Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 6, 1991 TAG: 9104060260
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOSEPH ALBRIGHT COX/ NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Long
The chronology of the Iraq war and its aftermath leaves little doubt that until early last week, President Bush and his top advisers were intent on keeping pressure on Saddam Hussein until he was swept from power. They were prepared to do that even if it meant keeping American troops in Iraq and preventing Saddam's army from using combat helicopters against the rebels.
Then, at an Oval Office meeting on March 26, Bush and his seven top advisers reached a consensus that it was no longer prudent for the United States to keep Saddam from crushing the rebels.
From that point on, there would be no more warnings from the White House against Iraq's use of helicopters against civilians. Instead, Bush would stress the dangers of getting "sucked into" an Iraqi civil war.
So far, no authentic "insider" accounts have emerged about who said what to whom at the meeting.
For now, the most illuminating record on the evolution of American policy is a compilation of what has been reported publicly day by day:
\ Feb. 15 - Bush called on Iraqi people to rebel. "And there's another way for the bloodshed to stop, and that is for the Iraqi military and the Iraqi people to take matters in their own hands and force Saddam Hussein, the dictator, to step aside, and then comply with the United Nations resolutions and rejoin the family of peace-loving nations."
\ March 1 - Two days after the liberation of Kuwait, Bush renewed his appeal to the Iraqi people to overthrow Saddam. "In my own view . . . the Iraqi people should put him [Saddam] aside and that would facilitate the resolution of all these problems that exist, and certainly would facilitate the acceptance of Iraq back into the family of peace-loving nations."
\ March 6 - Bush portrayed American soldiers in Iraq as "good and caring" protectors of the ordinary Iraqis caught in the war. He told a joint session of Congress: "I'm sure that many of you saw on television the unforgettable scene of four terrified Iraqi soldiers surrendering. They emerged from their bunker - broken, tears streaming from their eyes, fearing the worst. And then there was an American soldier. Remember what he said? He said: `It's okay. You're all right now. You're all right now.' That scene says a lot about America, a lot about who we are. Americans are a caring people. We are a good people, a generous people. Let us always be caring and good and generous in all we do."
\ March 8 - With rebellions gaining ground in both northern and southern Iraq, Bush worried publicly that uprisings inside Iraq could produce instability in postwar Iraq. "In the first place, we never have felt that it was in the interest of the gulf or certainly of the United States to create a vacuum in Iraq. And we have not wanted an unstable Iraq."
\ March 13 - Bush warned Iraq not to use its combat helicopters to attack civilians inside Iraq, saying there would be no permanent end of the war until Iraqi combat operations ceased. "I must confess to some concern about the use of Iraqi helicopters in violation of what our understanding was," he told a press conference. "That's one that has got to be resolved before we're going to have any permanence to any cease-fire."
\ March 14 - Bush repeated his warning against Iraqi use of combat helicopters but added that he would regard the takeover of Iraq by a fundamentalist Shiite regime as a "negative."
\ March 20 - The Air Force shot down an Iraqi fighter-bomber over northern Iraq, and Bush said "if other planes violate the agreement, they will be shot down." However, a senior administration official was quoted as saying: "There clearly is a bit of ambiguity in our position. We've talked a lot about getting Saddam out, but the clear priority is to get the troops home."
\ March 22 - Adding to the ambiguity, Gen. Colin Powell, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, said that U.S. troops will remain in southern Iraq "for some months to come" to maintain pressure on Saddam while the insurrection by Iraqi rebel groups whittles down his power. Meanwhile, the U.S. Air Force shot down its second Iraqi fighter-bomber in three days for having violated a ban on such combat flights.
\ March 26 - Implicitly overruling Powell, the White House said Bush had decided to let Saddam Hussein put down Shiite and Kurdish rebellions without American intervention. Officials said the administration had concluded the insurgents cannot control all of Iraq and would only succeed in fracturing the country. A senior official said: "We never made any promises to these people. Frankly, there is complete agreement in this government that the American people have absolutely no stomach for a major military operation to dictate the outcome of a political struggle in Iraq."
\ April 2 - With Kurdish rebels on the verge of defeat, the administration took a new tack, maintaining it had never held the "goal" of removing Saddam from power. State Department spokesman Margaret Tutwiler said: "We never, ever stated, either as a military or a political goal of the coalition or the international community, the removal of Saddam Hussein."
\ April 3 - Bush said he would not order Iraqi helicopters to be shot down: "I do not want to see us get sucked into the internal civil war inside of Iraq. I do not want to push American forces beyond our mandate. We've done the heavy lifting."
by CNB