European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 28, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                2gkusade facing the human Side of America s might by Kevin Robinson Stafl writer Rick Atkinson has made it his business to dissect the people behind America s  he s continuing that business i Somalia. There in and out of Mogadishu Atkinson is covering the . Military in its Rote of . Peacekeeper. It s a Rote that represents a huge swing from what americans were called on to do in the Gulf the 1990-91 ordeal that Atkinson details in his Book Cru Sade the untold Story of the persian Gulf War. Before Atkinson flew to Africa for a two week assignment he spoke with the stars and stripes by Telephone from the Berlin Bureau of the washing ton Post. The circumstances in Somalia have changed from when the United nations first sent troops there he said. Earlier it was a genuine humanitarian Mission a generous impulse. Now it s a Case of a Good deed that does t go unpunished. The . Military is in a Tough spot. It s called on to do a Job but is caught in the Cross fire. It Illus trates that the military deployments in president Bush s new world order will be Complex and difficult to  whether writing about the Vietnam War the per Sian Gulf War or the deployment of . Forces to Somalia the 40-year-old reporter said he is motivated to go inside the ranks of America s warriors. His 1982 pulitzer prize winning series of newspaper articles about the 1966 class of cadets from the . Military Academy at West Point and a subsequent 1989 Book the Long Gray line thrust him into the Media limelight As a writer. With the october release of his second Book Cru Sade Atkinson said he wanted to put a human face on it the Gulf War personalities arc very important in warfare. And the people who fought the War and made the policies were interesting and com plex characters.". Atkinson s relationship with the military was a big plus in helping him write crusade. I know a lot of the characters involved in the Book from covering the Pentagon with the Washington Post he said. I know the culture to a certain extent. So Many re porters have no knowledge of the military at All. By virtue of looking at the military before i knew the Guys who ran the military Dick Cheney arid general Colin Powell and having built up a certain degree of Trust helped him go places most people could not. For crusade Atkinson travelled to Germany the United kingdom Israel saudi Arabia and Kuwait to interview More than 500 people Many of them on the condition of anonymity. In Many ways the seeds for his Gulf War Book were sown with his series on the West Point class of 66, he said. Many of the senior commanders in the Gulf War were Junior officers in Vietnam. They were older and Wiser for the persian Gulf he added i was interested in seeing the Gulf War As a War that lasted for 20 years. The . Military came out of it a Winner and the Monkey of Vietnam was lifted off their  Atkinson s relationship with the military began at birth on an army Post in Munich Germany. His father was an army officer and for a while he thought about the army As a career. But journalism became his passion and eventually his career. During the past 17 years As a reporter he worked at newspapers in Pittsburgh and Kansas City before moving to the Washington Post in 1983. Although he chose journalism Over an appoint ment to West Point the military still held his inter Rick Atkinson latest trek Somalia. Est. That s Why it was he said a natural for him to write about the Gulf War. It would be a mistake to trumpet the Gulf War As a global War like world War i but it did have global implications Atkinson said. It was an in tense War for its  through the application of modern weapons such As stealth bombers and cruise missiles the Gulf War represents the Way wars will be fought in the 21st  to Tell the human Side of the Gulf War Atkinson said he had to Peel Back the layers surrounding personalities such As the now retired army Gen. Nor Man Schwarzkopf. Schwarzkopf was perhaps the most recognizable character of the War. As a result he plays a starring role in crusade. Schwarzkopf captured the imagination of the world while leading the 700,000-Man Allied coalition against Iraq. On the surface he was seen As a Man of strength and Calm. But in researching crusade at Kinson also found a Schwarzkopf with a temper and an ego of Imperial proportions. Because Access to Schwarzkopf was limited during the War the author said he did interview him briefly afterwards Atkinson talked with the people such As his no. 2 Man in the Gulf army it. Gen. Calvin Waller who occupied the War room with the general in Riyadh saudi Arabia. The portrait of him Schwarzkopf is not unfavourable the author said. The fact that he had a bad temper and was theatrical i Don t think it both ered the average person. He got the results he was sent to  crusade was considered a fair portrayal of the Gulf War by the military people he has talked to. At Kinson said. Reaction to it has been positive. Che Ney was laudatory and Waller was enthusiastic about  although the los Angeles times review is favor Able it is critical of the Lack of women mentioned in the Book. I accept it As a legitimate criticism but it s not As though they women Aren t a presence in the Book. They Are there Atkinson said. However the Book focuses on the combat that took place during the War and that tends right or wrong to be a Man s  he notes that even the makeup of the policy makers in Washington the big eight of president Bush and his advisers were All men. Because some reviews have praised crusade As Reading like a Tom Clancy fictional thriller Atkinson was asked about the Book s chances As a film. You never know what Hollywood finds Appeal  he said. There Are aspects of the Book such As the Story of air Force col David Eberly. An of 15e Pilot who was shot Down eluded escape but was later captured by the iraqis that could make a Nice movie. But i would t do it the screenplay. I be got enough to do trying to team about Germany. That s my turf  a Triumph against the conceit of Hindsight by John Balzar los Angeles times the Gulf War has lost us  the fresh Sand of history the righteousness of the coalition cause seems inflated the enemy overrated the Domestic sacrifice surprisingly modest. And As the War recedes in time Saddam Hussein survives to pursue his taunts and torments. Within a year of the cease fire writes Rick Atkin son the War became widely regarded As inconsequential even slightly  still it was War. It transfixed much of the world As More than million humans faced each other under arms in those Distant deserts and Waterways putting to trial trillion dollars Worth of Western weapons technology against the fourth largest army in the world. Now 2vi years later Atkinson transfixed us again with a crackling fast richly reported absorbing you Are there techno thriller of a military history of this Var a 500-plus pager that you otherwise might be tempted to pass Over but which you will not be tempted to put Down. Crusade the untold Story of the persian Gulf War is an astute and sympathetic although not glorifying account of this lopsided conflict from a Washington Post reporter who established himself As a military journalist with his 1989 Book about Westpoint the Long Gray line. Sympathetic indeed Atkinson writes As a circumspect judge of the Battle but not at All As jury of the larger cause of conflict. For Good or ill the War occurred and this is an account of it written in the urgent tense of warriors in fighter cockpits in the bellies of tanks and most provocatively in win Dowless command Cen ters where a career s Worth of preparation i squeezed into harrowing moments with life an death swaying in the bal Ance. Astute indeed Atkinson views the Battlefield through Fiel glasses of history and without the glib arro Gance of quickie revisionist Hindsight Tacti Cal second guesses Are frequently waved off for failing to step into the boots of those who Shoul dered the responsibility of pressing an air War at speeds of sound and pursuing the largest Masse Armor engagement in history. But Don t take me wrong this a not a Rah Rah Whitewash. The maddening and Petty inefficiencies of interservice rivalry Are generously exposed. So Are the blunders which resulted in 24 percent of the us. Battlefield deaths being attributed to Friendly fire. And nothing is expounded so richly As the imperfect but Headstrong personalities of those who led the War notably Norman Schwarzkopf. Regrettably Atkinson overlooks one of the most compelling and deserving elements of the Gulf War Story the contributions of 41,000 american women who served in uniform in the combat zone. They suffered casualties 15 died they were taken pow. Some other things Are overlooked in this Book but thankfully so. Crusade is not a rehash of How the press covered the War. It not a congested analysis of global politics nor a Memoir of George Bush. It does not overreach by trying to fathom the shifting amen can mood nor does it succumb to the fatuous conceit that we Are so very much Wiser now than  War happens. And in the hands of a Fine writer the Battle itself makes a horrible and compelling Story. Page 12 sunday november 28, .1993