When you think about war crimes, you don’t often hear much about those that happened during the Gulf War of the early 1990s.
It might surprise you to hear that the biggest crime during that battle was actually committed by American forces against retreating Iraqi soldiers. It’s known today as the Highway of Death incident, and it occurred back in February of 1991.
On February 22, 1991, Iraq agreed to a Soviet-proposed ceasefire that would allow it to withdraw its troops from Kuwait. However, the George H. W. Bush administration refused to believe that the Iraqi government had actually agreed to those terms.
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On the night of February 26, 1991, the Iraqi army formed a massive column and began retreating using Highway 80, which connected Iraq and Kuwait. That’s when coalition forces attacked.
U.S. and Canadian air force planes bombed the front and rear of the column to prevent a retreat.
For the next several hours, coalition forces dropped hundreds of bombs on the trapped soldiers, slaughtering everyone and destroying every vehicle in sight.
When the sun rose the next morning, the highway was littered with mangled vehicles and thousands of bodies. This road has since been dubbed the Highway of Death.
Disturbingly, the U.S. government refused to admit its brutality and even attempted to cover up this very obvious war crime.
Despite attempting to tell a different story in the media, the truth eventually came out. American commanders have never been formally charged or disciplined for their actions.
(via Amusing Planet)
I can understand the argument for total war and victory at any cost, but these soldiers never stood a chance. They were sitting ducks for a much more technologically advanced army, and that’s not right.
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