Why is it that Americans are always in need of heroes, in desperate need it seems; so much so that they are able to grab somebody from relative obscurity and almost overnight turn him into a hero. As was the case with the late General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, who until the four days of ‘Operation Desert Storm‘ in 1991 was virtually an unknown.,

But after the four day skirmish one can hardly call it a war, (in which  the United States along with 34 allied countries with a mighty show of arms and materials which included from the US alone two naval battle groups,(CVBG); USS Dwight D Eisenhower and USS Independence plus the BBBG‘s USS Missouri and USS Wisconsin) he becomes a hero 

A battle group normally consists of 1 Aircraft Carrier, 2 Guided Missile Cruisers, 2 Anti Aircraft Warships, and 1-2 Anti Submarine Destroyers or Frigates, in addition to the naval airpower, the USAF had almost 150 aircraft deployed.

In all the US fielded more than half a million men and women and the other countries chipped in with another large number, all told around 1 million heavily armed, heavily protected troops to take on the might of the Iraqi forces.

It took all of four days to rout the mighty  Iraqi forces, such was the propaganda put out by Washington now exposed .

To the victor the spoils and also the right to re-write the story of the conflict and the aftermath in any way it suits. I won’t go into that now!

And where was ‘Stormin’ Norman’ whilst the four days of battle was going on? Apparently he was not at the forefront of his attacking troops, but strategically placed behind the lines where he controlled the action and kept the media up to scratch. No wonder they loved him.

To compare him with Gen. MacArthur or Gen. Eisenhower is ludicrous  (although Eisenhower was and is greatly over-rated; but again that’s another story), and then to fete him and give him honours for what? He did precious little. 

Why he was given a KCB we can only put down to that sycophantic English PM of the day John Major putting Stormin’s name before the Queen  to gain favour with Washington.  Unfortunately the Queen  has to accept the advice of her Prime Minister but I’ll wager truth be told she would rather not have given the honour.  

And what did our great heroic general do once the dust had settled? Did he accept the promotion offered? No! Did he stay in uniform to lead his men on to even greater glory? No!.

He resigned a few months after the war and sold the rights to his story for $4,000,000.00! What a hero, what a great soldier what a dud!