Gulf War Facts That Should Have Been Kept Secret

The first Gulf War changed the landscape of American politics and warfare for decades, but most people don't know a lot about it.

By PocketEpiphany

Published 2 years ago in Wow

The first Gulf War was very brief. Nonetheless, it changed the landscape of American politics and warfare for decades to come. Despite its importance, many people don't know that much about the Gulf War. Want the real scoop? We've got all the secrets you'll want to know, from r/todayilearned.

1
In 1990, Nayirah al-Ṣabaḥ, daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador to the US, gave a false testimony which galvanized support for the first Persian Gulf War.

2
During the Gulf War, more Israeli citizens were suffocated or frightened to death, due to gas masks and the fear of chemical SCUD attacks, than died from actual SCUD missile attacks.

3
A Game Boy survived the fire caused by bombing in the Gulf War.
4
During the first Gulf War, the Iraqi military would dispense propaganda pamphlets and radio spots aimed at US soldiers that said that while they were in Iraq fighting, "their wives were in bed with Tom Cruise, Bruce Willis, and Bart Simpson," back at home.

5
250,000 of the 697,000 U.S. veterans who served in the 1991 Gulf War are afflicted with a chronic unknown illness causing fatigue, muscle pain, cognitive problems, rashes, and diarrhea.
6
In Kuwait, falling bullets from celebratory gunfire after the end of the Gulf War killed at least 20 people.
7
Saddam Hussein's regime genocided an entire race of 500,000 people known as the "Marsh Arabs" after the Persian Gulf War by literally destroying the environment that their entire civilization was built upon, building 32 dams to turn their homes and farms into deserts.

8
In the Gulf War, 9 M1 Abrams Tanks destroyed 28 T-Series Iraqi Tanks, 16 Iraqi personal carriers and 39 Iraqi trucks in under 23 minutes.
9
The 1980s pop song 'Everybody Wants to Rule the World' was banned from being broadcast on the BBC between 1990 and 1991 because it was feared to have anti-Gulf War themes.
10
The First Gulf War (in 1991) technically never ended — there was just a cease-fire. The UK used this legal loophole to justify entering the Second Gulf War (in 2003).

11
Today I learned about the use of fire trenches by Iraqi forces as they retreated from Kuwait during the Persian Gulf War. As part of their scorched earth policy, they filled trenches in the desert with oil and set them on fire to slow the advance of coalition tanks and other heavy weaponry.
12
In the Gulf War (1991), new pregnancies among US military personnel outnumbered US combat deaths by 8 to 1.
13
The USS Missouri, the battleship on which the Japanese Surrendered in 1945 fired tomahawks cruise missiles in the 1991 Gulf War.

14
During the Persian Gulf War, Topps made a trading card set depicting people and equipment on both sides of the conflict.
15
During the Gulf War when American forces were faced with extensive trenches of Iraqi soldiers they, "opted to use anti-mine plows mounted on tanks and combat earthmovers to simply plow over and bury alive the defending Iraqi soldiers."
16
In the opening minutes of the Gulf War, a completely unarmed US electronic attack plane managed to defeat the latest generation (retired in 2014) French-built Iraqi Fighter Plane by maneuvering close to the ground leading to the Iraqi plane impacting the ground trying to pursue.

17
During the First Gulf War, the US lost 20 Bradley vehicles. Only 3 of those were destroyed by the enemy, the rest were the result of friendly fire accidents.
18
In 2017, a company restoring a captured Iraqi tank from the Gulf War, discovered five gold bars hidden in the fuel tank when they found they couldn't lift it even though it was empty of fuel.
19
During the run-up to the Gulf War, Muhammad Ali traveled to Iraq and personally secured the release of 15 American hostages being detained by Saddam Hussein, despite the US Government and press condemning the mission and Ali as 'another egomaniacal celebrity out of his depth'.

20
Since the Gulf War in 1991, when Israel was attacked by Iraqi Scud missiles, all homes in Israel are required to have a reinforced security room, Merkhav Mugan, impermeable to chemical and biological substances.
21
Grammy-winning reggae artist Shaggy served in the United States Marine Corps from 1988-1991 and was deployed to Saudi Arabia during the Gulf War. He reached the rank of Lance Corporal but was later demoted for returning to base late from a weekend trip to his music studio.
22
In the first Gulf War a B-52 bomber mistakenly targeted a fighter with its tail gun radar. The fighter shot back with a HARM missile, causing damage, but no fatalities. Afterward, the bomber was renamed "In HARM's Way."

23
The first human surrender to a robot occurred in the 1991 Gulf War. The US used UAVs (drone robots) to find artillery targets. Iraqi soldiers realized that the UAVs often preceded an attack strike. A Pioneer RQ-2A UAV flew over some soldiers who then raised white flags to surrender to the robot.
24
During the Gulf War, the U.S. dropped a 6,800 kg BLU-82 bomb to conduct psychological warfare against Iraqi troops. A British SAS unit that witnessed the explosion assumed the U.S. had used a nuclear weapon and radioed back to their headquarters, "Sir, the blokes have just nuked Kuwait!"
25
Disney's Aladdin was originally supposed to be set in Baghdad, but John Musker and Ron Clements were forced to change it due to the outbreak of the Gulf War. So, they took letters and did a jumbled anagram and came up with Agrabah.