Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 24, 1991 TAG: 9102240197
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A/1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: From The Los Angeles Times and The Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
"The liberation of Kuwait has now entered a final phase," President Bush declared at the White House.
The attack - following weeks of practice by allied armored, air and amphibious forces - marked the start of the biggest U.S. ground engagement since Vietnam and America's first desert land war since World War II.
The Pentagon canceled its briefings, a staple of news on the war. It said any details it released on the offensive would aid the enemy.
But the Kuwait News Agency quoted an Arab military source as saying allied forces retook Failaka Island, which dominates the entrance to Kuwait harbor. The agency, run by the exiled Kuwaiti government, said allied forces destroyed Iraqi tanks and took prisoner 500 to 1,000 Iraqi troops.
Arab military sources in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, said some 250 Iraqis had surrendered in the first hour of the attack, which began at 4 a.m. there. They gave no details.
Britain's domestic news agency, Press Association, reported that the allied forces were engaged in a complicated series of diversionary tactics and feigned assaults to deceive Iraqi commanders.
The report said the U.S. 2nd Marine Division and 18th Airborne Corps stormed over the border into eastern Kuwait. To the west, U.S. Army troops moved into Iraq in a flanking operation, Press Association reported.
The Arab military sources in Riyadh, reached by telephone from Bahrain, said the coalition forces pushed in three assaults from land and sea into Kuwait and one from Saudi Arabia into Iraq. The sources spoke on condition they not be identified.
Bush said he ordered the land assault because Iraqi President Saddam Hussein had ignored his deadline, Saturday at noon EST, to withdraw his troops from Kuwait and because Saddam had redoubled his efforts to destroy Kuwait and its people.
"I have therefore directed Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf [commander of U.S. forces in the gulf], in conjunction with coalition forces, to use all forces available, including ground forces, to eject the Iraqi army from Kuwait," the president said. "Once again this was a decision made only after extensive consultation with our coalition partners.
"I have complete confidence in the ability of coalition forces to swiftly and decisively accomplish their mission."
There was no immediate reaction from Baghdad, where state radio was playing popular music and chants from the Koran when the invasion started.
Iraq's deputy ambassador to the United Nations, Sabah Talat Kadrat, predicted a long war. "Iraq will not surrender," he said.
Bush's statement was televised nationally. He said to the American people:
"Tonight, as this coalition seeks to do that which is right and just, I ask only that all of you stop what you are doing and say a prayer for all the coalition forces, and especially for our men and women in uniform, who at this very moment are risking their lives for their country and all of us.
"May God bless and protect each and every one of them," Bush said, "and may God bless the United States of America."
In London, Prime Minister John Major said British forces would join the land drive and President Francois Mitterrand ordered French ground troops to engage "in the liberation of Kuwait."
The U.N. Security Council convened Saturday night for closed consultations but diplomats said there was little the council could accomplish.
Bush had called for a four-day withdrawal, to begin at noon Saturday, and made no mention of the U.N. resolutions, which demand - among other things - the payment of Iraqi reparations to Kuwait. Bush also called for Iraqi withdrawal of its troops from Kuwait city and the release of all prisoners of war within 48 hours.
A senior State Department official said that "as far as I know" Bush's proposal would remain on the table even now that the ground assault has begun.
by CNB