Photos of the Day: Marking 30 Years Since Operation Desert Storm...

AP / Dominique Mollard

So I just realized that this month marks 3 decades since Operation Desert Storm began in the Middle East. I remember watching the news during the previous summer as the United States and its allies were building up their military presence in Saudi Arabia—during Operation Desert Shield—as the standoff with Saddam Hussein after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in August of 1990 continued. Once the first Gulf War started, it only lasted 43 days (from January 17 to February 28, 1991)...due to the U.S. air offensive being too formidable for Iraqi forces to overcome. A quick "100-hour ground war" ensued after the blistering aerial campaign, which involved the use of the F-117 Stealth Fighter for the second time in combat. (The stealth fighter, declassified by the Pentagon in late 1988, also flew sorties in Panama during 1989's Operation Just Cause.)



On the day that Desert Storm started, I was going home after school (I was in 5th grade at the time) when my sister and her friend (who were the ones who picked me up) were talking about how it was crazy that we were living during a war. A U.S.-led war, that is. I watched the news reports about the Gulf War almost everyday, and was so enthralled by the military weaponry used (this is only slightly the case now...for political reasons that involve the hypocrisy of today's Republican Party) that I created a so-called scrapbook, shown above, to display my warmongering obsession. Needless to say, I would've had to create even more scrapbooks if I wanted to cover the second Iraq War started by George W. Bush almost 18 years ago, the war in Afghanistan after the 9/11 terrorist attacks (Because of Desert Shield and Storm, Osama bin Laden became America's biggest enemy after being America's biggest ally during the proxy war against the Soviets in Afghanistan back in the 1980s), and even the war on the Islamic State last decade.


George Bush Presidential Library and Museum

But yea— I'm 41 years-old and know that the money spent by America on stealth fighters and new Apache attack helicopters can be used on more important things in the United States right now. Along with seeking universal healthcare and universal basic income, we should also be sending people back to the Moon and onto Mars... That is all.


U.S. Air Force


National Archives


U.S. Air Force