All necessary means

On 17 January, 1991, allied forces began the liberation of Kuwait from Iraqi occupation under UN authority to use 'all necessary means'. Those means included a relentless air campaign and a brilliantly planned ground war and eventually secured the defeat of the fourth largest army in the world in only 100 hours. Yet behind the daily news reports, BBC TV correspondents Ben Brown and David Shukman reveal that much was left undisclosed. Allied commanders were very concerned that US general 'Stormin' Norman' Schwarzkopf's ferocious temper was creating an unhealthy atmosphere in the Riyadh war room. There were arguments between the Royal Navy and the US Marines over clearing mines in the Gulf. And the British refused to fight a land war alongside the 'gung-ho glory-seekers' of the US Marine Corps. The authors also look at the heroic work of the SAS who were sent behind enemy lines to track down and destroy Saddam's Scud missiles and to cut Iraq's communication cables. Ben Brown an David Shukman have interviewed most of the British war cabinet; key allied commanders; pilots who flew Stealth fighters and B-52 bombers; intelligence officials on both sides of the Atlantic; and Iraqi troops. From these interviews--and access to confidential government documents and personal diaries--they build up a fascinating, often surprising, picture of the real war behind the television images. -- Back cover.