Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 15, 1991 TAG: 9102150745
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: DHAHRAN, SAUDI ARABIA LENGTH: Long
"There is nothing new here," a grim-faced Bush said of the Iraqi offer, adding that other coalition members shared that assessment. He urged the Iraqi military and people to rise up against Saddam Hussein.
"We thought we had a shot for peace; that is not the case," Bush said.
As he spoke, the war pressed on. Allied bombers continued their onslaught, methodically working to isolate Iraqi forces in the Kuwait theater by destroying bridges, roads and supply lines, the U.S. military said today.
"I think the president made it abundantly clear that our mission remains fundamentally the same," Marine Brig. Gen. Richard Neal told reporters today in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.
In making the offer, the Baghdad government said any withdrawal of its forces "should" be tied to an Israeli pullout from the occupied lands.
Throughout the gulf crisis, the United States has steadfastly rejected any linkage of the gulf crisis and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The Iraqi proposal contained an array of other conditions.
It said its withdrawal was conditioned on a pullout from the region of allied forces - including arms sent to Israel after war broke out - with the pullouts to be completed within one month of a comprehensive cease-fire.
The Baghdad communique demanded that the allies immediately cease land, sea and air operations against Iraq and that the U.N. Security Council repeal a dozen resolutions aimed at forcing it out of Kuwait.
Iraq said a future political arrangement in Kuwait should be based on "the wishes of the people" and not Kuwait's ruling family. The allies have demanded the restoration of Kuwait's former rulers.
The Baghdad government also insisted that countries participating in the war or financing the military effort against Iraq "rebuild what the aggression has destroyed."
The world's attention has been riveted by the standoff in the gulf since Iraq seized its small, oil-rich neighbor 6 1/2 months ago, setting the stage for a confrontation with the might of the allied coalition.
Today's Iraqi announcement sent rapid shock waves through world financial markets, which have ridden a roller coaster throughout the crisis.
As the weight of the conditions sank in, hopes raised by the offer were dashed. Shortly after the initial announcement, White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said: "The more we look at it, the worse it gets."
Later, he said of Saddam: "It is a real disappointment on our part that he is again trying to raise the hopes of his own people and others around the world, with no willingness to back it up."
Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Arens said today the offer was a sign that Saddam's military resolve was weakening.
"I think this is the first indication that Saddam Hussein is beginning to understand that he is in bad shape," Arens told Israeli Television.
The tens of thousands of American troops deployed in the Saudi desert and on ships in the Persian Gulf waited anxiously for more details. Staff Sgt. Joe Martin, of Hampton, Va., said he was "ecstatic but skeptical."
In Saudi Arabia - the main staging ground for the huge allied deployment that began as Operation Desert Shield and turned to Operation Desert Storm at the start of the war - there was no immediate official reaction. "It is deeds not words that count," one Saudi official said.
In Baghdad, hammered by a month of allied bombing, residents fired guns into the air in celebration after hearing of the possible settlement.
In one poor neighborhood where a dozen shops had been wrecked by allied bombs, smiling residents gathered spontaneously in the street. "The war is over," said one.
The surprise Iraqi announcement came in a communique from Iraq's ruling Revolutionary Command Council, which is headed by Saddam. The communique came after what Iraqi media had earlier said was an overnight session of the country's ruling five-man council.
The Iraqi move came amid a rush toward what was expected to be an epic land clash between the allied and Iraqi armies arrayed in southern Iraq, Kuwait, and northern Saudi Arabia. Some commanders have suggested the battle could begin in a matter of weeks.
Iraq, which had mounted virtually no defense to the unprecedented allied air onslaught, had expressed eagerness for the ground confrontation. The allies indicated they expected to prevail, but agreed that the land clash would be a costly and bloody one.
In the month of warfare, allied aircraft attacked at the rate of a mission a minute, pounding Iraqi troops and wrecking the infrastructure that supported Saddam's military machine.
European financial markets rallied briefly today following Iraq's offer, but the buying frenzy stalled as concerns surfaced over the terms of the pullout. Oil prices fell more than $2 a barrel in London today immediately following the Iraqi announcement, but later they bounced back as investors awaited more news.
The Soviet Union, which has been trying to promote a peace settlement, said it needed more information about the Iraqi proposal.
"It will need further analysis, study and clarification, so I will not comment on it offhand," Soviet Foreign Ministry spokesman Vitaly Churkin told reporters.
Kuwait's ambassador to the United Nations, Mohammad Abulhassan, responded coolly to the Iraqi communique.
"It is conditioned, it is just a proposal," he said after conferring with the Kuwaiti government-in-exile in Taif, Saudi Arabia.
The Iraqi statement, carried on Baghdad Radio and released by the official Iraqi News Agency, said the council's agreement "should be regarded as a guarantee from Iraq and coupled with an immediate and comprehensive cessation of all land, air and sea military operations."
"In order to achieve a dignified and acceptable political settlement, the Revolutionary Command Council has decided to accept U.N. Security Council resolution 660 of 1990, including the clause related to Iraqi withdrawal," the Iraqi communique said.
Resolution 660 was the first in a series of United Nations resolutions passed after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, calling for an unconditional Iraqi withdrawal from the oil-rich emirate and urged the two countries to discuss their differences through negotiations.
After Iraq seized Kuwait, the United States and the other countries involved in the international coalition built an armada around the Arabian peninsula and deployed the most modern jet fighters, tanks and artillery in the world.
Iraq moved its soldiers and military hardware into Kuwait and prepared elaborate defensive positions based on a force of 5,500 tanks, about 700 combat aircraft and a supply of rockets, missiles and chemical weapons.
Following a series of failed attempts to negotiate a settlement, the U.N. Security Council authorized the use of necessary force to dislodge Iraq from Kuwait after January 15. In the early hours of Jan. 17, the allies struck, beginning a non-stop air campaign that continued into today.
Iraq's offer came two days after the Baghdad government said up to 500 civilians died in the U.S. bombing of an underground structure.
The U.S. Central Command said the bunker was a military command-and-control center. Iraq said it was air raid shelter.
Iraqi civil defense officials said 306 bodies had been recovered by midday today from the wreckage of the reinforced concrete bunker.
At today's military briefing in Riyadh, Neal, the command spokesman, reported the loss of an A6-E on the carrier USS America as it was coming in for a landing on Thursday, but said its two crew members ejected safely.
He also said an Iraqi helicopter was shot down Thursday by a U.S. F-15 with a laser-guided bomb.
by CNB