European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 17, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Friday january 17, 1992 the stars and stripes Page 3 persian Gulf War a one year late War s aftermath troubles american Many now believe Gulf cease fire came too soon by Marcia Kunstel Cox news service Washington a one year after the United states led an unprecedented Alliance of nations into Battle against Iraq last Jan. 17, a troubling sense of incomplete Victory clings to America. There is not Tjie angst and anger left by the War in Vietnam. Americans hold few doubts that the enemy in the persian Gulf War was an enemy Worth fighting or that american troops acquitted themselves Well. But the land is powdered with a faint residue of bitterness that Victory did not produce better fruits. A yes we should have gone in and did what we did. The Only thing is we should have gone All the Way All the Way in and did away with iraqi president Saddam Hussein and his henchmen a said Edward Eric Rae commander of american legion Post 67 in North Miami. Polls show More and More americans agree with him. The same Saddam who provoked the War by invading neighbouring Kuwait in August 1990 remains cocooned in layers of absolute Power in Iraq. His country is still isolated by economic sanctions and diplomatically shunned in the Community of nations. But these penalties strike hardest at 18 million iraqis who Are Cut off from the world and Are finding it increasingly difficult to feed and care for their families. It is not Saddam who is hungry. Then there is Kuwait the Oil kingdom that the United states and 27 other countries United to liberate from the clutches of Saddam a soldiers. The old kuwaiti regime returned to Rule seemingly unc hastened by its experience and unwilling to adopt the values of Freedom and democracy which at least partially propelled the Battle on its behalf. Since the War ended feb. 28, after six weeks of Aerial bombardment and five Days of warfare on the ground disturbing revelations have mounted. There were the 35 . Soldiers mistakenly killed and 72 wounded by a Friendly fire a a fact the Pentagon hid for months even from the families of the dead. Add the postwar discovery by . Inspectors that Iraq was far advanced in building nuclear weapons an alarming development that had escaped the most sophisticated spy network in the world. And then questions arose on exactly How smart the a smart bombs were. So much of Saddam a enormous Arsenal of the skies Over Baghdad erupted with anti aircraft fire As Allied warplanes struck targets in the iraqi capital on the wars first Day. Chemical weapons and ballistic missiles remained after the dust settled As did Large portions of his plants for biological and nuclear warfare. The generals had claimed so much was destroyed. Saddam a Quick and brutal extinguishing of two Domestic rebellions in March a the kurd in the North and shiite muslims in the South a provoked perhaps the sharpest Tang of bitterness that Flavoured the Allied Victory. Bedrock support for the War itself has not eroded. Pollsters asking americans if they think it was a mistake to get involved in the War consistently have drawn More than 70 percent saying it was not. But a series of polls asking americans if they believe the cease fire was ordered too soon a before Saddam was toppled from Power a show some american rethinking. In Early april when americans were rejoicing that their troops were heading Home victorious Only 49 percent of the people polled by the Gallup organization for Newsweek said the cease fire had come too Early. By april 22, the figure had increased to 57 percent. A similar question in a lbs news new York times poll asking whether the United states should have stopped fighting when iraqi troops left Kuwait or continued until Saddam was removed from Power found by May 8 that 63 percent thought fighting should have continued. By june 6, the same question Drew a 69 percent response in favor of fighting until Saddam was gone. The uneasiness shows in polls and talk shows and resolutions like the one Rae heartily endorsed at the american legions annual convention in Phoenix last september. It Calls on president Bush and the United nations to apprehend Saddam and his cohorts in Iraq and to try them for War crimes a whether they Are in custody or not. Yet the wars objectives As stated in . Resolutions by the politicians and limit the generals were clearly limited to driving iraqi troops out of Kuwait and Resi ing the legitimate kuwaiti government a your goal is not the Conquest of Iraq. It is the liberation of Kuwait a Bush said on the night he announced that Allied pilots had begun raining fire on Baghdad. Kuwait was liberated. Analysts and scholars of International Law said some other positives spun out of the Gulf War including the rare show of International Unity that was possible in part because the War objectives were limited. Although the United nations was effectively Cut out of the military conduct of the War . Involvement Overall was unprecedented said Edward Luck president of the United nations association a non profit group that promotes the . System. Setting sanctions and voting to use Force against Iraq were Strong moves but the United nations took its biggest Steps out of character after the War it embarked on an aggressive intrusive program to disarm Iraq and decided to help iraqis suffering from government retaliation after the shiite and kurdish  Aims to rebuild arms potential Gates says Washington apr Iraq intends to restore its nuclear chemical and biological weapons capability and can do so within a few years despite damage from the persian Gulf War Cia director Robert Gates said wednesday. A Iraq will remain a primary proliferation threat at least As Long As Saddam Hussein remains in Power a Gates said at a hearing of the Senate governmental affairs committee examining weapons proliferation worldwide. Despite damage from the War the time needed to rebuild iraqis nuclear weapons program is measured a in a few rather than Many years a Gates testified. Chemical weapons capacity could be rebuilt in a year or so and biological weapons production could be restarted a in a matter of weeks a he said. To deliver such weapons Iraq is believed to still have a several hundreds scud missiles Gates said. A a we re having some difficulty finding them a he said. Gates testimony came in the midst of criticism of what had been the Bufu administration a biggest foreign policy Triumph. While Gates said the Gulf War clearly damaged iraqis weapons programs his comments about How quickly they could be restored appeared to underscore criticism that the War had fallen Short of achieving Many . Goals. Rep. Lee Hamilton d-ind., chairman of the House foreign affairs Middle East subcommittee noted in a Public broadcasting service interview that Iran has regained its standing As a regional Power Arab states have failed to forge their own regional Security regime and saudi Arabia and Kuwait have failed to make democratic reforms. Halting the spread of mass destruction weapons is a a american a new Manifest destiny a said sen. John Glenn a Ohio. A your goal must be to work More closely with other nations to achieve not just a new world order but a More peaceful world  Gates told the panel that the world continues to see a a steady and worrisome growth in the proliferation of advanced  More than 20 countries have Are suspected to have or Are developing nuclear chemical and biological arms and the Means to deliver them he said. Only China and the former soviet Union now have the ability to target missiles on . Territory and the threat of similar abilities by third world countries is at least a decade away he said. But the threat of Shorter Range weapons is growing in an area extending from Libya through South Asia he said. He mentioned China and North Korea As among the worst spreaders of nuclear and missile technology. The republics of the former soviet Union Are main 2 Repi g Etfer Taining effective control Over their 30,000-warhead nuclear stockpile he said. Traditionally the soviets had three a nuclear briefcases a satchels containing the codes to authorize use of nuclear weapons. Now there appear to be Only two in the hands of russian president Boris Yeltsin and the interim military commander Yevgeny Shaposhnikov