That was a bit later in the campaign when the AF pilots decided to cut loose and before Gen Norman Schwarzkopfs division decimated most of the Iraqi military. Originally Posted by dilbert firestormI believe that is an "over-estimation" ....
.. unfortunately the "authorizations" and "orders" issued for the Bush I administration had the assignment of "encouraging" the Iraqis to leave Kuwait .....
... when the invasion of Kuwait by ground forces began the U.S. had over 500,000 military personnel in place and the ground force invasion went into Southern Iraq to push the Iraqis out.
There was roughly 700,000 total "coalition" personnel for the task.
The estimates of Iraqi military personnel killed vary, but even the highest estimates put the figure at about 15% of the Iraqis in Kuwait and Southern Iraq at the time of the Coalition invasion. At the time of the invasion of Kuwait the Iraqis reportedly had the 5th largest military force in the World.
The modest invasion did not decimate "most of the Iraqi military."