The Lessons of Desert Fox: A Preliminary Analysis

February 16, 1999

We need to take a hard look at the lessons of Desert Fox. There is no doubt that the operation achieved some important successes. The strikes did degrade some important aspects of Iraqi capabilities. They demonstrated that the US and Britain were willing to use major amounts of force to maintain containment and the UN sanctions. While Gulf allies like Qatar and Saudi Arabia limited their direct support for US operations, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Oman provided close cooperation. Simultaneously, the US proved that it could launch major attacks from sea-based forces in the Gulf and bombers based in Diego Garcia, and that its capabilities were not tied to the support of any given combination of Southern Gulf states. The US and Britain took no losses of either men or equipment during major operation, and most of their strikes using precision-guided weapons seem to have had considerably greater accuracy and reliability in Desert Storm. Furthermore, the US and Britain also proved that they could strike at key leadership targets anywhere in Iraq, while producing minimal civilian casualties and collateral damage.