On the night of February 26–27, 1991, thousands of people, including Iraqi civilians, were killed by American forces with the assistance of Britain, the UN and the Gulf states on the highway between Kuwait and the Iraqi border.
Author: Mahfuz
Everything in this picture is dead — even the trucks and military vehicles are destroyed.
In late February 1991, seven months after Iraq invaded Kuwait, the war took on a new character. Iraqi forces, exhausted by the coalition’s continuous air strikes, were depleted.
On 22 February 1991 the Soviet Union — which still existed then — put forward a peace initiative, demanding the complete withdrawal of Iraqi forces from Kuwait within 21 days on the condition that coalition forces cease their attacks during that retreat.
After Soviet mediation, Iraq sent a statement to the UN and Washington, announcing its agreement to fully leave Kuwait within one day under the direct supervision of the UN and with confirmation from the United States.
Washington officially responded through President George H. W. Bush, declaring: “If Iraq actually begins to withdraw its forces in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions, we will stop military operations.”
After that, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein ordered the withdrawal from Kuwait and, through the official Iraqi news agency, stated that he was committed to complying with Security Council resolutions — especially Resolutions 660 and 678, which demanded immediate withdrawal.
The UN welcomed the initiative, and even the White House officially recognized it as “agreed.”
Thus the Iraqi army began to withdraw from Kuwait. Long columns of Iraqi vehicles moved along Highway 80 from Kuwait toward the Iraqi border — unarmed, unprepared for combat, confident in the guarantees of the US and the UN.
When night fell, American and British satellites and aircraft, with the cooperation of the Gulf states, detected a massive column stretching for tens of kilometers, resembling a strip of metal.
At that moment the U.S. President, George H. W. Bush, gave the order: “Don’t let a single Iraqi return… kill them all.”
Within minutes the sky became a storm of fire.
American and British aircraft continuously rained missiles and “smart bombs” down on the withdrawing column. Tanks and trucks caught fire, fuel tanks exploded, and the horizon glowed as if the dawn of hell. Pilots circled again and again to bomb the same targets while bodies inside the vehicles burned alive.
More than 1,400 vehicles were destroyed. About 10,000 Iraqis — including soldiers and some civilians, women and children trying to flee reprisals — were burned alive.
All this happened after a ceasefire had been announced under UN and US supervision and after Iraq had officially declared its withdrawal.
Journalists who arrived later described what they saw in shock: “We have never seen anything like this. The road looked like the end of the world.”
Since then American soldiers and the Western media called it the “Highway of Death.”
Thus, the bombing of withdrawing forces was a betrayal of an international agreement and an obvious war crime under the Geneva Conventions, which prohibit attacks on retreating, surrendered, or disarmed opponents.
However, as is often the case, no international investigation was ever launched — because the perpetrator was also the judge: the United States, a superpower that violates international law when it chooses to, a law that exists only as a tool against the weak.
So this episode became a lesson for everyone who believes Western promises or trusts “international law.”
And to the residents of the Middle East who resist Western occupation and its representative — Israel — this lesson is: Do not surrender. Fight with all your might, or you will be destroyed. Colonizers throughout history have betrayed and broken treaties; in our day, trusting and surrendering to them is the greatest mistake one can make.
And, finally, this single order by George H. W. Bush made him a war criminal in history — yet neither the “free and democratic media” nor “human rights organizations” spoke of it, and no “international court” ever declared him a war criminal…
