, although the conditions at Topzawa were appalling for everyone, the most grossly overcrowded quarter seem to have been those where the male detainees were held. For the men, beatings were routine, after a few days in these camps, the men accused of being insurgents were trucked off to be killed in mass executions. It is apparent that a purpose of Anfal was to exterminate all adult males of military service age captured in rural Iraqi Kurdistan
30.
Norman Schwarzkopf Jr.
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Herbert Norman Schwarzkopf Jr. was a United States Army general. While serving as Commander-in-chief, United States Central Command, he led all coalition forces in the Gulf War, born in Trenton, New Jersey, Schwarzkopf grew up in the United States and later in Iran. He was accepted by the U. S, Military Academy at West Point and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Army in 1956. Schwarzkopf was highly decorated in Vietnam, being awarded three Silver Star Medals, two Purple Hearts, and the Legion of Merit. Rising through the ranks after the conflict, he commanded the U. S. 24th Infantry Division and was one of the commanders of the Invasion of Grenada in 1983. Assuming command of United States Central Command in 1988, Schwarzkopf was called on to respond to the Invasion of Kuwait in 1990 by the forces of Iraq under Saddam Hussein. Initially tasked with defending Saudi Arabia from Iraqi aggression, Schwarzkopfs command eventually grew to a force of over 750,000 troops. Schwarzkopf was presented with military honors, Schwarzkopf was born Herbert Norman Schwarzkopf Jr. on August 22,1934 in Trenton, New Jersey, to Herbert Norman Schwarzkopf Sr. and Ruth Alice. His father was a 1917 graduate of the United States Military Academy and his mother was a housewife from West Virginia who was distantly related to Thomas Jefferson. The senior Schwarzkopf later became the Superintendent of the New Jersey State Police, in January 1952, the younger Schwarzkopfs birth certificate was amended to make his name H. Norman Schwarzkopf, reportedly because his father detested his first name. The younger Schwarzkopf had two sisters, Ruth Ann and Sally Joan. Norman Schwarzkopf was described by friends as active and assertive, protective of his sisters. He spent his childhood attached to his father, who became the narrator for the Gang Busters radio program. When Norman Schwarzkopf was eight years old, his father returned to the military amid World War II and his continuous absence made home life difficult, particularly for his wife. In 1946, when Norman Schwarzkopf was 12, he moved with his father to Tehran, Iran, in Iran, Norman learned shooting, horseback riding, and hunting. Schwarzkopf developed a lifelong interest in Middle Eastern culture, the family moved to Geneva, Switzerland, in 1947, following a new military assignment for Herbert Schwarzkopf. The senior Schwarzkopf visited Italy, Heidelberg, Frankfurt, and Berlin, Germany during his duties. By 1951 he had returned to Iran briefly before returning to the United States, from a young age, Norman wanted to be a military officer, following his fathers example
31.
McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle
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The McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle is an American twin-engine, all-weather tactical fighter aircraft designed by McDonnell Douglas to gain and maintain air supremacy in aerial combat. Following reviews of proposals, the United States Air Force selected McDonnell Douglas design in 1967 to meet the services need for an air superiority fighter. The Eagle first flew in July 1972, and entered service in 1976 and it is among the most successful modern fighters, with over 100 victories and no losses in aerial combat, with the majority of the kills scored by the Israel Air Force. The Eagle has been exported to Israel, Japan, and Saudi Arabia, the F-15 was originally envisioned as a pure air superiority aircraft. Its design included a secondary ground-attack capability that was largely unused, the aircraft design proved flexible enough that an all-weather strike derivative, the F-15E Strike Eagle, was later developed and entered service in 1989. The F-15 Eagle is expected to be in service with the U. S. Air Force past 2025, newer models are still being produced for foreign users. The F-15 production line is set to end in 2019,47 years after the types first flight. The F-15 can ultimately trace its origins to the Vietnam War, when the U. S. Air Force, at the time, Defense Secretary Robert McNamara was pressing for both services to use as many common aircraft as possible, even if there were performance sacrifices involved. The former were capable in the tactical role, while the latter might be less so. If the Air Force did choose a design, maintaining air superiority would be a top priority. The next month, a report on light tactical aircraft suggested the Air Force purchase the F-5 or A-7 and this point was reinforced after the loss of two Republic F-105 Thunderchief aircraft to obsolete MiG-15s or MiG-17s on 4 April 1965. In April 1965, Harold Brown, at that time director of the DDR&E, stated the position was to consider the F-5. On 1 August, Gabriel Disosway took command of Tactical Air Command and reiterated calls for the F-X, an official requirements document was finalized in October, and sent out as a request for proposals to 13 companies on 8 December 1965. Following a downselect, four companies were asked to further developments. In total, they developed some 500 design concepts, typical designs featured variable-sweep wings, weighed over 60,000 pounds, included a top speed of Mach 2.7 and a thrust-to-weight ratio of 0.75. When the proposals were studied in July 1966, the aircraft were roughly the size and weight of the TFX, and like that aircraft, through this period, studies of combat over Vietnam were producing worrying results. Previous doctrine had stressed long-range combat using missiles, and optimized aircraft for this role, the result was highly loaded aircraft with large radars and excellent speed, but limited maneuverability and often lacking a gun. In early 1967, they proposed that the design had a thrust-to-weight ratio of near 1,1, a maximum speed further reduced to Mach 2.3, a weight of 40,000 pounds
32.
Fighter aircraft
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A fighter aircraft is a military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat against other aircraft, as opposed to bombers and attack aircraft, whose main mission is to attack ground targets. The hallmarks of a fighter are its speed, maneuverability, many fighters have secondary ground-attack capabilities, and some are designed as dual-purpose fighter-bombers, often aircraft that do not fulfill the standard definition are called fighters. This may be for political or national security reasons, for advertising purposes, a fighters main purpose is to establish air superiority over a battlefield. Since World War I, achieving and maintaining air superiority has been considered essential for victory in conventional warfare, the word fighter did not become the official English-language term for such aircraft until after World War I. In the British Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force these aircraft were referred to as scouts into the early 1920s, the U. S. Army called their fighters pursuit aircraft from 1916 until the late 1940s. In most languages a fighter aircraft is known as a hunter, exceptions include Russian, where a fighter is an истребитель, meaning exterminator, and Hebrew where it is matose krav. As a part of nomenclature, a letter is often assigned to various types of aircraft to indicate their use. In Russia I was used, while the French continue to use C and this has always been the case, for instance the Sopwith Camel and other fighting scouts of World War I performed a great deal of ground-attack work. Several aircraft, such as the F-111 and F-117, have received fighter designations but had no fighter capability due to political or other reasons, the F-111B variant was originally intended for a fighter role with the U. S. Navy, but it was cancelled. This blurring follows the use of fighters from their earliest days for attack or strike operations against ground targets by means of strafing or dropping small bombs, versatile multirole fighter-bombers such as the F/A-18 Hornet are a less expensive option than having a range of specialized aircraft types. An interceptor is generally an aircraft intended to target bombers and so often trades maneuverability for climb rate, fighters were developed in World War I to deny enemy aircraft and dirigibles the ability to gather information by reconnaissance. Early fighters were very small and lightly armed by later standards, and most were built with a wooden frame, covered with fabric. As control of the airspace over armies became increasingly important all of the major powers developed fighters to support their military operations, between the wars, wood was largely replaced by steel tubing, then aluminium tubing, and finally aluminium stressed skin structures began to predominate. By World War II, most fighters were all-metal monoplanes armed with batteries of guns or cannons. By the end of the war, turbojet engines were replacing piston engines as the means of propulsion, further increasing aircraft speed. Since the weight of the engine was so less than on piston engined fighters. This in turn required the development of ejection seats so the pilot could escape, in the 1950s, radar was fitted to day fighters, since pilots could no longer see far enough ahead to prepare for any opposition. Since then, radar capabilities have grown enormously and are now the method of target acquisition
33.
Fighter-bomber
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A fighter-bomber is a fighter aircraft that has been modified, or used primarily, as a light bomber or attack aircraft. Although still used, the term fighter-bomber has less significance since the introduction of rockets, modern aircraft with similar duties are now typically called multirole combat aircraft or strike fighters. Prior to World War II, general limitations in available engine, engine power grew dramatically during the early period of the war, roughly doubling between 1939 and 1943. It had two Bristol Mercury XV radial engines of 920 hp each, a crew of three, and its payload was just 1,200 lbs of bombs. The Blenheim suffered disastrous losses over France in 1939 when it encountered Messerschmitt Bf 109s, in contrast, the Vought F4U Corsair fighter — which entered service in December 1942 — had in common with its eventual U. S. With less airframe and crew to lift, the Corsairs ordnance load was either four High Velocity Aircraft Rockets or 2,000 lbs of bombs, increased engine power meant that many existing fighter designs could carry useful bomb loads, and adapt to the fighter-bomber role. Notable examples include the Focke-Wulf Fw 190, Hawker Typhoon and Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, larger twin-engined aircraft were also used in the fighter-bomber role, especially where longer ranges were needed for naval strikes. Examples include the Lockheed P-38 Lightning, the Bristol Beaufighter, the Beaufighter MkV had a Boulton-Paul turret with four 0.303 in machine guns mounted aft of the cockpit but only two were built. Bristols Blenheim was even pushed into service as a fighter during the Battle of Britain, equipped with an early Airborne Interception radar set, however, it proved to be an effective night fighter. The first single seat fighters to drop bombs were on the Western Front, when fighter patrols were issued with bombs and ordered to drop them at random if they met no German fighters. The Sopwith Camel, the most successful Allied aircraft of the First World War with 1,294 enemy aircraft downed, was losing its edge by 1918, the Royal Aircraft Factory S. E.5. was used in the same role. The Royal Flying Corps received the first purpose-built fighter-bomber just as the war was ending and it was not called a fighter bomber at the time, but a Trench Fighter as that was what it was designed to attack. The Sopwith Salamander was based on the Sopwith Snipe fighter but had armour plating in the nose to protect the pilot, originally it was intended to have two machine guns jutting through the cockpit floor so as to spray trenches with bullets as it passed low overhead. But this did not work and it was fitted with four Cooper bombs and it was ordered in very large numbers, but most were cancelled after the Armistice. In February and April 1918 the Royal Flying Corps conducted bombing tests at Orfordness, both WW1 fighter bombers were used with novice and experienced pilots. Best results were achieved with a dive into the wind using the Aldis Sight to align the aircraft. But they were not considered enough to justify the expected casualty rate. When war broke out in Europe, Western Allied Air Forces employed light twin-engined bombers in the role for low level attack
34.
Pilatus PC-9
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The Pilatus PC-9 is a single-engine, low-wing tandem-seat turboprop training aircraft manufactured by Pilatus Aircraft of Switzerland. Designed as a more powerful evolution of the Pilatus PC-7, the PC-9s first flight was made in May 1984 after which certification was achieved in September 1985. After this, the first production orders for the type were received from the Royal Saudi Air Force, the PC-9 is a more powerful evolution of the PC-7. It retains the overall layout of its predecessor, but it has little structural commonality with it. Amongst other improvements, the PC-9 features a larger cockpit with stepped ejection seats, the PC-9 program officially started in 1982. Although some aerodynamic elements were tested on a PC-7 during 1982 and 1983, certification was achieved in September 1985. By this time, the PC-9 had lost the Royal Air Force trainer competition to the Short Tucano, however, the marketing links that Pilatus built up with British Aerospace during the competition led to their first order from Saudi Arabia. As of 2004, more than 250 aircraft of type have been built. The first production aircraft for the Royal Australian Air Force flew on 19 May 1987, Condor of Germany uses 10 examples of the target-towing variant. In August 2015, Pilatus received a contract to deliver nine PC-9Ms to the Royal Jordanian Air Force, deliveries were due to start in January 2017 under the original deal. PC-9/A Two-seat basic trainer for the Royal Australian Air Force,48 built under licence in Australia by Hawker de Havilland. PC-9B Two-seat target-towing aircraft for the German Air Force and this target-towing version has an increased fuel capacity enabling flight for up to 3 hours and 20 minutes as well as two Southwest RM-24 winches under the wings. These winches can reel out a target up to 3.5 kilometres, PC-9M This version was introduced in 1997 as the new standard model. It has a dorsal fin in order to improve longitudinal stability, modified wingroot fairings, stall strips on the leading edges as well as new engine. Bulgaria purchased 12 aircraft in 2004, the last order was made by Mexico, which received at least two in September 2006. It was later renamed the Beechcraft T-6A Texan II and is now built, over 700 are to be built for the United States Air Force and United States Navy, with Pilatus receiving royalties. Australia Royal Australian Air Force operates 67 aircraft – two were supplied directly by Pilatus,17 were assembled from Pilatus-supplied kits and 48 were built in Australia by Hawker de Havilland, the type is also used by the Roulettes aerobatic display team of the RAAF. Bulgaria Bulgarian Air Force operates six aircraft delivered in 2004, croatia Croatian Air Force operates 20 aircraft –17 PC-9M delivered new from 1997, as well as three second-hand examples
35.
United Nations Security Council
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The Security Council held its first session on 17 January 1946. Like the UN as a whole, the Security Council was created following World War II to address the failings of an international organization. The Security Council consists of fifteen members, the great powers that were the victors of World War II—the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, France, Republic of China, and the United States—serve as the bodys five permanent members. These permanent members can veto any substantive Security Council resolution, including those on the admission of new member states or candidates for Secretary-General, the Security Council also has 10 non-permanent members, elected on a regional basis to serve two-year terms. The bodys presidency rotates monthly among its members, Security Council resolutions are typically enforced by UN peacekeepers, military forces voluntarily provided by member states and funded independently of the main UN budget. As of 2016,103,510 peacekeeping soldiers and 16,471 civilians are deployed on 16 peacekeeping operations and 1 special political mission. Following the catastrophic loss of life in World War I, the Paris Peace Conference established the League of Nations to maintain harmony between the nations, the earliest concrete plan for a new world organization began under the aegis of the US State Department in 1939. The term United Nations was first officially used when 26 governments signed this Declaration, by 1 March 1945,21 additional states had signed. The most contentious issue at Dumbarton and in successive talks proved to be the rights of permanent members. At the conference, H. V. Evatt of the Australian delegation pushed to further restrict the power of Security Council permanent members. Due to the fear that rejecting the strong veto would cause the conferences failure, the UN officially came into existence on 24 October 1945 upon ratification of the Charter by the five then-permanent members of the Security Council and by a majority of the other 46 signatories. On 17 January 1946, the Security Council met for the first time at Church House, Westminster, in London, United Kingdom. The Security Council was largely paralysed in its early decades by the Cold War between the US and USSR and their allies, and the Council generally was only able to intervene in unrelated conflicts. Cold War divisions also paralysed the Security Councils Military Staff Committee, the committee continued to exist on paper but largely abandoned its work in the mid-1950s. By the 1970s, the UN budget for social and economic development was far greater than its budget for peacekeeping. After the Cold War, the UN saw an expansion in its peacekeeping duties. Between 1988 and 2000, the number of adopted Security Council resolutions more than doubled, undersecretary-General Brian Urquhart later described the hopes raised by these successes as a false renaissance for the organization, given the more troubled missions that followed. In 1994, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda failed to intervene in the Rwandan Genocide in the face of Security Council indecision, in the late 1990s, UN-authorised international interventions took a wider variety of forms
36.
No-fly zone
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This article is about the prevention of flight in a region of airspace by the application or threat of military power. For information on prevention of flight ordinarily enforced by civil regulation or legal means, a no-fly zone is a territory or an area over which aircraft are not permitted to fly. Such zones are set up in a military context, somewhat like a demilitarized zone in the sky. Aircraft that break the no-fly zone may be shot down, depending on the terms of the NFZ, no-fly zones are a modern phenomenon. They can be distinguished from traditional air power missions by their coercive appropriation of another nation’s airspace only, during the Cold War, the risk of local conflict escalating into nuclear showdown dampened the appeal of military intervention as a tool of U. S. statecraft. Perhaps more importantly, air power was a blunt instrument until the operational maturation of stealth. However, the demise of the Soviet Union and the rise in aerospace capabilities engendered by the revolution made no-fly zones viable in both political and military contexts. The intent of the zone was to prevent possible bombing. The initial operations were dubbed Operation Provide Comfort and Operation Provide Comfort II and were followed by Operation Northern Watch, while the enforcing powers had cited United Nations Security Council Resolution 688 as authorizing the operations, the resolution contains no explicit authorization. The Secretary-General of the UN at the time the resolution was passed, in southern Iraq, Operation Southern Watch was established in 1992 to protect Iraqs Shia population. It originally extended to the 32nd parallel but was extended to the 33rd parallel in 1996, in 1992, the United Nations Security Council passed United Nations Security Council Resolution 781, prohibiting unauthorized military flights in Bosnian airspace. This led to Operation Sky Monitor, where NATO monitored violations of the no-fly zone and this led to Operation Deny Flight. NATO later launched air strikes during Operation Deny Flight and during Operation Deliberate Force, the papers findings were, 1) A clear, unified command structure is essential. A lack of support from Turkey for the 1996 Iraq no-fly zone ultimately constrained the ability to effectively enforce it. As part of the 2011 military intervention in Libya, the United Nations Security Council approved a no-fly zone on 17 March 2011, the resolution includes provisions for further actions to prevent attacks on civilian targets. NATO seized the opportunity to take the offensive, bombing Libyan government positions during the civil war, the NATO no fly zone was terminated on 27 October after a unanimous vote by the UNSC. Air supremacy List of airliner shootdown incidents Bass, Frank, Solomon, Prohibited Flights Not Unusual – Preventing Terrorism on Capital Poses Challenge. No-Fly Zones, Strategic, Operational, and Legal Considerations for Congress Congressional Research Service Wheeler, Nicholas J. Saving Strangers – Humanitarian Intervention in International Society
37.
Airborne forces
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Airborne forces are military units, usually light infantry, set up to be moved by aircraft and dropped into battle, typically by parachute. Thus, they can be placed behind enemy lines, and have the capability to deploy almost anywhere with little warning. The formations are limited only by the number and size of their aircraft, so given enough capacity a huge force can appear out of nowhere in minutes, Major Lewis H. Brereton and his superior Brigadier General Billy Mitchell suggested dropping elements of the U. S. 1st Division behind German lines near Metz, the operation was planned for February 1919 but the war ended before such an attack could be seriously planned. Mitchell conceived that US troops could be trained to utilize parachutes. Following the war, the United States Army Air Service experimented with the concept of having carried on the wings of aircraft pulled off by the opening of their parachutes. The first true paratroop drop was by Italy in November 1927, within a few years several battalions had been raised and were eventually formed into two Folgore and Nembo divisions. Although these would fight with distinction in World War II. Men drawn from the Italian parachute forces were dropped in a special operation in North Africa in 1943 in an attempt to destroy parked aircraft of the United States Army Air Forces. Subsequently, on May 10,1928, Second Lieutenant César Álvarez War Palmas Las voluntarily jumped from a height of 3,000 meters, then on May 16,1928, Major Fernando Melgar Conde and Sergeant 1st. Jose Pineda Castro, jumped from the famous Las Palmas at altitudes of 2,000 and 4,300 meters, at about the same time, the Soviet Union was also experimenting with the idea, planning to drop entire units complete with vehicles and light tanks. To help train enough experienced jumpers, parachute clubs were organized with the aim of transferring into the armed forces if needed, one of the observing parties, Germany, was particularly interested. In 1936, Major F. W. Immans was ordered to set up a school at Stendal. The military had purchased large numbers of Junkers Ju 52 aircraft which were slightly modified for use as paratroop transports in addition to their other duties. The first training class was known as Ausbildungskommando Immans and they commenced the first course on May 3,1936. Other nations, including Argentina, Peru, Japan, France, France became the first nation to organize women in an airborne unit. Recruiting 200 nurses who during peacetime would parachute into natural disasters, several groups within the German armed forces attempted to raise their own paratroop formations, resulting in confusion. As a result, Luftwaffe General Kurt Student was put in command of developing a paratrooper force to be known as the Fallschirmjäger
38.
Vicenza
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Vicenza listen is a city in northeastern Italy. It is in the Veneto region at the base of the Monte Berico. Vicenza is approximately 60 kilometres west of Venice and 200 kilometres east of Milan, Vicenza is a thriving and cosmopolitan city, with a rich history and culture, and many museums, art galleries, piazzas, villas, churches and elegant Renaissance palazzi. With the Palladian Villas of the Veneto in the area, and his renowned Teatro Olimpico. In December 2008, Vicenza had an population of 115,927. Additionally, about one fifth of the gold and jewelry is made in Vicenza. Another important sector is the engineering/computer components industry, vicentia was settled by the Italic Euganei tribe and then by the Paleo-Veneti tribe in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC. The Romans allied themselves with the Paleo-Veneti in their fight against the Celtic tribes that populated north-western Italy, the Roman presence in the area grew exponentially over time and the Paleo-Veneti were gradually assimilated. In 157 BC, the city was a de facto Roman centre and was given the name of Vicetia or Vincentia, the citizens of Vicetia received Roman citizenship and were inscribed into the Roman tribe Romilia in 49 BC. It was also an important Lombard city and then a Frankish center, numerous Benedictine monasteries were built in the Vicenza area, beginning in the 6th century. In 899, Vicenza was destroyed by Magyar raiders, in 1001, Otto III handed over the government of the city to the bishop, and its communal organization had an opportunity to develop, separating soon from the episcopal authority. When peace was restored, however, the old rivalry with Padua, Bassano, and other cities was renewed, besides there were the internal factions of the Vivaresi. The tyrannical Ezzelino III from Bassano drove the Guelphs out of Vicenza, the independent commune joined the Second Lombard League against Emperor Frederick II, and was sacked by that monarch, after which it was annexed to Ezzelinos dominions. Vicenza came under rule of Venice in 1404, and its subsequent history is that of Venice and it was besieged by the Emperor Sigismund, and Maximilian I held possession of it in 1509 and 1516. Vicenza was a candidate to host the Council of Trent, after 1797, under Napoleonic rule, it was made a duché grand-fief within Napoleons personal Kingdom of Italy for general Caulaincourt, also imperial Grand-Écuyer. After 1814, Vicenza passed to the Austrian Empire, in 1848, however, the populace rose against Austria, more violently than in any other Italian centre apart from Milan and Brescia. As a part of the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia, it was annexed to Italy after the Third War of Italian independence, after the end of the latter, what followed was a period of depression following the devasatation caused by two world wars. In the following years, the development grew vertiginously
39.
18th Military Police Brigade (United States)
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The 18th Military Police Brigade is a military police brigade of the United States Army based in Grafenwoehr, Germany, with subordinate battalions and companies stationed throughout Germany. It provides law enforcement and force protection duties to United States Army Europe, after Vietnam, the Brigade deployed units to several other operations, namely Operation Desert Storm and Operation Provide Comfort. The brigade itself also deployed to Kosovo, supporting many of the units operating there attempting to settle unrest in the due to the 1999 Bosnian War. The brigade has seen multiple deployments in the Global War on Terrorism to the Iraq War. Its primary responsibilities have been to train and equip the national Iraqi Police forces, the Brigade recently returned from its third deployment to Iraq, after serving for 15 months in the Baghdad area. The 18th Military Police Brigade is a unit of the 21st Theater Sustainment Command. The brigade is headquartered in Sembach, Germany, normally the Brigade only deploys with its Headquarters and Headquarters Company, organic battalions and companies normally dont deploy with the HHC. Members of the Headquarters and Headquarters detachment deployed to Vung Tau, on 26 September 1966, the Brigade assumed operational control over all non-divisional military police units in the Republic of Vietnam. The Brigade was composed of three major elements, the 16th Military Police Group at Nha Trang, and the 89th Military Police Group. The 16th and 89th Military Police Groups were composed of seven military police battalions, containing a mixture of military police, the units were stationed throughout every corps tactical zone in the Republic of Vietnam, ranging from Da Nang in the north to Soc Trang in the south. The total strength of the Brigade numbered more than 5,000 personnel, the Brigade completed its service in Vietnam and was deactivated on 20 March 1973 in Oakland, California. The Brigade was redesignated on 16 August 1985 as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 18th Military Police Brigade and activated in Frankfurt, during 1990–1991, battalions from the Brigade deployed to support VII Corps in Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm, and V Corps in Operation Provide Comfort. Elements of the Brigade have also deployed to support Operation Provide Promise, the 92nd Military Police Company, followed by the 527th Military Police Company deployed to Sarajevo, Bosnia to provide security in support of SFOR. The 615th Military Police Company deployed to Albania in April in support of Task Force Hawk, the Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 793rd Military Police Battalion and 127th and 630th Military Police Companies deployed in July to Kosovo in support of Task Force Falcon. The Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 18th Military Police Brigade deployed in July to Sarajevo in support of Task Force Summit, the HHD, 709th Military Police Battalion and 92nd and 212th Military Police Company deployed in November to Kosovo in support of Task Force Falcon. In support of Operation Iraqi Freedom I, the 18th Military Police Brigade crossed into Iraq on 22 March 2003. During its year of deployment, the brigade established Prisoner of War holding areas for over 3,600 Iraqi prisoners, the Brigade entered Baghdad in April 2003 and began establishing the new Iraqi Police Service and rebuilding Iraqi police stations. The Brigade’s MPs conducted over 24,000 combat patrols, apprehended over 2,400 criminals, confiscated 7,500 illegal weapons, during their deployment, the Brigade recovered several precious artifacts, such as the Mask of Warka, which was recovered on 23 September 2003
40.
United States Central Command
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The United States Central Command is a theater-level Unified Combatant Command of the U. S. Department of Defense. It was established in 1983, taking over the 1980 Rapid Deployment Joint Task Force responsibilities, the CENTCOM Area of Responsibility includes countries in the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia, most notably Afghanistan and Iraq. CENTCOM has been the main American presence in many operations, including the Persian Gulf War, the War in Afghanistan. As of 2015, CENTCOM forces are deployed primarily in Afghanistan and Iraq in supporting, as of 1 August 2016, CENTCOMs commander was General Joseph Votel, U. S. Army. Of all six American regional unified combatant commands, CENTCOM is among the three with headquarters outside its area of operations, CENTCOMs main headquarters is located at MacDill Air Force Base, in Tampa, Florida. A forward headquarters was established in 2002 at Camp As Sayliyah in Doha, Qatar, United States Central Command was established on January 1,1983. As its name implies, CENTCOM covers the area of the globe located between the European and Pacific Commands. Steps were taken to transform the RDJTF into a permanent unified command over a two-year period, the first step was to make the RDJTF independent of U. S. Readiness Command, followed by the activation of CENTCOM in January 1983, overcoming skeptical perceptions that the command was still an RDJTF in all but name, designed to support a Cold War strategy, took time. The Iran–Iraq War clearly underlined the growing tensions in the region, on 17 May 1987, the USS Stark, conducting operations in the Persian Gulf during the Iran-Iraq War, was struck by Exocet missiles fired by an Iraqi aircraft, resulting in 37 casualties. Soon afterward, as part of what became known as the Tanker War, in Operation Earnest Will, these tankers were escorted by USCENTCOM’s Middle East Force through the Persian Gulf to Kuwait and back through the Strait of Hormuz. By late 1988, the regional strategy still focused on the potential threat of a massive Soviet invasion of Iran. Exercise Internal Look has been one of CENTCOMs primary planning events and it had frequently been used to train CENTCOM to be ready to defend the Zagros Mountains from a Soviet attack and was held annually. In autumn 1989, the main CENTCOM contingency plan, OPLAN 1002-88, the plan called for five-and-two-thirds US divisions to deploy, mostly light and heavy forces at something less than full strength. The original plan called for these divisions to march from the Persian Gulf to the Zagros Mountains. After 1990, General Norman Schwarzkopf reoriented CENTCOMs planning to fend off a threat from Iraq, U. S. President George Bush responded quickly. A timely deployment of forces and the formation of a coalition deterred Iraq from invading Saudi Arabia, the buildup of forces continued, reinforced by United Nations Security Council Resolution 678, which called for Iraqi forces to leave Kuwait. On January 17,1991, U. S. and coalition forces launched Operation Desert Storm with an air interdiction campaign
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United States European Command
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The United States European Command is one of nine Unified Combatant Commands of the United States military, headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany. Its area of focus covers 21,000,000 square miles and 51 countries and territories, including Europe, Russia, Greenland, the Commander of the United States military EUCOM simultaneously serves as the Supreme Allied Commander, Europe within NATO—an intergovernmental military alliance. During the Gulf War and Operation Northern Watch, EUCOM controlled the forces flying from Incirlik Air Base, prior to 1952, the title European Command referred to a single-service, United States Army command. The first unified command in the European area was established by the Joint Chiefs of Staff on 1 August 1952, European Command, it was established to provide unified command and authority over all U. S. forces in Europe. Prior to 1 August 1952, the U. S. Air Force, U. S. Navy, in line with the creation of the joint-service European Command, the Army command in Europe was redesignated U. S. Army Europe on 1 August 1952. The unified command structure was born of the need to address changes wrought not only by Americas rapid post-war demobilization, questions arose over the U. S. commitment to the defense of Western Europe against the Soviet Union. In 1949 the allies established the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, in 1952 the area of responsibility included continental Europe, the United Kingdom, North Africa and Turkey. The AOR was subsequently expanded to include Southwest Asia as far east as Iran, in early 1951, NATO established Allied Command Europe and the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe. General Dwight D. Eisenhower was called from retirement to become the first Supreme Allied Commander Europe, the United States sent massive reinforcements to Europe designed to deter the Soviet Union. From 1950 to 1953 United States military personnel in Europe grew from 120,000 to over 400,000, United States Air Forces in Europe grew from three groups with 35,000 personnel to eleven wings with 136,000 personnel. Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean doubled to more than 40 warships, the Army activated the 10th Special Forces Group at Fort Bragg in 1952 and deployed it to Bad Tölz in November 1953 for unconventional warfare missions in the Soviet Bloc countries. To provide for national command within NATO and to control this build-up of forces. Because the senior United States commander would continue as Supreme Allied Commander Europe, Eisenhower returned to the United States just as the new command was established. The first United States Commander-in-Chief Europe was General Matthew Ridgway, former commander of Eighth Army and his deputy was General Thomas T. Handy, commander of United States Army, Europe. Headquarters EUCOM initially shared the I. G, farben Building in Frankfurt, Germany, with Headquarters United States Army, Europe. By 1953 over 400,000 U. S. troops were stationed in Europe, in 1954, the headquarters moved to Camp des Loges, a French Army base west of Paris and a short distance from SHAPE. There, EUCOM prepared plans for the defense of Western Europe within the NATO framework against the Soviet Union, EUCOM used the Military Assistance Program to help its NATO partners build their military capabilities, including after 1955 the German Bundeswehr. In 1955, EUCOM established a Support Operations Command Europe, soon renamed Support Operations Task Force Europe for special operations missions, in 1961, EUCOM began operating an airborne command post, Operation Silk Purse
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Stuttgart
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Stuttgart is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the Stuttgart Cauldron an hour from the Swabian Jura. Stuttgarts urban area has a population of 623,738, making it the sixth largest city in Germany. 2.7 million people live in the administrative region and another 5.3 million people in its metropolitan area. Since the 6th millennium BC, the Stuttgart area has been an important agricultural area and has been host to a number of cultures seeking to utilize the rich soil of the Neckar valley. The Roman Empire conquered the area in 83 AD and built a massive Castrum near Bad Cannstatt, Stuttgarts roots were truly laid in the 10th century with its founding by Liudolf, Duke of Swabia as a stud farm for his warhorses. Overshadowed by nearby Cannstatt, the town grew steadily and was granted a charter in 1320, the fortunes of Stuttgart turned with those of the House of Württemberg, and they made it the capital of their County, Duchy, and Kingdom from the 15th Century to 1918. Stuttgart prospered despite setbacks in the forms of the Thirty Years War and devastating air raids by the Allies on the city, however, by 1952, the city had bounced back and became the major economic, industrial, tourism and publishing center it is today. Stuttgart is also an important transport junction, and possesses the sixth largest airport in Germany. Such companies as Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, Daimler AG, Dinkelacker, Stuttgart is unusual in the scheme of German cities. It is spread across a variety of hills, valleys and parks and this is often a source of surprise to visitors who associate the city with its reputation as the Cradle of the Automobile. The citys tourism slogan is Stuttgart offers more, under current plans to improve transport links to the international infrastructure, the city unveiled a new logo and slogan in March 2008 describing itself as Das neue Herz Europas. For business, it describes itself as Where business meets the future, in July 2010, Stuttgart unveiled a new city logo, designed to entice more business people to stay in the city and enjoy breaks in the area. Stuttgart is a city of mostly immigrants, according to Dorling Kindersley Publishings Eyewitness Travel Guide to Germany, In the city of Stuttgart, every third inhabitant is a foreigner. 40% of Stuttgarts residents, and 64% of the population below the age of five are of immigrant background, the reason for this being that the city was founded in 950 AD by Duke Liudolf of Swabia to breed warhorses. Originally, the most important location in the Neckar river valley as the rim of the Stuttgart basin at what is today Bad Cannstatt. As with many military installations, a settlement sprang up nearby, when they did, the town was left in the capable hands of a local brickworks that produced sophisticated architectural ceramics and pottery. When the Romans were driven back past the Rhine and Danube rivers in the 3rd Century by the Alamanni, in 700, Duke Gotfrid mentions a Chan Stada in a document regarding property
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