Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, February 18, 1991 TAG: 9102180303
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: KENNEBUNKPORT, MAINE LENGTH: Medium
"All our hopes remain in the air and on the ground in terms of pushing Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait," said presidential spokesman Marlin Fitzwater.
Fitzwater said the United States had no advance notice of what was in the Soviet peace plan and that President Bush had not spoken with Gorbachev about its contents. No details of the plan were provided by the Kremlin.
"We intend to continue to prosecute the war," Fitzwater said.
And the war continued today in the air and at sea. Two U.S. warships hit mines in the northern Persian Gulf today as allied vessels moved deeper into hostile waters, and the U.S. military said another aircraft had been lost in combat. Its pilot was rescued.
Air Force helicopters flew 40 miles north of the Saudi border Sunday night and rescued the pilot of the F-16 after he parachuted from his disabled warplane. The pilot was not identified.
The mine damage was the first of the war sustained by U.S. vessels. American officials said at least seven crewmen were injured - one seriously. Neither ship was reported in danger of sinking.
Struck were a high-tech missile cruiser, the USS Princeton, and an amphibious assault ship, the USS Tripoli, that is part of a 31-vessel task force gearing up for a possible Marine amphibious assault.
Such an invasion could be one element of the ground offensive that allied leaders have indicated is days if not hours away.
France's foreign minister, Roland Dumas, said Sunday the allies have set a date for the ground assault. "We are on the eve or the pre-eve of the ground offensive for the liberation of Kuwait," Dumas said in Paris without saying exactly when the attack would occur.
The Pentagon refused to comment on a report in The Los Angeles Times that said the United States plans to launch a ground-and-sea attack this week if Iraq does not surrender or agree to some kind of diplomatic deal in the next three days. The newspaper quoted unidentified U.S. military officers in Washington.
Initial reports from the U.S. military about the mine explosions said both vessels remained under their own power after the blasts.
Iraq's navy is all but decimated and thought to pose little threat to the allied armada in the gulf. But U.S. officials believe Iraq has been dumping mines in the waterway. More than 80 mines have been destroyed during the gulf crisis.
The Tripoli, an Iwo Jima-class helicopter and troop carrier, can carry up to a battalion of Marines - more than 2,000 men - and as many as 25 helicopters. Only a small contingent of Marines was reported aboard.
The missile cruiser Princeton, normally part of a carrier group, is equipped with a computer-linked Aegis radar and missile system for long-range air defense, and has a crew of about 360.
The ships were about 10 miles apart when they hit the mines, Marine Brig. Gen. Richard Neal said.
Baghdad radio, meanwhile, claimed Iraq had inflicted casualties on allied ground troops with a cross-border missile barrage into Saudi Arabia. U.S. military spokesmen reported no such overnight ground engagement.
In northeastern Saudi Arabia this morning, the sun was fighting its way through clouds as Saudi Tornado fighter-bombers headed north to hit Iraqi targets. France said its Jaguar fighters conducted raids in Iraq and Kuwait.
During the weekend, American troops were again reminded of the danger of friendly fire. In one of seven border engagements Sunday, a U.S. Apache attack helicopter destroyed two U.S. military vehicles with missiles, killing two soldiers and wounding six, the military said.
Of the 14 Americans killed in ground action to date, 10 have been victims of friendly fire.
by CNB