Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 21, 1991 TAG: 9102210548
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
"There is no path except the path that we have chosen . . . and which Tariq Aziz has carried to Moscow," Saddam said in a speech broadcast by Baghdad Radio. He referred to Iraq's response to the Soviet peace plan, which his foreign minister, Aziz, was expected to convey to the Kremlin later today.
In Washington, White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said Saddam's defiant vow not to surrender was disappointing and dismissed his speech as "the same invective" the world had heard before.
"Our forces remain on a steadfast course. The liberation of Kuwait continues," said White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater.
Defense Secretary Dick Cheney, testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee as Saddam was speaking, said allied forces are preparing "one of the largest land assaults of modern times" and are confident of prevailing against Iraq.
But he offered no hints of when the full-scale land war might begin.
In his speech, Saddam complained the United States and its allies had said the war would end and negotiations would start when Iraq agreed to withdraw from Kuwait but later changed their minds.
"The word withdrawal was stated by Iraq. What did Bush say? What his loyal servant [Saudi Arabian King] Fahd say? Bush rejected it as a ploy without careful study. This has unveiled the reality of the aggression," Saddam said.
It was not clear from Saddam's 40-minute address, the first in his own voice since Feb. 10, what Iraq's response was to Moscow's peace plan.
Saddam did not say if he had accepted or rejected the Soviet proposal, details of which have not been disclosed.
The proposal was given to Aziz by Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev at a meeting in Moscow on Monday. Aziz returned home with the proposal and Saddam summoned his ruling Revolutionary Command Council to a meeting Wednesday to consider it. Saddam then sent Aziz back to Moscow.
Earlier today in a military communique, the Baghdad government said Iraq is a "sincere advocate of peace."
However, Iraq launched two or three more Scud missiles into Saudi Arabia today in a rare daylight attack, the U.S. military command said. It was not immediately reported if the missiles hit or were intercepted by U.S.-made Patriot defense missiles.
Sources said the missiles apparently were aimed in the general direction of Riyadh, the Saudi capital.
After two nights of heavy bombardment, weary residents of Baghdad had a night free of allied air attacks. The Iraqi occupiers of Kuwait did not.
In a midday communique, Iraq's military said the allies carried out more than 320 raids on military targets in the southern war zone over the past 24 hours - more than three times the number reported the previous day.
The Iraqi military communique also claimed Iraqi forces inflicted "substantial losses" on the allies with missile strikes on front-line positions.
As of early afternoon, allied commanders in Saudi Arabia had not offered reporters any information on new engagements, although the French said their Jaguar fighters targeted artillery units in Iraq and southern Kuwait today.
On Wednesday, the U.S. military reported intensified fighting along the Saudi frontier, including artillery duels and allied incursions into enemy territory.
In one clash, Iraq lost five tanks, 20 artillery pieces and an unspecified amount of men, while one American was killed and seven wounded by Iraqi fire, the U.S. military command said.
In another action, four Army helicopters destroyed a complex of more than a dozen Iraqi bunkers north of the Saudi border on Wednesday, capturing 476 Iraqi soldiers, the command said. Iraq today called the mass surrender claim a lie, saying such things "only happen in American movies."
U.S. commanders refused to say whether the two engagements took place in or near Kuwait or Iraq and would not name the units involved.
In another allied strike, the command said U.S. aircraft hammered a cluster of Iraqi vehicles parked in Kuwait, 60 miles north of the frontier, destroying 28 tanks, 26 other vehicles and three big guns.
Bored and on edge, many allied infantry and tank soldiers said they wanted to get on with the ground war.
Some allied commanders have suggested it is difficult to keep troops at hair-trigger readiness for an extended period.
But the U.S. Central Command spokesman, Marine Brig. Gen. Richard Neal, said Wednesday that his soldiers were "ready to go right now - or they can go in two weeks."
A U.S. military official in Washington, speaking on condition of anonymity, said preparations for the assault were in place and all that was needed was an order to go.
"We are in the eye of Desert Storm," the official said. "There is something of a lull right at the moment."
Some allied pilots flying missions over Kuwait reported continued steady success knocking out Iraqi armor. Despite a month of round-the-clock bombing of Iraqi positions, U.S. ground forces still face a formidable, entrenched army, the airmen said.
"Anyone who thinks it's going to be two days, or three days, or five days, I think is crazy, just because of sheer numbers of people," said Capt. Bradley Seipel, a weapons system officer of an F-111. "It's kind of like the people saying the air war would last five days."
U.S. military officials said today about 300,000 Iraqi troops in the Kuwait theater - 10 divisions, plus the 150,000-member Republican Guard - still appear to be in fighting form.
On the front lines, Sgt. Jose Roche, 28, whose Marine company is dug in within sight of border fortifications, said troops are expecting close combat.
"Biting, kicking, scratching, whatever it takes," he said. "When you're fighting hand-to-hand, it's just a street fight."
by CNB