European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 24, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Thursday january 24, 1991 the stars and stripes Page 11 a a Bwalter r. Mear military leery of putting timetable on War in any contest be it War or football americans want a Quick Victory a a get in and get out a a an earlier president once said. That a Why president Bush and his nigh command Are warning again and again that the persian Gulf War wont be won easily or instantly. They do not want a Short timetable to become the gauge of Success and they know the political risks of impatience. Defense Secretary Dick Cheney said the United states would proceed carefully and methodically to Force Iraq out c f Kuwait while minimizing american and Allied casualties. A i Hope we can wrap it up just As soon As possible but i  want to put a time line on it a Cheney said monday As he made the circuit of television interviews that the administration is using to get its Points across. Cheney appeared on each of the four television networks. Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf the . Commander in saudi Arabia made the rounds on All four networks sunday. Less than a week into a War waged from the air Over Iraq and Kuwait . Casualties have been so Low that Schwarzkopf said he was astounded delighted and thankful. First wave reports of overwhelming Success in raiding iraqi targets have been tempered by subsequent warnings that Saddam Hussein still has a passive military machine to be conquered. Well stick with it until the jobs done a Cheney said monday. It could conceivably be weeks. It could conceivably be  Bush said Friday that he was concerned that a a mood of euphoria might raise unreasonable expectations a we must be realistic a he said. A there will be losses. There will be obstacles along the Way. And War is never cheap or  Bush had said in Advance that if there was War it would not be another Vietnam where involvement and escalation came gradually operations were sometimes restricted by policy and the conflict dragged on for a divisive decade. ,. \ Schwarzkopf said he was grateful that in the persian Gulf the president and the Pentagon Are allowing the commanders in the Field to conduct this War a obviously we Brief them on what we re doing a the general said in one of his sunday to interviews. A obviously if they thought we were doing something dumb they a Tell us about it and wed change  the message of modulated optimism also heeds one of the lessons of Vietnam. In 1964 and 1965 As american combat involvement began the Johnson administration said it would All be done quickly. Later there was talk of Light at the end of the Tunnel even As the War escalated. Those forecasts of a Swift end to what became americans longest War were a Factor in the unravelling of support at Home. Pressed for a Swift end to the War with opposition surging president Lyndon b. Johnson renounced candidacy for reelection in 1968. A your american people a Johnson said in late 1967, a when we get in a contest of any kind whether it is in a War an election a football game or whatever it is want it decided and decided quickly a get in and get  Bush who sometimes relaxes by playing High Speed Golf shows that trait himself. But beyond saying that the persian Gulf War wont be allowed to drag on As Vietnam did he has avoided timetables for Victory. He advises americans to go about their business a message underscored when he went to Camp David for the weekend meeting with War advisers there on saturday. A. A a a a a a a a a a a a. A Bush said professional football should go ahead with sundays championship games and he spent Pait of his afternoon watching them on  presidents spokesman said the War was no reason for other activities to come to a standstill. A we said at the outset that it could Well take a Long time a Cheney said. He Wasny to venturing guesses on How Long. Nor was Schwarzkopf who asked How Long the War might last replied �?o1 have no idea a. C associated . Rosentha reprisal from Israel just a matter of time As Long As his life lasts Saddam Hussein can count on two inevitability is. Each Day the Sun will Rise and set a that is one. The second is that on one of those Days Israel will present him with its Bill of reckoning. Every informed israeli to whom i have spoken takes it As Given that eventually Israel must retaliate one Way or another for iraqis missile attacks on Tel Aviv. The open questions Are when a and what Way would bring Saddam most grief and Israel and the United states most Benefit. Israel is getting a great Deal of justified Praise and admiration from the United states for prime minister Yitzhak Shamire a  but it is a lot More than restraint. It is risk taking on a historic scale it. Israel did Benefit substantially and in a variety of ways. . Patriot missiles were sent to Israel with . Crews to operate them. Israel knew that Short Range it could have no better defense against the soviet built scuds. Suddenly Shamir was no longer seen in the West simply As a Doughy Lump of stubbornness but As a Leader intelligent flexible and Subtle enough to be Able to use patience and self discipline As weapons against his country s enemies. Strange it took so Long to understand. He has been doing that for More than a half Century and the West again begins to comprehend what it had forgotten a the daily danger in which Israel lives. The Palestine liberation organization showed its eternal enmity toward Israel a and its Root hatred of the United states which had tried so hard to give it respectability. The palestinians were praying not Only for the deaths of israelis but of americans. / a a a a a a a it begins to sink into the mind of the West that if those scuds had not been launched from 400 Miles away but from Sanctuary in a Plo state a dozen or so Miles away they would have been Able to carry an entirely different payload Lei Aviv would certainly have been awash in blood choking with Gas and piled with dead. But the West still has not understood that israelis historic risk could Cost her a historic Price Israel is for gamblers. But this one is not  Israel can safely lose. The decision to delay reprisal unless the attacks continue Means a shift in two of Israel s survival strategies. One is preemptive strikes where necessary a like the 1981 attack against the iraqi nuclear Plant. Militarily and ethically the israelis would have been justified in attacking Iraq the very Day that Saddam announced he would destroy them when War started even though they were not involved in that War. The second survival policy is even More fundamental a the policy of reprisal. Without that policy and living among enemies Israel would be stabbed again and again and again until it bled to death. Call it the a never again policy. The a a coalition will not be destroyed when Israel one Day makes Iraq pay for the missile attacks. That a nonsense. Saudi Arabia Kuwait and Egypt will not Slit their own throats in a fit of pique. If syrians murderous government pulls out of a War it has never really joined Why just bless the Day. But after the iraqis Are Defeated the coalition will Wither As the Arab members resume their wars and feuds. Most . Forces will go Home a the sooner the better. Israel will remain in the Middle East a Israel and Syria Libya the Plo Iran and for a while at least the hapless King of Jordan  for another coat to turn. R. Jew haters of the Gulf states Vil again use their Nasty Mouths and fat wallets for the destruction of Israel. Yes conceivably barely an Opportunity for an Arab Israel settlement May open. Lovely. But it will never happen if the Arab states believe that Israel is so passionate for peace so eager to please Washington that it will meekly accept attacks against its cities. Count on it when Israel presents its Bill of reckoning to Iraq Israel washers jew and non jew will Cluck and moan in utter horror. Arab propagandists will cry blood. But nothing really new will have happened a just Israel again stubbornly insisting on its determination to survive Short Range Long Range forever Range. Israel can postpone the reprisal policy if it suits temporary israeli and . Needs. A but for the survival of Israel and for a decent Middle Eastern peace reprisal cannot be surrendered Ever again. 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