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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 6, 1991                   TAG: 9103060344
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

U.S. WILL NOT INTERVENE

The Bush administration said Tuesday it would steer clear of the civil strife that has hit Iraq following the Gulf War and warned Iraq's neighbors to do the same.

The Pentagon, meanwhile, made plans to welcome home up to 15,000 veterans of the war during the next week.

President Bush hailed the troops as "American heroes" and said "home towns all across America" will welcome them home soon.

White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said the administration welcomed Tuesday's release of 35 American and allied POWs to Red Cross officials in Baghdad.

Pentagon spokesman Pete Williams said the POWs, of whom 15 are Americans, will be flown out of Baghdad today after an allied transport carries 294 Iraqi POWs back home. He said poor weather had delayed the exchange, which had been scheduled Tuesday.

At the State Department, spokeswoman Margaret Tutwiler cautioned Iran and other outsiders to stay out of Iran's civil strife:

"The United States respects and believes in the territorial integrity of Iraq, and we do not believe that other states should involve themselves in the internal matters of Iraq, and other states should refrain from interfering in Iraq's internal affairs."

Defense Secretary Dick Cheney said the United States and its coalition partners won't get involved. "I'm not sure whose side you'd want to be on," Cheney said.

As for homecoming U.S. troops, Pentagon military sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said 4,400 members of the Army's XVIII Airborne Corps, including members of the 82nd Airborne Division, would be among the first group returning on Thursday.

The sources said Bush was expected to welcome them at Andrews Air Force Base, but White House deputy spokesman Roman Popadiuk said he was not aware of plans for a presidential welcome.

by CNB