
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, February 21, 1991                   TAG: 9102210296
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

CONGRESS BECOMES HAWKISH

In a significantly more hawkish mood, many members of Congress seemed ready Wednesday to support a land war in the Persian Gulf after urging for weeks that the bombing campaign be continued as long as possible to save lives in allied ground forces.

Democrats, from House Speaker Thomas Foley, D-Wash., on down, expressed a strikingly similar view: They are willing to defer to military leaders and President Bush on what appears to be an imminent decision to commence extensive ground action.

"This decision has to be made by the commander-in-chief and his military advisers, and I think so far they have done a magnificent job," said Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn.

"I think most members [of the House] have reluctantly concluded that a ground war is inevitable," Rep. Jim Slattery, D-Kan., said after Pentagon officials explained at a closed briefing how troops would breach mine fields and other defenses in a ground operation.

Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., said many Republicans still hope that a sizable land war can be avoided. But they are increasingly willing to back a ground offensive, he said, citing two key reasons: a growing number of constituents support it, and military briefers have argued persuasively that it would be a low-cost mopping-up operation.

"The briefers have carefully delivered the message that a ground war does not necessarily mean lots of lives lost . . .," Lewis said.

To be sure, some who have strongly urged sticking with the bombing campaign have not changed their minds. The most prominent is Senate Minority Leader Robert Dole, R-Kan.

by CNB