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

DATE: SATURDAY, March 30, 1991                   TAG: 9103300029
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA                                LENGTH: Medium

SCHWARZKOPF SAYS PRESIDENT ACCEPTS APOLOGY

Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf said Friday that he had apologized to President Bush for his "poor choice of words" when he told a television interviewer that he had recommended that American forces press on to "annihilate" Iraqi forces and implied that he had disagreed with the White House on ending hostilities.

The allied commander in the Persian Gulf War said during a hastily arranged appearance at the U.S. military's press center here that Bush had called and told him to "forget" the whole matter and that he still had "great confidence" in him.

"I apologized to the president. I said, `I am extremely sorry that a poor choice of words on my part in any way would result in dishonor cast upon you,' " he said.

Schwarzkopf said the president had found out that he "felt very bad" about the interpretation his comments had been given in the media, "and being the great man that he was, he called up to tell me to forget it.

"As far as he was concerned, he knew exactly how the decisions were made. He had great confidence in me and he knew that I in no way intended to cast any dishonor or even criticize him in any way, and that made me feel great."

The general appeared to be seeking to portray himself as the innocent victim of a media campaign to discredit him. After every war the United States has been involved in recently, he said, "there's always some mudslingers that come climbing out from under the rocks and try to somehow dishonor the great job that's been done by everybody in the war.

"It happened in Vietnam. It happened in Grenada, and here again we have a case where someone took an inappropriate use of words on my part and tried to blow it into a major controversy," he said.

According to the White House, Bush telephoned Schwarzkopf on Thursday morning to smooth over the flap raised by the general's comments in a television interview with David Frost.

During that interview, Schwarzkopf had said his recommendation had been to "continue the march" into Iraq. The allies could have blocked the Iraqi escape routes and made it a "battle of annihilation," he said.

by CNB