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Liberating Kuwait by Kelley’s task force but continued by Central Command. Conducted in the deserts of California and Nevada, they provided an excellent rehearsal for the upcoming crisis in the Iraqi desert. Moreover, the Bright Star exercises conducted in Egypt since 1981 provided valuable experience in cooperating with Arab governments in the Middle East.38
The Iran-Iraq War
Official U.S. Marine Corps photo
Gen George B. Crist was the first Marine appointed to head a unified command: U.S. Central Command. He commanded the Tanker War against Iran in the late 1980s and established the regional relationships and planning foundation that allowed Central Command to successfully intervene in the Gulf War.
ment Joint Task Force] wrapped in a unified command label” that “had never come to grips with the new area responsibilities.” It remained focused too narrowly on its Cold War function and was “a retirement home, losing more people through retirement” than through permanent change of station orders.36 General Crist felt that the new command had to “have stature and credibility, and get a unified strategy, for the whole region, both peace and war.” This meant establishing relationships with each of the nations within its area of responsibility despite the Department of State’s suspicion of the new command. To accomplish this, Crist sent his staff on many trips to the Middle East, working directly with those in charge, because he knew that in the Middle East “rank or position meant absolutely nothing: it’s man-to-man, a personal thing. If they like you, you can do almost anything. If they don’t like you, forget it: you’re not going anywhere.” The strong relationships that Central Command formed in the Middle East, especially in Saudi Arabia, were very valuable during the crisis to come.37 The biannual Gallant Eagle exercises were begun
Shortly after consolidating his power in Iraq, Saddam Hussein ordered an invasion of Iran. He intended to take advantage of perceived Iranian instability following the 1979 revolution and the political isolation resulting from Iran’s concurrent seizure of the American embassy in November of that year. On 22 September 1980, Iraq launched a series of air strikes against Iran, all self-consciously modeled on Israel’s successful air strikes against the Egyptian Air Force at the start of the 1967 Six-Day War. Iraq’s air force executed the attacks ineptly, however, and as a result the attacks were a failure. The very next day, the Iranian Air Force was able to launch strikes against Iraq and its invading columns.39 On 23 September 1980, Iraq invaded Iran, launching an offensive to take Khuzestan, push the border to the Zagros Mountains, and secure the Shatt al-Arab. The Iraqi ground offensive was not much more effective than the previous day’s air strike, however. The Iraqis advanced very slowly, and only one of the targeted cities was captured— Khorramshahr on 24 October. Around the other cities the slow speed of the Iraqi attack allowed the Iranians to regroup and reinforce so that the Iraqi attack ground to halt. Attempting to put a good face on its failed offensive, Iraq offered terms to Iran, but the offer was ignored.40 In January 1981, the Iranians began their counterattack. One of the first battles was an armored clash between the Iranian 16th Armored Division* and the Iraqi 6th Armored Division and the 10th Republican Guard Armored Brigade at Susangerd. The Iranians employed approximately 300 M60A1 Patton and FV4201 Chieftain Mark V main battle tanks and lost approximately 200. The Iraqis, with *
The Marine Corps History Division’s accepted style is to italicize enemy military formations within the text in order to aid the reader in differentiating them from American and allied units. Although Iran was the enemy during the Tanker War, which was a subconflict of the Iran-Iraq War, italicizing Iranian units in this chapter and then italicizing Iraqi units in subsequent chapters is needlessly confusing. Therefore, Iraqi units are italicized throughout this work, and Iranian units are not.
