February 28, 1991 · Iraq Theater
February 28, 1991
At 8:00 a.m. on February 28, 1991 — exactly 100 hours after the ground war began — President George H.W. Bush declared a ceasefire. The following day, General Schwarzkopf met Iraqi generals at Safwan Airfield in southern Iraq to negotiate terms. In an agreement later criticized by many analysts, Schwarzkopf allowed Iraq to continue flying helicopters (which Saddam immediately used to suppress Kurdish and Shia uprisings), and the ceasefire line left large Republican Guard formations intact. Saddam Hussein, though militarily defeated, remained in power. The terms planted seeds that would grow into the 2003 Iraq War twelve years later.
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