Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 22, 1991 TAG: 9102220615
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MOSCOW LENGTH: Medium
A senior Bush administration official, however, said the proposal is "unacceptable to the United States." The official spoke on condition of anonymity following a late-night White House meeting.
Significantly, the agreement contained no mention of the Palestinian problem or the Arab-Israeli conflict - issues that Iraq previously had linked to all discussions of its invasion of Kuwait.
The Soviet spokesman, Vitaly Ignatenko, announced the agreement following more than two hours of talks between President Mikhail Gorbachev and Iraq's foreign minister, Tariq Aziz, on the terms of a Soviet peace plan proposed earlier this week.
The U.S. official, speaking under rules that prevent use of his name, volunteered the assessment that the terms are unacceptable following a meeting of President Bush with his senior national security advisers that lasted more than an hour and 40 minutes.
"The Soviet call for lifting of economic sanctions and lifting the U.N. resolutions amounts to a conditional withdrawal that would be unacceptable to the United States," he said.
The official said administration officials were communicating that conclusion to coalition partners and expected to make public comments later today.
Before Bush's meeting, which broke up at midnight, the administration was careful not to reject the Soviet plan, saying only that Bush had serious concerns about it.
"The war itself continues," Fitzwater added. "There's no change at this point in our prosecution of the war."
Ignatenko said Iraq and the Soviets agreed on eight points, starting with Iraqi agreement to a full and unconditional withdrawal from Kuwait. Another spokesman said the Soviets would call for disarming Iraq.
The pullout would begin two days after a cease-fire, and would be monitored under U.N. auspices by countries not directly involved in the month-old Gulf War, Ignatenko said.
Iraq also agreed to release all prisoners of war immediately after the cease-fire, the spokesman added. He said details of the plan would be worked out and presented to the U.N. Security Council later today.
Gorbachev spoke to Bush by telephone shortly after the meeting with Aziz. Bush had previously said the Soviet plan was not acceptable, although he said he was encouraged by the possibility of talks about withdrawal.
Fitzwater said Gorbachev and Bush spoke for just over 30 minutes. He said Bush thanked Gorbachev "but raised serious concerns about several points in the plan."
He didn't elaborate about which points the leaders discussed.
One knowledgeable U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he foresaw problems because the plan does not account for reparations by Iraq to Kuwait.
"That, essentially, would be letting them get away with it," the official said.
The announcement in Moscow came after Baghdad radio had gone off the air overnight, so there was no immediate response from Iraq. The Iraqi news agency had also stopped transmissions for the night.
Sergei Grigoriev, deputy spokesman for Gorbachev, said in an interview with Irsael radio the Soviet Union favors a "disarmed Iraq" that does not threaten its neighbors.
The issue of disarmament was not among the eight points outlined by Ignatenko.
SOVIET-IRAQ ACCORD
MAIN POINTS
"Iraq states . . . its full and unconditional withdrawal of its forces from Kuwait."
"The withdrawal of forces begins on the second day after the cessation of hostilities."
"The withdrawal of forces will take place in a fixed time frame."
"After the withdrawal of two-thirds of all the forces, the Iraqi forces from Kuwait, the economic sanctions . . . will cease to apply to Iraq."
"After the end of the withdrawal of Iraqi forces from Kuwait . . . the causes for the corresponding resolutions of the Security Council [will cease to exist], so thus those resolutions would cease to be in effect."
"After the cease-fire all the POWs will be immediately released."
> "The withdrawal of forces would be monitored by the countries not directly involved in the conflict, being so entrusted by the Security Council of the United Nations."
"The work on determining the details and specifications continues. The final outcome of this work will be made public today on the 22nd of February [before] the Security Council of the United Nations."
by CNB