I was in the Kingdom for the entire Desert Shield/Storm. I went to Kuwait two days after the cease fire. I flew over the burning oil fields in a helicopter and then drove thru them including the “Mile of Death”. It was a surreal scene. We landed around noon descending thru a pitch black cloud of smoke. The sun looked like a pale disk.
We had the perfect pretext to wipe out Saddam’s “elite” troops and remove him from power. Scowcroft maintained that this was not the mission of the international coalition.
Bush later got a nice bonus from the Kuwaitis after he left the WH.
There was an expert in Texas,Red Adair, who was tasked to put the fires out,he did.
https://www.nytimes.com/1991/02/28/business/the-job-of-fighting-kuwait-s-infernos.html Red Adair, president of the firefighting company that bears his name, said he had ordered special engines on new equipment to battle the desert blazes, each with enough radiator capacity to hold twice the usual volumes of water. The special equipment is made by United Engines Inc. in Oklahoma City, which is adding a second shift of welders and mechanics to speed delivery to the Persian Gulf. 'A Serious Situation'
Mr. Adair, who is 75 years old, said he had worked on more than 2,500 oil well fires in 50 years, but nothing compared with the spectacle in Kuwait. "It is a serious situation over there," he said. His company is one of a handful that specialize in halting oilwell fires and blowouts, and was one of five companies hired by the Kuwait Petroleum Company this week to help battle the fires.
Several years later the US was still considered infidels in a poll taken in Kuwait.
Just goes to show we don't belong in the mid east unless its in an advisory capacity.