DESERT STORM : Military

U.S. and allied forces took control of the skies over Iraq by hitting Saddam Hussein’s forces with 1,000 air sorties that claimed one U.S. pilot’s life, Defense Secretary Dick Cheney said. Cheney and Gen. Colin L. Powell, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, expressed satisfaction with the initial results of Operation Desert Storm--but both stressed that there could well be other casualties in what is expected to be a protracted campaign to drive Iraq from Kuwait. Powell said the bombing “damaged the command and control capability of the Iraqi government,” as well as airfields, missile installations and other targets.

U.S. and Saudi military officials in Saudi Arabia said ground forces were moving north and had taken up positions closer to the Kuwaiti border. It was not clear whether the movement was in preparation for an offensive.

Baghdad radio claimed that Iraqi anti-aircraft units shot down 14 attacking planes, but American officials called the claim an exaggeration.

The only reported Iraqi offensive strike appeared to have been an artillery attack that briefly set three oil tanks ablaze in northern Saudi Arabia, with no injuries reported.

Desert Storm Losses United States: Navy F/A-18 fighter attack jet shot down from the carrier USS Saratoga. Britain: Tornado GR1 fighter bomber suffered an engine fire; two-man crew missing.