European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 4, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse Monday March 4, 1991 the stars and stripes. A Page 3 in the Gulf Schwarzkopf had a textbook plan by . Apple or. The new York times Dhahran saudi Arabia a the 42-Day War in the persian Gulf a Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf hit hard hurry up High tech hyper successful Campaign to Savage iraqis military and oust it from Kuwait a was a study in lessons Learned. In a political military and especially a psychological sense it Drew a line beneath the hauntingly inconclusive Vietnam tragedy. The will not soon forget its sins and humiliations in Southeast Asia a Gen oration ago but it has Learned from them and As president Bush exult con Friday a by god we be kicked t he Vietnam syndrome once and for the list of lessons is Long but starts with this Trio. A never go to War before ensuring Domestic consensus and establishing International support. President Johnson never managed to do either Bush did both with a masters touch. Bush coaxed Congress to the Point of backing a War a not by much but by enough to carry him through a few weeks or a few months a and he and Secretary of state James a. Baker Iii built and maintained an International coalition that Cut across lines of economic religious political ideological regional and even personal conflict. They said it last but it did. A never go to War without a Clear objective. It. Gen. Tomas Kelly the avuncular Oracle of the Pentagon these past weeks called it a the first principle of War a a target clearly designated and steadfastly lit by the politicians that the generals and admirals could take a Bead . A v a. A a a a a a. A a. Bush must have said five times a Day for six months that iraqi president Saddam Hussein had to leave Kuwait without conditions to satisfy the . No such goal was Ever convincingly articulated for the Vietnam adventure. A take no half measures. Bush gave his commanders the troops they said they needed right away instead of feeding them in slowly. He granted no sanctuaries to the enemy. He resisted the inevitable Calls for a ceasefire until he judged the Job done lest he give the iraqis a Chance to catch their breath rearm and fight again. Those three decisions enabled Schwarzkopf to develop and execute a strategy that placed the heaviest fighting squarely on Saddam a own territory brought Amer icon firepower to Bear All at once and kept it there to do the Job. The result was clearest perhaps in the casualty figures a the staggering Gap Between the 89 americans j known to have been killed and the tens of thousands of iraqis dead on the Battlefield As Well As even vaster numbers taken prisoner. R there were old lessons too left Over from other wars in other decades other centuries but no less Apt for that. Here Are seven in the end they could keep them there Only at the Point of a Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf a deception can be Worth a dozen divisions. Schwarzkopf assembled All the paraphernalia and manpower for amphibious operations practice amphibious operations and talked about amphibious operations. But they were never part of his Basic plan he fooled his foe into wasting thousands of men and guns. On an elaborate Battle Model of Kuwait City discovered in a school on thursday every iraqi gun and troop unit in the Region of the capital faced the sea like the guns of Singapore during world War ii. They were of Little use in combating invaders coming from other directions. A without air cover tanks Are tin gasoline cans just waiting to blow up. When the Luftwaffe could no longer protect him Rommel lost in North Africa when the analysis Clouds that had protected him finally parted von Rundstedt lost the Battle of the bulge with his air Force destroyed or dispersed and his attack helicopters a soviet French and German a mysteriously uninvolved Saddam could do nothing to protect his t-72s and t-62s from american tanks and especially the terrifying hellfire missiles fired by the army a Apache helicopters and the equally deadly Mavericks fired by a to warthog attack planes flown by the air Force. A in the desert Supply is everything. Armies can live off the land to a degree in Many parts of the world but not in the Sands of Arabia where nature is an implacable enemy again air supremacy made the difference. A a a a a a a a a. v a a it meant american logistics specialists under a Tough general from Pennsylvania named Gus Pagonis could move mountains and Allied forces had 10 of everything thousands of Miles from Home it meant Many front line iraqi troops had so Little they ate grass and hoarded cups of Rainwater. A modern weapons become obsolete terrifyingly quickly which is Why maintaining modern armed forces costs so much. For All the Oil wealth he squandered on arms Saddam went to War against the a cruise missiles stealth bombers electronic coun Terrie Asuras and All a with an air defense system that was a generation or two out of Date. War costly to Arafat top syrian official says a men matter As much us machines and there the iraqi forces were outclassed in two ways. One was training skill sheer ability. A not everything depends on the Quality of the technology Quot. Said Nikolai Kutsenkow a ranking military planner in the soviet Union which supplied so much of iraqis Best equipment. A More depends on the professional training of those who use and a service it. And both in the iraqi army left much to be so did the troops morale a second key area of deficiency. For that Schwarzkopf blamed a leadership a Quot a so uncaring that in the end they could keep them there Only at the Point of a a if you can to communicate you can to command. Battlefield evidence collected by marines showed chemical weapons ready Tor use but orders never the top. A a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a and the total Lack of coordination Between squadrons of tanks and Between tanks and artillery in the big Battle that ended the War convinced american armoured commanders their adversaries it vere operating with nothing approaching adequate radio links Between a units. A a a a a a a a a a a a a a a Quot a a a a a a a a a a v. A get around him if you can and hit him from the flank or the rear rather than marching into his strength. Talking military history Long before a Hev launched last weeks ground offensive Schwarzkopf often dwelt on cannae the epic Battle in the Heel of the italian Boot in which Hannibal perfected the double envelopment. The american commander used a single envelopment to equally Good effect forcing the Republican guard potential Battle winners to fight on his ground at a time of his choosing. In Vietnam the overestimated its own Power and prowess and underestimated that of the enemy. Here it was just the opposite. A Saddam proved to be As full of Folly on the Battlefield As in the Halls of diplomacy relying Maginot line As easily bankable As the original making his tanks vulnerable by digging them into the Sand and robbing them of their mobility. It proved impossible for a nation with the population of the Netherlands and the Gross Domestic product of Portugal even to Dent a coalition that included the , Europe and two of the main Arab military Powers. On the other Side of the line the new All Volunteer american military with its new smart weapons proved formidable. Especially the air Force naval air and army air. Which severed the enemy a logistical lifelines scrambled his communications blinded his reconnaissance eyes and finally killed his advanced tanks his last Best Hope of averting disaster. As col. Ilal Hornburg a top air Force Pilot said it took the grunts to apply the coup de Grace. It always does. But air Power decided it. Nicosia Cyprus apr syrians de lense minister said in a broadcast saturday that Plo chief Yasser Arafat has lost All his International standing for supporting Iraq in the Gulf conflicts a Yasser Arafat was wrong in his position with Saddam Hussein a said it. Gen. Mustafa class. A the was prompted by his own personal egoism and now i believe he has lost on the International scene and he no longer has the respect of a a a a _ v _. Class spoke in an interview broadcast by the a voice of free Iraq a an iraqi opposition radio station believed based in saudi Arabia. The broadcast was monitored in. Nicosia. Syria has Long opposed Arafat a Lead Reship of the Plo. Class claimed that Arafat a Strong supporter of Saddam Hussein has a always fuelled fire and discord in disputes Between the syrian official said that Arafat a position constituted betrayal because Kuwait a ruling Al Sabah family had supported his mainstream Fatah movement with in the Palestine liberation organization. Through its Strong support for Saddam the Plo has alienated Many of its most important backers including Kuwait saudi Arabia and other persian Gulf states that poured tens of millions of dollars into Arafat a Treasury every year a the has also harmed All the palestinians offered shelter fed and Given nationality status by Kuwait a said class. He dismissed Arafat a efforts to link iraqis pullout from Kuwait to the palestinian question. Quot a the should have come to syrian president Hafez Assad and then Saddam Hussein and we would have been together for the liberation of Palestine a class said. Saddam and Assad Are bitter personal enemies and their nations Are ruled by rival wings of the baath Arab socialist party. A Early in the Gulf conflict Assad brought Syria into the multinational Force. Direct hit Media Pool sgt. Michael Markies of the 24th inf div watches an iraqi truck Burn after scoring a direct hit with a burst from a 20mm Vulcan Catling gun in the euphrates Valley. Allied forces Are destroying military equipment left behind by fleeing iraqi . Y
