Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 3, 1991 TAG: 9103030078
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
White House chief of staff John Sununu said it was possible the first combat troops could be home within a week.
"Hopefully in the next few days, you'll hear an announcement of a specific schedule and I suspect they'll be coming home right after the announcement," he said.
Defense Secretary Dick Cheney said the military is drafting a unit-by-unit plan for withdrawing the half-million U.S. troops from the gulf. He said the plan would be ready "within the next week or two" and could be implemented "almost immediately."
It will take less time to bring the troops home than the seven months it took to put them in place, Cheney said on CNN's "Newsmaker Saturday."
Bush, in a radio address to the troops in the gulf, praised them for "incredible acts of bravery" that left Iraqi President Saddam Hussein "stripped of his capacity to project offensive military power."
"His regime is totally discredited, and as a threat to peace, the day of this dictator is over," Bush said in the speech carried by Armed Forces Radio.
"The sacrifice of those who gave their lives will never be forgotten," he added. The speech was taped before he left Friday to spend the weekend at the presidential retreat in Camp David, Md.
Bush on Saturday dispatched his personal military aide, Army Maj. Sean Byrne, to attend a Pennsylvania memorial service for members of the 99th Army Reserve unit killed in an Iraqi Scud attack on their compound near Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.
Byrne carried a letter from Bush to the survivors stating, "Your loved ones did not die in vain. They helped to lead not just Kuwait but the world onto a new path of peace and freedom, a path paved with respect for the rule of law and for the unalienable rights of all mankind."
In his Saturday radio address, Bush said that with the victory, "The first test of the new world order has been passed."
Bush said the allied success brought: "Renewed life in Kuwait, renewed prospects for real peace throughout the Middle East. And a renewed sense of pride and confidence here at home."
"The specter of Vietnam has been buried forever in the desert sands of the Arabian Peninsula," the president said.
Bush, in his radio speech, said: "We are committed to seeing every American soldier and every allied POW home soon, home to the thanks and the respect and the love of a grateful nation, and a very grateful president."
Cheney said it was possible the United States would keep an aircraft carrier battle group in the Persian Gulf "on a regular basis" and maintain a "more robust air presence" in the region.
U.S. fighter aircraft could be "rotating through on a regular basis" if gulf states agree to such a plan, he said.
by CNB