"Theirs not to reason why"
A professional description of the initial strike in the Gulf War gives the following account: "In the blitz that launched Desert Storm, Apache and special forces helicopters first took out two early warning radar stations. This opened a corridor for 22 F-15E aircraft following in single file to hit Scud sites in western Iraq. Also, 12 stealth F-117A fighters, benefiting from Compass Call and EF-111 long-distance jamming, hit targets in Baghdad, including a phone exchange and a center controlling air defenses. Other such underground centers were hit in the south. Tomahawk missiles took out power plants. All this occurred within 20 minutes.
"About 40 minutes into the assault, a second wave of strike 'packages' of other aircraft, including 20 F-117As, attacked. They were guided by AWACs (airborne warning and control systems) crafts, which had been orbiting within a range of Iraqi radar for months. Coalition forces flew 2399 sorties the first day, losing only three planes." cf. John A. Adam, Warfare in the information age, in IEEE Spectrum, September, 1991, p. 27.
One more detail: "The architects of the huge raid are the Central Commander, Lieutenant General Charles A. Horner, and Brigadier General C. Glosson, an electrical engineer by training. For months they have overseen complete war games and rehearsed precision bombing in the Arabian expanse," p. 26.
Sun Tzu. The Art of War. Trans. Thomas Cleary. Boston & London:
Shambala Dragon Editions,1988.
"Military action is important to the nation-it is the ground of death and life, the path of survival and destruction, so it is imperative to examine it" p. 41.
"Speed is the most important in war," Epaminondas of Thebes.
Battle of Leuctra, 371 BCE.
Helmuth von Moltke (1800-1891). Geschichte des
deutsch-französischen Krieges von 1870-1871. The Franco-German
War of 1870-1871. Trans. Clara Bell and Henry W. Fischer. New
York: H. Fertig, 1988. Reprint of the version published in New
York by Harper in 1892.
Carl von Clausewitz (1780-1831).Vom Kriege. Michael Howard and
Peter Paret, Editors. On War. Princeton NJ: Princeton University
Press, 1976.
Theodor Heuss (1884-1963). Theodor Heuss über Staat und Kirche.
Frankfurt/Main: P. Lang, 1986.