The Gulf War puts Iraq back within its borders, but Saddam Hussein stays in power. Jeffrey Dahmer horrifies a nation when his grisly crimes are revealed. Basketball star Magic Johnson retires, saying he has HIV, and journalist Terry Anderson is freed after seven years as a hostage in Lebanon. With the collapse of diplomatic efforts, the U.S.-led Persian Gulf coalition launches a fierce aerial campaign against Iraq.
Allied warplanes begin weeks of non-stop pounding of Iraqi defenses.
U.S.-led Allied forces launch a swift ground attack to retake Kuwait. Over the next four days, the troops overwhelm and defeat the Iraqi army, liberating Kuwait and calling off the massive offensive. Days later U.S. troops begin to withdraw. Following the death of his brother Sanjay in 1980, Rajiv had been persuaded to leave his career as a commercial airlines pilot and enter politics. He had been swept into office in a landslide sympathy vote after his mother had been assassinated in 1984.