Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 20, 1991 TAG: 9102200330
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: From The Associated Press, The New York Times and The Baltimore Sun
DATELINE: DHAHRAN, SAUDI ARABIA LENGTH: Medium
Moscow gave Iraq another day or two to accept a secret Soviet peace plan, which President Bush was already describing as "well short" of U.S. requirements.
One senior Iranian official said Tuesday that Iraq was ready for an unconditional withdrawal from Kuwait.
In Bonn, Iran's foreign minister, Ali Akbar Velayati, said Iraqi Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz's talks with Iranian leaders had convinced Tehran that the Iraqis "are ready to withdraw from Kuwait unconditionally, I mean on the basis of the resolution 660."
U.N. Security Council Resolution 660 calls for unconditional withdrawal of Iraqi forces from Kuwait.
Velayati indicated Baghdad was ready to drop major Iraqi demands linking a withdrawal from Kuwait to an Israeli withdrawal from occupied territories, but there was no acknowledgement of that from Baghdad, which has made the Palestianian issue a central strand of its quest for Arab support.
Aziz returned home to his bomb-battered capital Tuesday carrying the Soviet proposal for peace.
Terms of the plan, presented to Aziz on Monday by Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, were not made public. But it was widely believed to link an Iraqi withdrawal from Kuwait to guarantees that President Saddam Hussein's government could remain in power in Iraq.
Gorbachev's special Mideast envoy, Yevgeny Primakov, urged the allies to hold off on any ground offensive. "If we start a land operation, without replying to the Gorbachev plan, and without knowing what the reaction has been of Iraq to this, then we would be assuming a great responsibility in history," he said.
In Washington, Bush told reporters he had spoken with Gorbachev and "very candidly . . . and I've been frank with him on this . . . it falls well short of what would be required."
At a photo session during a meeting with members of Congress, Bush said, "Let me just reiterate: As far as I am concerned, there are no negotiations. The goals have been set out. There will be no concessions."
He said that although he appreciated the Soviets' sharing their secret peace proposal with him, "it falls well short of what would be required."
One key problem, a diplomatic source said, is the Soviets' offer that Iraq will suffer no penalties if it withdraws unconditionally.
The United States intends to have Iraq pay reparations for its occupation of Kuwait and has held open the possibility of trying Iraqi leaders for war crimes, and the United Nations has held Iraq liable for financial loses caused by its invasion.
While the Soviets insist their plan is in line with U.N. resolutions, "there seems to be an effort to strike some kind of a balance without overtly walking back on the resolutions," the diplomat said.
Troops at the front, from Marines afloat in the Persian Gulf to U.S. armored cavalrymen on alert in the Saudi desert, all appeared poised for a final offensive.
Intensified skirmishes were reported Tuesday along the border with Kuwait.
Lt. Gen. Calvin Waller, commander of all Army forces in Operation Desert Storm, said on a visit to the front that the Soviet peace proposal had "absolutely not" affected allied war planning.
It was Waller who created a stir in December by saying U.S. troops would not be ready until mid-February. With U.S. forces now at full strength, Waller boasted the ground war would crush Iraq quickly.
by CNB