Highway of Death - Iraq during the Gulf War

As Iraqi forces attempted to flee Kuwait they came under attack from coalition aircraft overhead. First striking the lead and trail vehicles to trap those in-between, the highway became a shooting gallery. In short order, coalition aircraft destroyed almost 3,000 vehicles and killed around 1,000 Iraqi soldiers all without a single coalition loss of life. The area became known as the Highway of Death.

#shorts#gulfwar#militaryhistory#history#iraq#kuwait#highwayofdeath#airstrike#desertstorm#military#aircraft#coalition#bomber#fighter#a10#usmilitary

[Denzie]

Actually, there was a Coalition KIA. Marine Captain Reginald Underwood, a Harrier pilot, was shot down and killed by the Iraqis while his squadron was attacking vehicles on the highway of death. It happened on the last day of the war. Reg was my wife's cousin, we attended his funeral in Lexington, KY.

[debnes]

Iraqi soldier: finally going home!
NATO pilots: yeahhh about that…

[steveg]

Yes, there were a lot of civilian vehicles in the convoy, but they were all Iraqis that came down to Kuwait and looted the city. Civilian vehicles were jam packed full of Loot, gold, Persian rugs, etc….
They were using the Iraqi military for cover when they retreated, and got caught up in the Air Force bombardment.

[blitzkriegk]

And I assume the Iraqis were peaceful invaders that left civil targets alone... oh wait.

[tscott]

Pilots I know who flew these missions say this column did not act like one that was surrendering. They fired at coalition aircraft rather than unfurling white flags. Armed forces who surrender do so in place, not behind the wheel of a tank. Many thousands of Iraqi soldiers in this war surrendered. They knew how to do it. The H2H was full of soldiers fighting a retreat to consolidate forces. I would bet 90% of these men would have surrendered. But their deaths are on Iraqi leadership. Not the pilots who prevented this army from injuring any more coalition forces.

[shawnr]

In 2022 Russian vehicles were backed up for 40 miles on the road to Kyiv.

If they were fighting NATO how many would have survived?

[KBD]

انا عراقي ودعوني اقول لكم شيء، امريكا ترتكب الجرائب وتخرج بحجج تافهه لتبرير ما تفعله، ولنفرض ان جريمة هذا الطريق مبرره، فما هو المبرر من احتلال العراق عام 2003 ، اين هي اسلحة الدمار الشامل؟ انتم كأمريكيين اذا لم تستطيعوا السيطره على من يحكمكم فلا تزعجوا العالم بكلامكم التافه.

[coryrichter]

I was part of the cleanup. I spent 10 days loading bodies and parts into refrigerated trailers. Thirty two years later, I can still smell the death .

[redllaw]

You can't carry much loot in a Tank but a school bus? TONS!

[steveg]

I drove the highway of death every other day for 2 years back in 06-07 as contractor for the US Army. There were still some burned up vehicles on the side of the road. One day I stopped and picked up a Iraqi license plate that was buried in the sand. It was very eerie to drive that section of highway every time

[L.J.Kommer]

Iraqi Troops- "Fuck it. I'm leaving."
F-15E Strike Eagle- "Lol. Bet?"

[robert-trading-as-Bob]

Those civilian vehicles were looted by Iraqi soldiers, they stole anything they could put into those vehicles too.

[johnfisher]

I still have the smell of that "bomber alley" in my nostrils after we drove through there shortly after.

[ChessIsJustAGame]

I was 30 and the retreating army, which *had not surrendered* was destroyed according to the rules of combat. The only war crimes was committed in Kuwait by Iraqi forces. If they had hostages, that is a crime.

[ebeneezerscrooge]

Was there in 2005 and all the vehicles were still there. Just pushed off to the side as a reminder.

[jfm]

Bravo Company 1/25th Marines was there in 1991. I'll never forget the smell and what we saw. They were not civilians but Iraqi's in stolen civilan vehicles full of what they'd stolen.

[haroldbrown]

24th Infantry was nearby. Drove through the wreckage to Basra. It was very hot out and the smell was horrendous.

[Kokoda]

A quote from Norman, "Secondly, this was not a bunch of innocent people just trying to make their way back across the border to Iraq. This was a bunch of rapists, murderers and thugs who had raped and pillaged downtown Kuwait City and now were trying to get out of the country before they were caught." Sounds similar to Putin talking about crimea.

[davidstrickler]

i worked with a soldier who went in on foot afterwards. he brought home plenty of pictures of that road.
first there were no civilians in any of the vehicles that i saw pictures of.
there were plenty of chared uniformed body parts .
it was obvious that they were fighting ground to air.
it was also obvious they were extremely out matched.
my coworker was a little touched by the gruesome scene he witnessed. but he knew that he didn't have to fight them this way.

[unclelarry]

I don't see why some people view this as a war crime, as horrific and shocking the Highway of death was, it is perfectly in line with the Geneva Convention. There is absolutely no section in there that states you *cannot* attack a retreating force considering that a retreating force is not surrendering but reorganizing. We've literally been doing this since the dawn of war I don't see how it's a problem now. I guess it's a warcrime of the heart for some people considering how one-sided it was and how helpess the Iraqi army was to do anything about it.