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

DATE: MONDAY, April 15, 1991                   TAG: 9104150128
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

KURD ATTACK TOOK U.S. BY SURPRISE

"We did anticipate that there would be a lot of chaos and that the winning of the war would not solve the problems of that region by any stretch of the imagination," Scowcroft said on ABC's "This Week with David Brinkley."

But, he added: "One of the things perhaps we did not anticipate was the severity of [Iraqi President] Saddam Hussein's attack against the Kurds, with possibly the intention of solving his Kurdish problem by driving them out."

The tragedy has cast a shadow over the stunning allied victory against Iraq. The coalition forces stopped short of overthrowing Saddam, leaving in place a leader whom President Bush repeatedly compared to Adolf Hitler.

Bush had urged the people of Iraq to rise up against Saddam, but when the Kurds attempted a rebellion it was quickly crushed by Saddam's superior forces. In recent weeks, up to 1.2 million refugees - many of them starving - are believed to have fled Iraq for Iran and Turkey.

The administration has come under increasing criticism for having been too slow in responding to the Kurdish crisis, and Bush's approval rating has plunged from where it was just after the war ended.

Scowcroft noted Sunday that the United States had stocked some border areas with refugee supplies. "What we could have done is, perhaps, pre-positioned more supplies in Turkey," he said.

But he asserted that given the harshness of the terrain, "it is hard for the people to survive now at those altitudes. We could, perhaps, have marginally improved that," he said, "but only marginally."

Last week, the administration warned Iraq not to mount military operations north of the 36th Parallel, so that Kurdish refugees could have a "safe haven" in that large portion of northern Iraq. Nonetheless, there have been reports of continued fighting in that area.

Scowcroft suggested that this fighting would not draw U.S. retaliation, because it involves Iraqi troops pitted against Kurdish armed forces, rather than Iraqis attacking Kurdish refugees.

Meanwhile, complaints about Bush's performance in the wake of the U.S.-led Gulf War victory continued. "I think the administration has failed," said Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif., chairman of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus.

By spearheading the effort to provide emergency aid to the refugees, the administration "is now attempting to recapture the moral high ground," Lantos said on CNN's "Newsmaker Sunday." It is not too late, but unfortunately, hundreds - if not thousands - will have died."

Also appearing on the Brinkley show, Israeli Housing Minister Ariel Sharon declared that the allies left Saddam with too much power. "When I see the way he controls Iraq now, I'm very much afraid that it will be a very short time until he will become again the main danger to the Middle East," he said.

However, Scowcroft insisted that it would have been a mistake to carry the war further to remove Saddam from power. "That would have changed the whole character of the situation," he said.